What Makes the Sound Good and What Is Your Flavor?

We all have different opinions of what makes the sound produced by the artificial sources we call digital or analog players worth listening to or even worth experiencing. Some may have a musical background and therefore be very precice of how the instruments sound. The bass player wants to hear a perfect lower end and the violinist hears the strings and so forth. I dare to say that most of us simply want to enjoy club gigs and concerts - never really noticing anything special about the sound unless it is badly mixed or the live equipments are otherwise faulty. Most people may have never heard an excellent or even good sound reproduction in 'home environment' - they simply don't know what they are missing. Hell I know a lot of people who are fine with their laptop's speakers and 20€ PC speakers. The way I see it most people do not notice the quality of the sound unless it is somehow really really bad or the equipment is faulty. It's like air. It's there every day for you but you don't really notice or think of it unless there is something wrong with it. Or unless you are hungry.

Now don't get me wrong - people can be just the way they want to be. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us who appreciate what they are hearing when listening to music need to settle for a lower level. Naturally this goes for great many other things as well. We are here because we believe in, no, we are here because we are passionate of something and demand a certain level of satisfactory in our every day lives - when it comes to listening music. 

On with the show. 

Personally what I care the most in my system is the ability to surprise even after many months or even years. At the moment I believe that is is done by a great amount of absolute resolution, separation of instruments, fast and snappy pace some may call PRaT, and a full range reproduction from the punchy low bass into the ear tingling heights. Usually a little forward presentation that seems to fill the room with three dimensional presentation helps too. What really kills the sound for me is a dull dynamics, recessed heights and bass, dry clinical sound without warmth or overly boomy bass.

Now of course different kinds of systems are used in different kinds of environments - the requirements for PC monitors, lounges, PA and multichannel AV system are different from traditional 2-channel system but more on those later. 

Should you care about the sound of your music system? Well that is up to you. But let me say that building even a half decent and balanced system does not need to cost you a small car's worth. And we are talking about something you will use for many many hours, most likely daily.  At least I am. 

So when you make the (wise) decision to invest in yourself or in your family - get to know your preferences. Hi-Fi comes in all sorts of flavors and colors. Learn to know how you like it!

Credit: nosha via imcreator.com