What Neutral Means in Reviews & Our Discussions? Are We Confusing Tame/Flat For Neutral?


Does tame or flat = neutral? Shouldn’t "neutral" in describing audio sound mean uncolored and accurate to what the artists sounded like to the naked ear at the time of the master recording? Or is neutral, as used in our community, intended to mean a lack of crescendo, or the like?

I realize this may get controversial, so lets be mindful of other’s experiences and insight. I’m going to use Dynaudio as an example. They’re often touted as being amongst the most neutral of speaker lines. Monitor Audio is another example of such reviews. I’ve listened to several middle of the line Dynaudio’s, including many times at my brother’s house, where he has them mated to an EAD Power Master 1000 thru MIT cables. They do sound beautiful, airy, smooth, and even slightly warm to my ear (though the touch of warmth could easily be the MITs and EAD). His common statement supporting how great they are is, the audio recording industry sound engineers prefer them as their monitors. But I’ve read that the reason audio engineers prefer them is because they are smooth and "flat" or "level", enabling the engineers to hear the difference of the nuances which they create as they manipulate sound during the editing process. Apparently lively or musical monitors, many engineers find to be a distractor, with too much information over riding what they want to focus on as they edit the sound.

I’ve enjoyed watching live bands at small venues for over 3 decades. Anything from a pianist, to cover bands, to original artists of anything from rock, blues, jazz, etc. My personal listening preference for home audio is dynamic sound which brings the live event to me ... soundstage, detail, with air, transparency AND depth. I want it all, as close as it can get for each given $. When I’ve listened to Dynaudios, Ive always come away with one feeling ... they’re very nice to listen too; they’re smooth and pleasing, airy ... and tame.

Recently while reading a pro review of the latest Magico S7 (I’ve never heard them), a speaker commonly referenced as amazingly neutral, the reviewer mentioned how, while capable of genuine dynamics, they seem to deliberately supress dynamics to enough of an extent that they favor a more pleasurable easy going listening experience.

That’s what jarred my thought. Does "neutral" mean tame/flat; does it mean accurate without audible peaks in db of one frequency over another, which is not on the recording; or is it something we’ve minced words about and have lost the genuine meaning of in the name of some audio form of political correctness?

 

 

 

sfcfran

Showing 1 response by lanx0003

Every profession has jargon and this is one of them in audiophile world. A practical definition of "neutral" imho is "all frequencies are measured in approximately similar sound pressure levels (SPL) within the specified tolerance between the low bass and high treble natural roll-of limits from a transducer in an anechoic setting." It sounds mouthful but several key phrases need be noted. First off, "similar sound pressure level" implies no drivers are perfectly linear and there is no perfect measurement method. As such, the measured SPL will fluctuate and no truely flat response curve exist in reality. Second, "within the specified tolerance" implies one needs to specify the tolerance interval, e.g., +-3dB, in order to render an objective assessment if a transducer is neutral. Third, "between the low bass and high treble natural roll-off limits" implies that we only assess the response curve bet. the natural roll-off limits of the high and low ends, again, within the specified tolerance. For example, we could still call the response curve neutral even there is steep roll off below the natural roll-off limit for bass. Often time, we see the mid-bass is boosted in order to get a better bass extension and the response curve will not be considered neutral if the boosted mid-bass exceeds to the specified tolerance. Lastly, the measurement needs to be conducted in an anechoic setting.

Sorry for being mouthful. Please advise if I mess up something.  There is another jargon for you guys. What does "organic" sound mean?