A More Formalized Description of System Faults (part 2)
[Where we try to use the formalism of the previous post to shine some light on the turnkey solutions for magical drug-like system design]
Looking at Mtotal from the last post, the total mutation (some might say mutilation) of a signal from a music source by a system of components can be divided up into several parts:
Mtotal = Mdistracting + Mrequired + Mmagic
Similar to Jim from Encinitas’ observation that [paraphrasing] a system has to sound real enough to satisfy and occupy our minds so that the magic of the music can reach our hearts… the equation above says that for the total mutated sound of a system, Mtotal, to be magical, we have to minimize the mutations that are distracting [like brightness] and those that filter out the good stuff [i.e. remove microdynamics and subtle information] because, optimally, we really want Mtotal = Mmagic, where Mmagic is the set of all allowable mutations to the sound that do not affect its magic.
I am not sure this approach reveals any more information about how we can design a turnkey magical system at a given price point. Distractions that are significant might be a slightly shallow soundstage for one person and a lack of macrodynamics for another. Mmagic might be just plain whatever is on the media for some [most] people whereas others want a slightly exaggerated harmonic richness perhaps[?].
Perhaps what we really want is to do, with only a slight nod to the formalism here, is to create a spreadsheet-like approach where everyone fills in their preferences and wham bamm we get a lit of components [speakers, cables, amps, etc] that are best suited to our tastes at various price points.
For example, I might fill in (on a scale 1 to 10, 1 is most important):
Mdistracting [Do NOT want]
tonally incorrect 1
dull sounding 2 (a little dull sounding is OK)
bright sounding 1 (a little bright is 3)
Mrequired [Do very much want for it to sound reasonably real]
micro-dynamics 1
separation 2
good tone 3
rhythm 6
Mmagic [Do very much want for magic]
micro-dynamics 1
separation 2
good tone 2
rhythm 6
This means that it is very important for me that micro-dynamics, separation and tonality get through the signal chain from the source media to the speakers to my ears, and it is also very important that in so doing the signal is not made very dull, bright or tonally incorrect.
I wonder if it is just me, but the things I kind of require for something to sound reasonably real can, when one or more of these same things are rendered EXTREMELY well, often become magical for me.
While I uspect that each of us has particular aspects of a system’s sound that we find more important than others, I have to think that there may be a core set of characteristics that are necessary for a system to be magical. Note that I am not necessarily equating accuracy with magic. For instance, I find that there are some things that can be tuned in with tweaks such as tonal balance while there are other attributes that cannot be restored by tweaks such as micro detail and micro dynamics. Consequently, a system must do those things right.