Disturbing "Sonic Trend" showing up on most all current "Big Buck" systems!

Don C

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Jul 20, 2013
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Exaggerated high frequencies and etch = "details"

Biting unnatural attacks = "fast transient response"

Unnaturally dry bass = "taut" and “tight”

This is what I hear at audio shows over the last several years!

Have "new" audiophiles lost their way, in relation to what "natural sound" of "non-amplified acoustic" music sounds like?

This "type" of sound is increasingly selling as current "State of Art".

Audio has more BS, and nonsense, than any hobby that I know of!

And as "Crazy" becomes acceptable, it drives more "Crazy".

I have been in this hobby since the 70's and heard it all.

Maybe those that kept their older systems, and got off the "marry-go-round", of latest and most expensive is best, are the most intelligent!
 

Joe Whip

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Feb 8, 2014
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I hear the same thing not only at shows but at dealers as well. I got off the merry ground in the late 90's, other than upgrading my digital. The system sounds great and I never come home and listen and wish I had anything else. I have heard some reviewer systems that quite frankly sucked. I don't know where the hobby ran off the rails, but count me as one who thinks we have. It makes me wonder who has recently heard live acoustic music recently. One of the reasons I attend quite a few classical performances in small venues such as St. Martins in the Fields. Gives me a better grasp on what a system sound sound like.
 

slowGEEZR

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Sep 20, 2010
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To each his own. Many say they like a musical sound and when I hear their systems they sound dull and rolled off. I prefer an accurate system.
 

jdza

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May 3, 2010
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Our sound systems have changed because we have changed and our environment has changed. Today we want to know everything.We are bombarded with facts and are forever Googling for more facts. So when we listen to music we want to hear everything,want to understand the music and how it is created. We want detail retrieval,notes at all frequencies must be purely reproduced that we can understand and interpret every one of them.

Sheer beauty itself is not good enough,we want to understand why it is beautiful. In this process warm blooming bass has become tight and dry but clearly intelligible,warm cozy mid range carpet slipper sound has become thin and defined,our tweeters must reach to 40kHz because our recording medium can and the wise men have proven that we can actually perceive sound to 100kHz. How the tweeters get that high and what they sacrifice in the process is irrelevant-we want to know what is up there.

If we go back to what came before it is disappointing as we have been conditioned to the now. Take any vintage system in an audiophile setup and soon the owner/listener will start tweaking and changing in an effort to get it to sound clearer ,less boomy,less warm and more detailed.
 
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Don C

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Jul 20, 2013
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USA
I hear the same thing not only at shows but at dealers as well. I got off the merry ground in the late 90's, other than upgrading my digital. The system sounds great and I never come home and listen and wish I had anything else. I have heard some reviewer systems that quite frankly sucked. I don't know where the hobby ran off the rails, but count me as one who thinks we have. It makes me wonder who has recently heard live acoustic music recently. One of the reasons I attend quite a few classical performances in small venues such as St. Martins in the Fields. Gives me a better grasp on what a system sound sound like.

That makes perfect sense to me. Change is not always for the better. I like to have a satisfied mind!

After all, the music I listen to now is pretty much unchanged from yesteryear!
 

BlueFox

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Nov 8, 2013
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Sounds like the grumpy old men club. Give me a few more years to tweak my retirement system, and I might join the club. :)
 

cjfrbw

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Apr 20, 2010
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LOL, what I have been calling "audiophile skeleton sound" for years. At it's best, it is fun and interesting to listen to in a well implemented system. Some of these systems, I would even call excellent.

Neither am I a fan of the so called "absolute sound" of yore, but the audiophile skeleton type sound does seem to have a chasm between itself and the kind of sound you hear in live performances.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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Sheer beauty itself is not good enough,we want to understand why it is beautiful. In this process warm blooming bass has become tight and dry but clearly intelligible,warm cozy mid range carpet slipper sound has become thin and defined,our tweeters must reach to 40kHz because our recording medium can and the wise men have proven that we can actually perceive sound to 100kHz. How the tweeters get that high and what they sacrifice in the process is irrelevant-we want to know what is up there.

Who are these wise men and where have they published this proof? We do know what's up there; noise.

OP - Not all audiophile systems have become more revealing; some speakers and components are designed with pleasant coloration, though few are going to get you back to the blooming (I'd personally drop the L) bass and soft trebles of days gone by. Good for you. That's a lot of money you don't need to spend. Enjoy.

Tim
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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To each his own. Many say they like a musical sound and when I hear their systems they sound dull and rolled off. I prefer an accurate system.

Nicely stated!!!!
 

Elberoth

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Dec 15, 2012
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Thankfully there is the Lampi, which brought the balance to the force ;)
 

Peter Breuninger

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Jul 20, 2010
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I am reviewing an Audio Note system that has oodles of rich warm mid bass with a musical midrange and treble. It is the polar opposite of the YG Anat system I reviewed several years ago. In fact, one of my phile friends loved this system so much so he tried to convince his SO to come over and bless a purchase. It was a bright hyper accurate sound with zero coloration.

I think we all can adapt to different sounds and approaches if we live with them, but then over time something rubs us the wrong way and we get frustrated and have to move on.

I don't think there is any disturbing sonic trend, we had bright and accurate, over etched JBLs and Klipshorns 50 years ago just like the skeletal systems of today.

Different strokes for different folks.
 

Al M.

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Sep 10, 2013
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It was a bright hyper accurate sound with zero coloration.

Bright IS a coloration, a very severe one, so don't tell me about 'zero coloration' or 'accuracy'. Live music rarely sounds bright, and if it does, in a bright acoustic, it is a different kind of brightness than on a 'bright' stereo system.

Warm and fuzzy is a coloration too, at least the warm and fuzzy from some systems that has no resemblance with live sound either.
 

Joe Whip

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Feb 8, 2014
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I must really be the oddball audiophile then. I am slow to purchase, listen carefully a few times, audition in my home and then purchase. Other than a DAC to get into computer based audio, I have not purchased 2 channel equipment in 20 years. My system does not rub me the wrong way at all. I still get many hours of enjoyment listening to music. In fact, 4 hours last night. I hear plenty of systems, small to large and have never come home and thought, gee, I wish I had that system. I am very happy with what I have. As digital continues to improve, I may upgrade that over time. The same if one of my components dies and can't be repaired. Sounds to me like Peter is describing a bad marriage to me! I guess I am just slow to change as this coming week will be my wife's and my 25th. Picked the right one back then as well!
 

Al M.

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I must really be the oddball audiophile then. I am slow to purchase, listen carefully a few times, audition in my home and then purchase. Other than a DAC to get into computer based audio, I have not purchased 2 channel equipment in 20 years. My system does not rub me the wrong way at all. I still get many hours of enjoyment listening to music. In fact, 4 hours last night. I hear plenty of systems, small to large and have never come home and thought, gee, I wish I had that system. I am very happy with what I have. As digital continues to improve, I may upgrade that over time. The same if one of my components dies and can't be repaired. Sounds to me like Peter is describing a bad marriage to me! I guess I am just slow to change as this coming week will be my wife's and my 25th. Picked the right one back then as well!

Same here. My amps, speakers, power conditioning and cables are 24 years old, though admittedly the amps have been heavily upgraded. The subwoofer is 14 years old. Only my digital front end is new, as is acoustic room treatment:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?17334-My-minimonitor-subwoofer-system
 

slowGEEZR

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Bright IS a coloration, a very severe one, so don't tell me about 'zero coloration' or 'accuracy'. Live music rarely sounds bright, and if it does, in a bright acoustic, it is a different kind of brightness than on a 'bright' stereo system.

Warm and fuzzy is a coloration too, at least the warm and fuzzy from some systems that has no resemblance with live sound either.
Absolutely. An accurate system doesn't sound shrill, unless of course, the media does.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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One man's accurate system may be another's bright and shrill.

I know what you're trying to say, but it's not accurate if it's bright. Accurate may seem bright to those who are used to warm, but accurate is accurate. I could leave you with the impression that my system is bright or warm, simply by the choice of recordings I play. If you can't do that with a system, it's probably colored.

Tim
 

Al M.

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I could leave you with the impression that my system is bright or warm, simply by the choice of recordings I play. If you can't do that with a system, it's probably colored.

Tim

Agreed.

(This reproduction of color of recording is independent of the question if the recording captures live sound in a realistic manner. -- If a system always sounds bright it is necessarily colored, just like one that always sounds warm.)
 

jn229

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Jul 23, 2012
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Modern dry bass or vintage round bass, what I find a little scary, half of our beloved treasures were mixed on Yamaha NS-10's.
 

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