[usc goose]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl I still don't see it as a big mystery. It either sounds real or it does not.

Sounds real, eh? What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain... ok, i'm going off rambling in other people's words again. I'll stop myself here.

Point taken, I just don't think there's an answer to the whole colored/uncolored debate. Kind of like the whole Jesus/Mohammed/We're still waiting for him debate you know?

Yeah...

 

[usc goose]

Yeah, concerts aren't about music really. More about experiences. I wasn't around to see Zeppelin or Hendrix or any of those cats which is kind of sad. So I guess for me the ignorance of better times is bliss. Don't even get me started on the fidelity levels when clubbing. Ugh.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by usc goose Yeah, concerts aren't about music really. More about experiences. I wasn't around to see Zeppelin or Hendrix or any of those cats which is kind of sad. So I guess for me the ignorance of better times is bliss. Don't even get me started on the fidelity levels when clubbing. Ugh.

What's the best kind of club to use? And do you put the baby seals in a bag or box?

 

[usc goose]

hahahahahahahahaha oh jesus. oh you kill me. [size=xx-small]no no no no there's 2 o's in goose fellas. 2 o's. (sorry, just had to slip that in, it's one of those days i can't seem to stop quoting things)[/size]

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw I agree with this for classical or jazz music. But what about for say, rock? What is a "live" sound? When I was at a concert, the opening band's sound sucked. All it was was TONS of bass from the drums. Is this colored sound, or just crappy mic placement/leveling?

Well, then don't use rock music.

PS I agree with the comment about "just go for good sound" comment by usc goo...I mean, goose and with the "comparison to reality" comment by markl.

 

[wallijonn]

Quote:

Even then, a person still can't be totally sure.

a person can be sure. in COMPARISON, one headphone can sound coloured or uncoloured in COMPARISON to another headphone.

fear the man that only owns one headphone.

"colour" encompasses a wide spectrum of frequencies and does not affect just one instrument; it gives a certain flavour to the overall sound re-produced. you can find it either pleasing or not. me, i like female vocals to sound like female vocals, and male vocals to sound like male vocals. i want a G note to sound like a G note and not a G flat or a G sharp. colour therefore has to do more with harmonics perceived. ("slow" versus "natural" versus "fast").

there are many shades of yellow and red and blue. ever see an orange that looks like an apple, in colour? or a blue one? if you did, would you eat it?

 

[markl]

well said wallijohn.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

It's really not that mysterious or difficult. We obviously can hear music, voices and instruments live without the "filter" of audio equipment in between our ears and the actual musical event, such as listening to the sound waves produced by a violin in the open air for example. The gear that sounds most like the live event most like a "real" violin is the least "colored". Mark

Yes it is IMO, how do you really know for sure, that a particular piece of music or instrument was recorded, or not, in the way you hear it in real life, and without any coloration of the technology in between, or maybe the personal taste of the person in charge of the recording (unless you were the person in charge or it)? Maybe it was not, and you simply are following a ghost, that at then end will take you to anyplace but an accurate heaphone. IMO this is really a very controversial point, how we know the real way a recording was done, or the real way is it supposed to sound? We could have an ideal of what is not an accurate one, but to determine which is the most accurate, this is another issue, IMO, I think that most of us (including me), like one particular kind of coloration over others.....period, just my two cents...

 

[Sentral Dogma]

i guess there are lots of debates over colorations in music monitoring, for those professionals, or aspiring professionals, but for enjoyment listening...

how can one possible beat the advice, "listen to the sound that you like". Listen to what makes you enjoy the music most, and don't let anything but your own ears tell you otherwise.

 

[sTaTIx]

Quote:

Originally posted by wallijonn there are many shades of yellow and red and blue. ever see an orange that looks like an apple, in colour? or a blue one? if you did, would you eat it?

If it tastes good, and it isn't poisonous, then sure.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Well, this topic is as old as audio itself, and it's pretty obvious that many people don't agree with each other about which headphone is the most "color free". That's why they make more than one brand of headphones folks. Buy the one you like best, and just live with it, because every headphone/transducer on the market is colored.

 

[zzz]

If a certain sonic trait is present no matter what music/recording is being played, it is a coloration.

 

[Vertigo-1]

Quote:

Originally posted by dcfly Something I've always wondered about is when people say that a certain pair of headphones "color the sound" more than others, how do they really know? Maybe what they think is uncolored is really colored, and what is colored is uncolored. How can a person ever really be sure without some sort of tedious and time-consuming manipulation of sound measuring equipment? Even then, a person still can't be totally sure.

I like to think of it as whether I could possibly recognize something by its sound if I were blindfolded. If I can, it's obviously colored, or i.e. imparts its own sonic signature on things. Pretty much nothing in audio could pass a test like this...even those vaunted Grado HP-1ks. Which leads to the conclusion that nothing is truly uncolored. Let's face it...all things in audio are designed by humans. We'd like to all think they had neutrality in mind, but all designers ultimately have their own preferences too. It's just a matter of finding out which designer's preference you happen to agree with.

We only use the word uncolored (or try to) when directly comparing two audio components toe to toe. For the most part, something that heavily adds to the tonal spectrum is usually the one that's going to be called colored, or more colored. But I simply do not buy the notion that any one audio component can be truly called uncolored.

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dusty Chalk Well, then don't use rock music.

So how would one know when rock musics sounds natural?

 

[dcfly]

It seems that a person could get a fairly good idea of how a certain pair of headphones colors sound if they had a musical instrument that they had played for several years - let's say a piano - and they had a very familiar idea of how that piano sounded in the particular room it was in. This person would also have to be very familiar with his/her microphones and recording equipment and understand the different ways that they may color the sound of the piano being played in that room. This person could then record the piano and evaluate his/her 'phones on well-known playback equipment. It's still not anywhere near perfect, but it would provide a good point of reference.

A well-known "outside" recording would not work because we do not know exactly what, say, John Coltrane's saxophone sounded like before being recorded using unknown equipment at such-and-such a time and such-and-such a place.