Your Sound Signature?

[Mick The Kraken]

I selected LINEAR and DETAILED, CLINICAL and PRECISE, like DigiPete. I also don't care for perfume and would love to listen to a Genelec 100% digital system. Agree with Mayhem 13 as well - that it's really mostly speakers and the room that provide a particular sound signature beyond what is on the recorded material, unless you're using tube equipment. Accurate is another way to say it.

 

I did the same. I feel that my DAC2 and 30.2 offer up a combination of the two that the Cornwalls are able to convey effortlessly.

[4est]

Wow, tube gear sure gets a bad rap around here as Brian indicated...

[JohnMH]

Wow, tube gear sure gets a bad rap around here as Brian indicated...

 

Don't mean to insult tube fans. I understand that some like the sound provided by tube amps. Looks like 8 people responding to this poll so far fall into that camp.

[monteverdi]

Why is there not an option as unprocessed/neutral as possible. Detailed clinical and precise means often emphasis on highs -just an other tone control. A lot of recordings are mixed and processed so it is impossible to know what they should sound anyhow. A lot of these options are attempts to ameliorate the recording chain. What means linear for sound signature?

[Hanuman22]

The purest analogue sound i have ever heard came from a hi-end vinyl spinner thru a DcsElgar dac/preamp thru Vandersteen 5A's monoblocked with 2 BEL 1001 MKv's, pure uncolored, detailed, spacious, and very neutral. The store owner's personal signature demo rig left me with a sense of realness that i sensed i may not quite ever hear again,, as at that time, the LINN CD 12 had just been released was set up in the next room. With which but one listen and you knew immediately that the paradigm had shifted. So, with each exacting tweak towards digital neutrality, it would seem one is left with the question of where it is that we have come from and from what reference, and then to ask, am i getting there? Is linear attainable or subjective to the ear?

[4est]

The purest analogue sound i have ever heard came from a hi-end vinyl spinner thru a DcsElgar dac/preamp thru Vandersteen 5A's monoblocked with 2 BEL 1001 MKv's, pure uncolored, detailed, spacious, and very neutral. The store owner's personal signature demo rig left me with a sense of realness that i sensed i may not quite ever hear again,, as at that time, the LINN CD 12 had just been released was set up in the next room. With which but one listen and you knew immediately that the paradigm had shifted. So, with each exacting tweak towards digital neutrality, it would seem one is left with the question of where it is that we have come from and from what reference, and then to ask, am i getting there? Is linear attainable or subjective to the ear?

 

I feel "linear" is a goal that should be sought, but never expected to be attained. I liken it to the color white. Go to a paint shop and ask for white and they will show you several at least. Most will look like white next to another color, but next to themselves the subtle hues are evident. A tinge of blue, yellow, pink or green is apparent, often even after the other samples are removed. To the trained eye, often another version of white is not even required for one to discern the hue.

 

Then there is color depth, sheen and so on...

 

My previous statement about taste in speakers likens to this. Panels, horns or monitors all have their strengths and weaknesses. The closer to perfect any speaker is, the more they will tick the boxes of someone that prefers a different type. If anyone thinks their system does not have a color or "signature", they are fooling themselves. No amount of DSP, cabling or room treatments are going to change this or turn a sows ear into a silk purse. Find a blonde, brunette or redhead you really like, and work to get the best out of/with them.

 

I am glad that polygamy is not an issue with (most) speakers!

[Hanuman22]

Very zen indeed 4est,, couldn't agree more, as subjective listening reveals more and more detail one may notice that which is not, and in many cases with regards to digital, it's analogue we seek behind the veil. Within a long convo with Lou Motek at DFPC Lessloss power cords, he had this to say in regards to power conditioning and it's gateway to neutrality:

("Some of them went on to buy power cords for all of their remaining equipment, and then did a series of prolonged listening tests, after burn-in, which then proved to them that their filter was also taking away from the real natural dynamics. By "real" of course I mean here what these individual people deem real, or desirable, to be more exact. And so they sold the filter. This happens quite often. But each individual taste in sound is different, so it is impossible to say for certain that any filter is indeed impacting the dynamics negatively as a matter of "scientific fact." "If one could appreciate a filter or a re-generator for each piece of gear, that filter solution would be equally good. But that, I'm afraid, is probably not the case, and if you put 50 or 100 such filters in series, I believe there would be no life left in the music at all, and there would be less pleasure in listening, as the naturalness would be lost.")

[Jay192]

Since I went Brand first, along with Detailed etc and Linear ... (Would have also ticked Many if it wasn't for the Don't Care part. Here's why;

 

re MBL. Energetic yet smooth is how I can best describe it. It's a live energy which I've not felt to such a degree from other systems. It'll faithfully reproduce anything it's given; from 1812 cannons to Carol Kidds tender voice.

 

It also does a somewhat unique job of reproducing certain instruments. I'll write more about that later when I (finally) put pen to paper and do a 'review'.

 

Fyi, my 2nd speaker choice was Focal Stella. Which, IMO, is another very brand-specific sound.

[coxhaus]

I like an analog sound not too bright. There does not seem to be a category for my kind of sound so I did not vote.

[Guidof]

Well rounded, like a GOOD tube amp. The operative word is "good." A really good tube amp sounds well rounded but not fat, that is neutral without sounding clinical. The closest to the sound of unamplified performers in a good concert hall (not all are).

 

Thanks for asking the question.

 

Guido F.

[sjoc2000]

Very linear, that is transparent, that is you get what you got...

 

Jim

[sandyk]

[Well rounded, like a GOOD tube amp. The operative word is "good." A really good tube amp sounds well rounded but not fat, that is neutral without sounding clinical/QUOTE]

 

Unless the tube amp is using grounded grid topology it will almost inevitably add a little warmth (colouration) due to a greater proportion of even order harmonics over odd order harmonics. They may sound very good to many people, but they are NOT completely neutral sounding.