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Post by Jean Genie on Jul 13, 2018 8:44:18 GMT -5
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Post by geeqner on Jul 13, 2018 10:04:20 GMT -5
It is an interesting read, and something that I have always suspected.
Original Performance --> Recorded Media = there is NO "neutral" sound
Faithful reproduction of Recorded Media --> Sound of YOUR System, STILL further impossibility (But I would argue that some still do a better job of this than others)
Plus, I would add that the "desired sound" of a recording was INTENTIONALLY "shaped" by the Recording Engineer(s) and Artist in order to achieve their DESIRED sound on the studio monitors / audition system of THEIR choosing. Another way of looking at this is that SOME "coloration" of the sound is built-in. The desired coloration of ONE artist / recording engineer may not fully agree with what a different artist / engineer desires.
In this case, if your System sounds "right" for ONE chosen recording (or in general, a particular genre where artists and engineers have similar tastes)
it MAY sound "wrong" (or, at least "LESS Right" for other recordings).
It's ALL Subjective, and there are too many variables.....
OTOH - Enjoy the music of your choosing and the quest for "perfection", however futile, is STILL a noble one
Our local hero here in Wisconsin, Mr. Vincent Lombardi once said that "...Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we CAN catch excellence. ..."
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Post by pedrocols on Jul 13, 2018 10:16:18 GMT -5
And there is a whole industry devoted to subjectivity often flooded with perceived objectivity....
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Post by Loop 7 on Jul 13, 2018 11:12:54 GMT -5
I've always dismissed marketing terms like "neutral" or that the piece of gear doesn't have a sound. Nonsense.
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 10,273
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Post by KeithL on Jul 13, 2018 14:32:50 GMT -5
I would have to both agree and disagree here.
At some level, nothing is absolutely neutral, and no two pieces of equipment sound entirely identical. However, some manufacturers do their best to create products that reproduce whatever you feed them with as little alteration as possible, while others deliberately aim for a particular "house sound". We feel there's a big difference between products that are at least designed to "sound as neutral as possible" and those that are "just designed to sound nice - according to someone's opinion".
You may or may not consider a given performance to sound good... And you may or may not be pleased with the result the recording engineer achieved either... However, we don't believe that it's the job of your stereo system to mess with it yet again, in an attempt to make it sound the way we think it should sound... We figure it's better to just deliver what the recording engineer recorded, as accurately as possible, and sounding as close to what he or she intended as we can manage to make it...
So, here at Emotiva, that is our design goal...
I've always dismissed marketing terms like "neutral" or that the piece of gear doesn't have a sound. Nonsense. |
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Post by Loop 7 on Jul 13, 2018 18:50:42 GMT -5
I would have to both agree and disagree here. At some level, nothing is absolutely neutral, and no two pieces of equipment sound entirely identical. However, some manufacturers do their best to create products that reproduce whatever you feed them with as little alteration as possible, while others deliberately aim for a particular "house sound". We feel there's a big difference between products that are at least designed to "sound as neutral as possible" and those that are "just designed to sound nice - according to someone's opinion".
You may or may not consider a given performance to sound good... And you may or may not be pleased with the result the recording engineer achieved either... However, we don't believe that it's the job of your stereo system to mess with it yet again, in an attempt to make it sound the way we think it should sound... We figure it's better to just deliver what the recording engineer recorded, as accurately as possible, and sounding as close to what he or she intended as we can manage to make it...
So, here at Emotiva, that is our design goal...
I've always dismissed marketing terms like "neutral" or that the piece of gear doesn't have a sound. Nonsense. I was not trying to pick a fight. Too many electronics marketed as neutral sound different from one another so the term is problematic but necessary for marketing and company vision. "Reference" is another problematic term. I sort of think "reference' would be listening to music in the mastering suite with that room's characteristics and all the gear involved. |
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Post by sahmen on Jul 13, 2018 19:18:07 GMT -5
I think "neutral," "reference," and probably, even "transparent," do not refer to any really objective sounds or things that exist in the real world of music/sound production, and because of that they should always be taken with a grain of salt. On the other hand, they are very useful as markers within a system of active standardization that enable the industry to regulate and keep the production of sound within certain agreed parameters, and it is such parameters that make it possible experts and enthusiasts to distinguish between "good" and "bad" sound/music production, even though, it is true that such experts and enthusiasts do not always agree about the standards..
It is a bit like the concept of "beauty," which probably does not refer to any one particular "thing" in the world that all humans can consensually and objectively agree to call "beautiful." Yet, in every particular cultural context, there are specific and limited standards that enable what is "beautiful" to be distinguished from what is "ugly," within more or less conventionally stipulated limits, and also, what is "good" from what is "bad," however imperfectly we make such distinctions.
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