It's not the right comparison - it is more complicated than simply tallying up number of sources.... When a person sings, all of their vocal sound comes out of their mouth. The guitar sounds come out of the guitar - none of the guitar sounds come out of the singer's mouth (unless it's Peter Frampton lol) or vioce versa. Each 'source' is complete and self-contained.
I feel like it'll also depend on your personal sensitivities and what triggers your perception of incoherence or time/phase misalignment. For me, personally, I've always been less privy to differences between driver types - or different BA models in a multi-driver set-up, as in your example - compared to incoherences in frequency response or tonal balance. For example, take a single DD with more presence at 5kHz than 1-2kHz. When I listen to a snare drum, that driver would give me a bright, forward attack, then the body of the drum an inch or two behind. Compare that to a BA handling 5kHz and another handling 1-2kHz, but they're levelled equally (per my ears) and with proper phase correction; minimal phase cancellation, if any. I'd most likely find the latter more "coherent" than the former, even if the former may have a slight edge in timing, uniformity in texture, etc. But, that's simply because of what my ears and brain happen to be alarmed by, whether by nature or nurture. Judging from your posts, you may feel differently.
I think that affinity that comes with dynamic drivers just comes from the fact that we've long grown up with it. Whereas, BA is almost the new kid on the block like e-stats are now. Although the degree to which we pick up on the differences between the two - in the mids, the highs and the intangibles (like time, texture, etc.) - will differ from one person to the next, that subconscious attraction a lot of us have towards the DD sound is something that's undeniable, I think.
There also seems to be a high percentage of people who play certain instruments and don’t find that said instrument sounds quite correct unless it’s being reproduced by a DD. For me, it’s acoustic guitars.I do feel that there can be a certain vividness and glow to dynamic drivers, though. There's a nostalgia to it that's intrinsically linked to the humble, home-grown, 2-channel set-up, car stereos, church PA systems, etc. Even the good ole' kick drum is basically the world's first subwoofer.
My comments on single dirver vs multi did not only apply to DD vs BA as the single driver. For me, frequency response differences also occur depending on where you sit at the acoustic concert, and I might hear your snare drum example as a smaller drum with a tighter head (or head or shell made from different material - the time/phase stuff would still be right, and it would still sound like a snare drum, rather than a tom, or a flute or a violin...... (I think-that's my conjecture in any case).I feel like it'll also depend on your personal sensitivities and what triggers your perception of incoherence or time/phase misalignment. For me, personally, I've always been less privy to differences between driver types - or different BA models in a multi-driver set-up, as in your example - compared to incoherences in frequency response or tonal balance. For example, take a single DD with more presence at 5kHz than 1-2kHz. When I listen to a snare drum, that driver would give me a bright, forward attack, then the body of the drum an inch or two behind. Compare that to a BA handling 5kHz and another handling 1-2kHz, but they're levelled equally (per my ears) and with proper phase correction; minimal phase cancellation, if any. I'd most likely find the latter more "coherent" than the former, even if the former may have a slight edge in timing, uniformity in texture, etc. But, that's simply because of what my ears and brain happen to be alarmed by, whether by nature or nurture. Judging from your posts, you may feel differently.
I do feel that there can be a certain vividness and glow to dynamic drivers, though. There's a nostalgia to it that's intrinsically linked to the humble, home-grown, 2-channel set-up, car stereos, church PA systems, etc. Even the good ole' kick drum is basically the world's first subwoofer.
I wonder how much of that comes from the fact that speakers are never BA-based, but are almost always DD, whteher cones, domes, etc... and only even some speakers are planar, whether magnetic or electrostatic. I suppose it's like familiar cooking smells - if you've never smelled a specific scent, it ain't familiar!
The black one or blue one? The blue one is newer, uses MMCX and said to have a larger soundstageI have a feeling I'll have ordered a Reborn before I go to bed tonight. Maybe we can do a loaner trade
I may be misunderstanding your first line here, but the comparison I made wasn't a single DD vs. a single BA. It was a single DD vs. a pair of BA's; one BA handling 1-2kHz, and another handling 5kHz. What I was trying to say was, if the BA pair had a more linear frequency response than the DD, I'd easily take the pair, even if the single DD had better timing or phase. I think it's also telling that I'm able to easily describe what certain frequency aberrations would do to instruments, while quirks in time/phase are often things I'd describe more vaguely; more felt and esoteric. Don't get me wrong, though: I think they absolutely make a difference. But, they're just shy of tone in what I feel determines my perception of an IEM's correctness.
The kick drum is an instrument that objectively sounds better on a DD for me. Only the best of BAs can match the... less-capable of DDs, but a stellar DD takes the cake every time. The kick drum is essentially a giant DD after all.
