This is Part 2 of the series I started last week on Becoming a Reviewer. If you missed Part 1, you can take a look here. In this post, I’m going to write about the anatomy of sound, or the essential ingredients that help me identify what a component sounds like. Identifying these ingredients are what makes for a good review.
In the January 2003 “Listener” column in Stereophile Art Dudley said, “Musical ability is different from deep bass or holographic imaging or the other sorts of things that can impress almost anyone just a few seconds into the first song. Music is easy to miss for the listener who thinks his job is to concentrate on the sound.”
This quote from Art really spoke to me. I’m not quite as much of a musical puritan as he was. I was talking to Jim Smith, author of Get Better Sound, and a long time audio mentor, about this concept. Jim said he agreed. Still, after you get the system to sound right tonally, he thought it was great if you could also get a non-distracting soundstage and transparency so you could hear the layering of the tones better.
Taking a Look Back
Let’s look at how these two thoughts influenced my review of the Shindo Aurieges Linestage. The review started by saying:
“… I feared I would not have the right audio vocabulary to convey the sound of the Aurieges to you. I wish I could tell you that my system had a wider or deeper soundstage with the Shindo, or that music seemed more transparent when the Shindo arrived. The true magic of the Aurieges is not even that it is more dynamic; although it is.
What I can tell you is that with the Aurieges, it is all about texture, harmonics, how the decay sounds, how the music blooms, and how much like real music it sounds and feels. It’s about experiencing the sounds and feelings of music in a way that transcends the electronic listening experience, especially the digital experience.”
Experiencing Sounds and Feelings
In the first paragraph of the review, I wanted to establish that what is special about the Aurieges isn’t the normal things audiophiles talk about. I’m from LA, Lower Alabama, and we often tell you what something isn’t before we tell you what it is. I find this technique works well when I can’t actually show someone the object, or in this case let them listen to it.
The second paragraph of the excerpt above is the key to recognizing that you are listening to an exceptional audio component, “It’s about experiencing the sounds and feelings of music in a way that transcends the electronic listening experience.” If a system can do this, there is something very special about it. If adding or replacing a single piece of gear can further that result, it is a special piece of gear.
Anatomy of Sound
What are the qualities that allow a system to transcend the electronic listening experience? For me these qualities, which I call the anatomy of sound, are:
- Air – This is not the same as airy, which is an audiophile term that describes a light, delicate treble. To hear air is to hear a sense of solidity around an instrument and the air inside the instrument as it is expelled by the musician. Instruments do not exist in a vacuum of empty space. The same can apply to an entire orchestra or a smaller instrumental group.
- Aliveness – This is the quality of sound reproduction that gives the impression that the performers are real and that your ability to hear them is not impeded by electronics.
- Bloom – This term is most often associated with tube equipment. Interestingly enough, it means the same thing it does when you are talking about a flower. When the sound blooms, you get to hear it in all its glory.
- Decay – Almost all stereo systems let you hear the leading edge of an instrument that is being played. It’s the ability to follow that leading edge with lifelike decay that begins to bring life to a system.
- Flow – Music flows from one note to another. If you can’t hear that flow, you have sound but not music.
- Harmonics – When a musician plays a note on his instrument, what we are actually hearing is the fundamental pitch, which is accompanied by a series of frequencies. Each note creates different harmonics, and each instrument adds even more harmonics. If a system can’t reproduce these harmonics, you may have beautiful sound but not real music.
- Texture – Just as cloth and food have texture, so does music. The question is, does your system let you feel the texture as you listen.
- Tonal Accuracy – For each instrument, there is a certain identifiable sound. For example, does a sax sound like a sax?
- Tonal Colors – No, I’m not talking about red or blue, etc. However, just like you have colors in a painting, music conveys colors. There should be warm colors, cool colors, bright colors, dark colors, and so on.
Wrapping it Up
Like most reviewers, I often use albums to help me compare and contrast the sound I’m hearing. In the Shindo review, for example, I used two albums to compare and contrast the sound of an active linestage to the passive I had before. By the time I wrapped up the review, I hoped the reader would understand what is so special about the Shindo Aurieges linestage.
Still, I know there are some audiophile things the readers also want to know. The rest of the review talks about the bass, the midrange, the top end, and the soundstage. This Shindo post was one of my early reviews, and I no longer break up reviews into these categories. Today, though, as I sit down to write a review I know that readers still expect me to describe the anatomy of sound for a piece of gear using the process I’ve outlined in this post.
My parting thought is to urge you to please remember the quote from Art Dudley. Without these words of wisdom, your system will never transcend the electronic listening experience.
My next installment in this series will deal with the review process for speakers. In the meantime, enjoy your music!
Your comments on harmonics are especially interesting, as this is an often underreported aspect that has been investigated and discussed by a few scientists and engineers who have pointed out the necessity of first and second harmonics -along with other qualities- to achieve a high degree of realism, what is called an engaging sound, in the electronic reproduction process. Thanks for your insights!