[HeadWired]

Maybe Braver can teach us some Dutch and that can be the new language of audio. Kinda like French is for cooking.

 

[Raymond Kim]

Quote:

"musical" to me means a warm and realistic midrange. the midrange is where the highest percentage of musical information comes from. "warm and detailed mids" would also do just fine for me.

Redshifter, that is exactly what I mean. To you "musical" means "a warm and realistic midrange," but the term "musical" can mean many different things to reviewers. Can't reviewers say such and such headphones are "warm and have accurate midrange" instead of just saying that they're "musical?"

 

[Old Pa]

That would be way too easy, Raymond, besides, making up new terms is a good way to convey you are an expert in a specialty.

 

[RickG]

Any suggestions for alternative discriptive terms?

 

[Odin]

I thought musical means that "symphonic, warm, full-textured, realistic" sound that you hear from a live musical show. So I guess the Senns 600 would be musical as oppose to Grado 225.

What's sibilance?

 

[Old Pa]

What is done in other technical writing is to specify the definition the writer is using for a term the first time the term is used. Then that definition stands for the rest of the piece with the term as shorthand for it.

 

[stuartr]

Fabio is an audiophile. He creeps me out. Did anyone see when Tom Green went to his house? He was showing off all this audiophile stuff. He had these ten foot tall speakers that looked ridiculous. He said they cost 100,000 dollars. Then Tom Green went into his closet, and he had thousands of wife-beaters in all different colors and patterns. Tom Green put one on, it was rather humorous. What a strange life though! All he really had was flashy cars, muscle shirts, audio equipment and I can't believe it's not butter...Yes, well, another reason to "like hi-fi audio" and not be an audiophile.

 

[RickG]

Although these links have been posted in various threads, I think they might be helpful here as well:

http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?50:1

http://www.headwize.com/articles/judging_art.htm

http://headwize.com/articles/hguide_art.htm

 

[Audio-Me]

new terms for:
"tight & deep" - gutsy or potent
"musical" - histrionic or slushy

stuartr - lofl, just cause he spends his pathetically obtained money to buy all that doesn't mean he's an audiophile. He probably got suckered into buying them by some funny dude.

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Quote:

Originally posted by morphsci What the heck is "palpable presence"? Does that mean there is "unpalpable or inpalpable presence"? What's up with that?

That one irks me a bit too -- I guess we can at least agree on something.

I don't think I've ever used "palpable presence" to describe sound, but I did use "palpable" to describe how cymbal taps sound in my D-25S review.

Technically, "palpable" means "able to be felt," and is most often used in medical exams -- such as, "a palpable subcutaneous lump was discovered on the patient's left elbow." So it's a particularly stupid term in reference to how something sounds. But I couldn't think of a better way to describe how realistic the sound was, so I used it. I guess it's just difficult to describe sound.

As far as "musical" goes, I agree with those who said it means the opposite of "analytical, cold." I can describe the reaction better: when I listen to the Sony MDR-V6s, I sometimes find myself furrowing my brow a bit; the music is all there, but it's simply uninvolving -- 'non-musical.' When a set of headphones is "musical," I'll catch myself tapping my foot or fingers. The KSC-35s are musical, and the V6 are not. IMO.

 

[Russ Arcuri]

A couple other comments. My signature is "The Peripatetic Audiophile," but that DEFINITELY does not apply if we use redshifter's definition: "someone who buys boutique hi-fi equipment and has long passed the point of diminishing returns." Most of my stuff is strictly mid-fi, though I've lucked into a relatively high-end stereo amp setup with the NAD 2200 and 1155, which I got for a song. They're still not Krell, of course.

I wonder if by using redshifter's definition, there are ANY "peripatetic audiophiles." Those terms might be mutually exclusive.

Sibilance -- this one has a very real definition, which is really about describing how something sounds. Sibilance is when the "s" sounds of a person's voice are emphasized; this can be very annoying on bright-sounding cans.

 

[morphsci]

Actually I think palpable is a perfectly apt desription of many percussion instruments. Its use to describe cymbals seemed quite appropriate. Its palpable and presence that seems to convey no real information. At least to me it seems that palpable presence is just another of the audiophile bandwagon buzzwords.

 

[TerriblySorry]

"diminishing returns" is one that's often spoken as if diminishing returns is a bad thing. Sad fact is, sooner or later our rigs are going to shunt their last electron, then give up the ghost. What do we have for our money then? Scrap metal, maybe?

It's the insinuation that irks me, as if by paying more I somehow get less. "diminishing returns" is up there with "save money", cos to "save" money you usually have to spend it. Huh?

 

[chadbang]

This has been a very musical thread, in my opinion. Palpable, yet refined discourse, exceptionally liquid in its themes and polite in tone. A fine addition to Head-Fi's appreciable accomplishments. Highly recommended.

 

[RickG]

Lol, chadbang...