At least you didn't mention DDR! Other than microdetail, everything else is fairly well understood with respect to the illusion the brain creates from the incoming data. The flat earth brigade like to believe there is some magic that cannot be measured, but I've yet to see any.
This is nonsense.
If a well designed amplifier can produce signals over its whole dynamic range with fidelity then it can produce ‘micro detail’ and ‘ambiance‘.
You’re using hi-fi journo speak to try to describe (or is it obsfucate?) a technical point (accuracy, linearity). Please don’t do that here. The reason they use that talk in magazines is the vast majority are not technically qualified- believe me I know what I’m talking about - so they have to use terminology like that.
You are not in position to prescribe what I should or what I should not do here, as long as I follow the rules. Inadequacy of measurements is a relevant issue.
You need to accept the possibility that in a controlled test neither of you could reliably tell the difference. That's why they will never happen.
Actually unwillingness of the true believers to even discuss pyschoacoustics is a much more relevant issue. Two speakers on their own cannot product height or depth information. Soundstage is an illusion created in our brains.
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To say that consumer-oriented gear reviews are not valid because they are not written by engineers is same as saying that food reviews are not valid because they are not written by cooks. Both have their purpose and audience. And it is not all fraud as some believe.
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so go on, explain how a sound stage is created with 2 sources without bringing the brain into it?
I wonder how the stage was created by grandmother's radio? It stood on a stand in the corner - a large speaker in the middle and two small ones on the sides.
Military marches WWII sounded especially good 🙂
Military marches WWII sounded especially good 🙂
A single one channel mono signal can contain no up/down or left/right information every speaker/room combination will create a different illusion. Any claim to the otherwise is extraordinary.
This can be explained without invoking brain. Two ears are like two small directional microphones. If you can evaluate level differences and time delays between the two microphones across the spectrum, you have information necessary to locate sound sources. Just need accurate measurements and some computing.
You can't. Stereo is an illusion if there ever was one. we are all deluding ourselves when listening to stereo. Hint: there is no singer between the speakers ;-)
The big elephant in the room is perception. Everything you experience, perceive, has been heavily processed by the brain. That is also why your appreciation of music and your music system varies with how you feel and your 'body state', which influences the brain.
All this is well known stuff for anyone serious about music reproduction, but most audio diy-ers limit themselves to the hardware of the system, although the 'wetware' is the final arbiter of what you 'hear'.
Jan
It may be similar to HDTV. When I first saw it, I was surprised how 3-d it was looking compared to standard definition. Similarly, high definition mono recording has some spacial cues that create semblance of 3-d effect.
... and who or what you think is doing the evaluation and computing ...?
And completely out of your control at that?
Jan
In both cases an illusion there is no evidence anywhere to any other explanation. You have a single value for each moment in time, spatial cues imply hidden information which is not possible.
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Spacial cues in mono could be, for example, reflections of trumpet sound from side walls, back wall, and ceiling. Certain time delays and intensities of these reflections make kind of one-dimensional footprint of the instrument and microphone located at fixed positions in the hall.
Please re-read Scott's post above yours. The recording venue surely does color the sound, but with a mono speaker there is no spatial information in the sense that you can know the position of the sound source in the recording. It all comes from the single speaker.
Only in stereo you can trick your brain in thinking that there is *something* in the space between the speakers. The brain uses intensity and arrival-time differences between the ears to create a useful illusion.
Jan
Only in stereo you can trick your brain in thinking that there is *something* in the space between the speakers. The brain uses intensity and arrival-time differences between the ears to create a useful illusion.
Jan
Only fools are easily parted with their money 😉.
Unless it is a guitar amplifier, hence a relevant part of the musical instrument, hence a sound producer, aka FX machine, an amplifer doesn't need to »sound« at all. Neither does it need some »sound signature«, as some stated here or in other threads. The ideal high fideltiy amplifier is the wire with gain. It doesn't add or omit anything to/from the input signal, neither colourizes it.
Best regards!
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