Explanation of audiophile terms?

Oct 11, 2014 at 7:47 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12

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I think by now after reading many review I understand most of those terms that are used when describing sound but I'd like some more precise explanation, not some abstract talk:
 
Soundstage                      As I understood it's the feeling of how far something is, sense of space.
Imaging                            Don't exactly understand,
Depth                               Didn't get this one totally either.
Separation                       Separation of what? left and right channel? Don't understand exactly.
Warmth (warm sound)     As I understood it's more mid range and bass focused with laid back highs?
 
So is there exact explanations of those terms? Thanks!
 
Oct 11, 2014 at 2:16 PM Post #5 of 12
  I think by now after reading many review I understand most of those terms that are used when describing sound but I'd like some more precise explanation, not some abstract talk:
 
Soundstage                      As I understood it's the feeling of how far something is, sense of space.
Imaging                            Don't exactly understand,
Depth                               Didn't get this one totally either.
Separation                       Separation of what? left and right channel? Don't understand exactly.
Warmth (warm sound)     As I understood it's more mid range and bass focused with laid back highs?
 
So is there exact explanations of those terms? Thanks!

 
Just to add to the glossaries:
 
Soundstage : The "space" where the performance is recreated by the system 

Imaging : How well the system creates that space above: how wide and how deep (towards the rear) the boundaries are, how each instrument is placed relative to each other, how easy it is to pick out where one sound is coming from, etc
 
Depth : How far back instruments that are supposed to be towards the rear are, relative to the vocals - for example there are sources/systems where the vocals and the drums are imaged along the same line on the Z-Axis of the 3D environment, which is to say, not really 3D at all
 
Separation : Separation of each instrument. Some systems can't sort out the rhythm and lead guitar, sometimes even the bass, from each other; or difficult to pick out in a string quartet for example which string instrument is doing what (or where), despite their varying tone and even notes
 
-----------
 
Further notes:

1) In a really good system, if you play a properly recorded symphonic performance, you should be able to tell where each section is: strings over there, brass off to one side of it, etc.
 
2) If your system is too far from neutral, it can cause issues in the imaging as well as the other aspects - eg too much bass response can put the bass drum farther out front (despite some sense of having the drums clearly behind the vocals), while insufficient bass can make the bass drum sound like a snare with a pillow in it; too much treble and on top of glare you can have easily localizable cymbals, which isn't the same as "easy to pick out location" but is more "you hear it right where the speaker is (likely irrespective of where the other percussion isntruments are)." In headphones, that can mean an image where it feels like having the cymbals by your temples, even if the other drums might not be.
 
3) Number 2 may be caused by any number of factors: headphone/speaker response (none with absolutely perfectly flat response exists yet), amp distortion characteristics if having trouble driving a given headphone/speaker, deliberately "colored" source (analog output section EQs the signal from the DAC)
 
4) Speaker/headphone location can affect the response and hence imaging as well; that is why some headphones have angled driver mounts or earpads to mimic speaker toe-in angles and also to prevent having them directly over the ear canals. Only in cars do you have the speakers on the flanks and directly pointed at that angle, the solutions to which involve basically doing the same thing, as in competition-quality custom audio systems (no, it's not all about who can blow his windshield off with a subwoofer).
 
5) Look up technical explanations on Crossfeed, particularly the ones that have illustrations - they will cover the points raised above in detail, as well as the realities with headphone listening.
 
Oct 14, 2014 at 5:53 PM Post #7 of 12
 
Soundstage : The "space" where the performance is recreated by the system 

Imaging : How well the system creates that space above: how wide and how deep (towards the rear) the boundaries are, how each instrument is placed relative to each other, how easy it is to pick out where one sound is coming from, etc
 
Depth : How far back instruments that are supposed to be towards the rear are, relative to the vocals - for example there are sources/systems where the vocals and the drums are imaged along the same line on the Z-Axis of the 3D environment, which is to say, not really 3D at all
 
Separation : Separation of each instrument. Some systems can't sort out the rhythm and lead guitar, sometimes even the bass, from each other; or difficult to pick out in a string quartet for example which string instrument is doing what (or where), despite their varying tone and even notes
 

 I don't understand exactly about the imaging... how well you can tell which instrument is where, but isn't that only up to the recording itself? I mean if headphones are 2 channels, stereo it's totally up to recording about that imaging... I don't understand how can some headphone have better imaging than the other? Soundstage I understand, tho I don't understand how could it have good soundstage but bad depth for example... And from what I understood that separation is like clarity, how clear does overall sound is (so it's easier to distinguish guitars if there are 2 electric for example).. Thanks in advance! :)
 
Oct 14, 2014 at 8:22 PM Post #8 of 12
   I don't understand exactly about the imaging... how well you can tell which instrument is where, but isn't that only up to the recording itself? I mean if headphones are 2 channels, stereo it's totally up to recording about that imaging... I don't understand how can some headphone have better imaging than the other? Soundstage I understand, tho I don't understand how could it have good soundstage but bad depth for example... And from what I understood that separation is like clarity, how clear does overall sound is (so it's easier to distinguish guitars if there are 2 electric for example).. Thanks in advance! :)

 
All the information is in the recording, but some headphones do a better job of working with that information and transforming it into sound waves that you can hear.
 
I'll paste from Stereophile:
 
imaging The measure of a system's ability to float stable and specific phantom images, reproducing the original sizes and locations of the instruments across the soundstage. See "stereo imaging."

phantom image The re-creation by a stereo system of an apparent sound source at a location other than that of either loudspeaker.

soundstaging, soundstage presentation The accuracy with which a reproducing system conveys audible information about the size, shape, and acoustical characteristics of the original recording space and the placement of the performers within it.

depth The illusion of acoustical distance receding behind the loudspeaker plane, giving the impression of listening through the loudspeakers into the original performing space, rather than to them. See "layering," "transparency." Compare "flat."


Separation is instrument separation, as well as the sense that the different frequencies (bass, mids, treble) are distinct and not mushed together. While a system with good separation would have a degree of clarity/transparency, clarity is not the definition of separation.
 
transparency, transparent 1) A quality of sound reproduction that gives the impression of listening through the system to the original sounds, rather than to a pair of loudspeakers. 2) Freedom from veiling, texturing, or any other quality which tends to obscure the signal. A quality of crystalline clarity.

 
And just to be thorough, I'll paste from the Head-Fi glossary as well:
 
Imaging - The sense that a voice or instrument is in a particular place in the room.

Soundstage - The area between two speakers that appears to the listener to be occupied by sonic images. Like a real stage, a soundstage should have width, depth, and height.

Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.

Transparent - Easy to hear into the music, detailed, clear, not muddy. Wide flat frequency response, sharp time response, very low distortion and noise. A hear through quality that is akin to clarity and reveals all aspects of detail.

 
Oct 15, 2014 at 2:28 AM Post #9 of 12
   I don't understand exactly about the imaging... how well you can tell which instrument is where, but isn't that only up to the recording itself?

 
The information is in the recording, but your playback system - primarily the speakers/headphones and room modes (in speakers; with headphones it comes with the chassis design as much as the drivers' response in the lab outside of its chassis) - can diminish the accuracy of the image. Pretty much anything can do that. First, the obvious ones: if your system is in an environment with physical limitations, then you won't be able to reproduce an identical soundstage as far as the recording is concerned - for example how many people have a listening area that can accommodate basically the entire width of a real stage? Not many have enough space for that, let alone a stage in a stadium. Basically, everything in terms of size is "to scale," so you can tell that to any speaker listener bashing the "tiny" soundstage of headphones, because unless he's rich enough to have a room that's at least 30ft wide just for listening, he's also listening "to scale."
 
Second is still related to the first one: if your room is as small as it is and you have to put the speakers too close to the walls, or even if you don't, you have to deal with excessive reflections off the walls. I started to get serious with headphones because my home system couldn't get as good with the imaging as my car system that had a processor to overcome its inherent issues. Basically, on the one room I can spare for a system, on one side I have the concrete outer wall with windows on it, and on the other side I have the wood interior wall. Sound bounces differently off of both, so barring total acoustic treatment, one side will always sound brighter and the cymbals pushed forward more. Not even the swivel mount on the tweeters helped that (in the car at least both sides bounced off identical surfaces save for the driver's side instrument cluster hood on the dash). In the rough plans I've put up for my own home designed from the ground up, I'll have the listening room as a room inside another room to isolate noise, with the surrounding room/antechamber housing CDs and other collections (like my Gundams and Hot Wheels, weapons and wooden training gear), at least 16x10x10 ft and acoustically treated, and will be cooled/ventilated by a split-inverter A/C that can cool it quickly at full tilt then turned down to near zero noise (if not switched off) while the room can be kept cool naturally for the duration of my listening.
 
Third, even the frequency response can mess up imaging. What some call a "forward, aggressive sound" can be cymbals and everything else too close to the front with no depth; what some like about having a lot of bass can mean the bass drum won't have any depth to its location, and sound like it's coming from the same point along the Z-axis as the vocals, if not in front of it.
 
 
  I mean if headphones are 2 channels, stereo it's totally up to recording about that imaging... I don't understand how can some headphone have better imaging than the other? Soundstage I understand, tho I don't understand how could it have good soundstage but bad depth for example... And from what I understood that separation is like clarity, how clear does overall sound is (so it's easier to distinguish guitars if there are 2 electric for example).. Thanks in advance! :)

 
It depends on how well the headphone can minimize the things that makes for stereotypical headphone listening. First, understand the difference between speakers and headphones - in speakers you have each channel farther apart, and with proper toe-in - that enhances the imaging focus and depth. If your speakers' dispersion patterns (how wide the sound radiates from the speakers) are too narrow and you don't use enough toe-in, much less have them pointing straight ahead, you get a deceptively "wide" soundstage (assuming reflections off the side walls aren't getting in the way).
 
By contrast, headphones are on your head, and it seems like an upside that you don't deal with room modes and noise-sensitive neighbors, but you just trade in one set of issues for another set. For a start, left ear can't hear the output from the right driver, so that creates one problem already regarding how your brain can process the location of sound sources in the recording. The second is the proximity of the drivers to your ears and their relative positions. On your typical headphone, that would be like placing the speakers at your flanks at a perpendicular angle towards you. Do this for speakers and you end up with generally the same soundstage as a headphone, only larger; however, left hearing right and vice versa might end up confusing you more given the locations at that point. In any case many people often mistake as "wide soundstage" when what they're actually hearing "very strong L-C-R image, with weak signal - in terms of output as well as positioning cues - between L-C and C-R." In the same  fashion they might mistake a headphone with a larger soundstage to be "distant and lacks focus" when in fact they are just used to the strong center image of a more typical diver placement; or assume one headphone doesn't have a large enough soundstage when it otherwise does well in precise imaging of each instrument's relative position.
 
One way to deal with that is to move the drivers away from directly on top of the ear canals - on some headphones they are slightly forward (like on the HD600), while some simulate toe-in angles and move the drivers a bit forward - some use earpads that are thicker along the rear (K7xx), while others have a chassis whee the driver mounts are angled (HD800, T1, MDR-1R). On top of that, some DACs, amps, and software use Crossfeed, which feeds some frequencies (not the entire spectrum, which already count as a technical defect regarding the channel separation) from one side to the other. In any case it's only really when you compare a headphone with a severe lack of soundstage to one that does extremely well with it that it's easy to hear the difference (like an S125 vs a K701).
 
Here's a diagram I used in another thread before showing the differences in driver placement. The speakers (brown diamonds) for the sake of easier drawing in MSPaint have too much toe in, but still the general idea is there to show the contrast between that and the driver position of the typical headphone smack on top of the ear canals (red lines), and then a headphone with angled earpads or driver mounts (blue) shows the similarity with how the speakers have a toe-in.
 

 
Oct 15, 2014 at 11:03 AM Post #11 of 12
Had a pretty good idea as to what all of these meant having friends who have played in bands my whole life but this has definitely helped refine my understanding of all the terms. I love being more informed on subjects I feel I know pretty well. It makes for a great experience of expanding ones understanding... Thanks all! btw I'm new here...
 

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