Your vote: Most Useless Audio Adjective


From what I've seen in online audio discussion forums such as Audiogon, words like warm, taut, wooly, and forward can upset even died in the wool audiophiles. While some may have a hard time getting their arms around them, most of the terms seem quite appropriate to me. You have to develop some list of terms in order to convey a description of a component's sonics, or to delineate it from another component.

However, I have noticed the description "self effacing" creeping into more and more reviews, and it flat out boggles my mind. Initially, it seemed to fit into the context it was being used - affordable or downright cheap gear, that was fun and lively. However, now that I've read the term being used to describe quite a serious piece of high end kit, the time has come to point out how ridiculous things are getting.

I had to laugh out loud thinking of the snootiest, most condescending audio dealer I know who was carrying this brand. Using the term "self effacing" with anything had to do with this guy was akin to describing Phyllis Diller a young, hot sex symbol.

What is your most useless audio adjective???
trelja
there have been many adjectives mentioned so far that have been criticized as not useful. can anyone mention an adjective that is useful ?

most adjectives are ambiguous and do not have a predictable denotation. it is preferable to describe in a sentence what you are trying to say rather than using one word.

as an example, instead of using the word "bright", describe what you mean, namely an audible peak in the range 1000 to 3000 hz.

there are many descriptors which are imprecise that audiophiles consider useful, such as deep bass, wide and deep sounstage, richness, warmth, detail, resolution, etc. . while connotations may be perceived, there is much disgreement as to the definition of the aforementioned terms.
Most useless adjective: Palpable (I second Montytx, who named this one earlier.)

Most useless noun: Continuousness (I've seen this in reviews in Stereophile several times and I have no freaking idea what the hell they're talking about). Anyway, it is not even a word.