ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

[niklaus]

Πρόκειται για εξαιρετικό άρθρο που αφορά την ορολογία που χρησιμοποιούν οι κριτικοί στα άρθρα τους,
αλλά περιέχει και κάποια βοηθητικά στοιχεία για την διεξαγωγή της ακρόασης και των συμπερασμάτων.
Δυστυχώς είναι στα αγγλικά. Είναι μια περίληψη από τον συγγραφέα του βιβλίου.
Κάνω προσπάθεια να κρατήσω τα βασικά σημεία του ώστε να είναι πιο εύκολο και γρήγορο στο διάβασμα και την χρήση του.
Τα περισσότερα περιοδικά που κυκλοφορούν είναι αγγλικά και θα βοηθήσει αρκετά στην "αποκρυπτογράφηση" των άρθρων τους...
Κάθε τμήμα που θα ολοκληρώνω την περίληψή του θα το παραθέτω εδώ, αλλά έχει κάμποση δουλειά και θα πάρει λίγο χρόνο...
Ελπίζω να το βρείτε ενδιαφέρον...

The Critical Listener’s Lexicon
November 22, 2010, by Robert Harley
Source: The Absolute Sound
Πλήρες: http://www.avguide.com/review/the-critical-listener-s-lexicon-tas-207
Adapted and excerpted from Introductory Guide to High-Performance Audio Systems ©2007-2010 by Robert Harley

Critical listening (the practice of evaluating the quality of audio equipment by careful analytical listening)
is very different from listening for pleasure.

The goal is not to enjoy the musical experience,
but to determine if a system or component sounds good or bad,
and what specific characteristics of the sound make it good or bad.

You want to critically examine what you’re hearing so that you can form judgments about the quality of reproduction.

You can use this information to evaluate and choose components, and to fine-tune a system for greater musical enjoyment.

 

[niklaus]

ΓΕΝΙΚΑ ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΑ

Evaluating audio equipment by ear is essential: today’s technical measurements simply aren’t advanced enough to characterize the musical performance of audio products.

The human hearing mechanism is vastly more sensitive and complex than the most sophisticated test equipment now available.

Though technical performance is a valid consideration when choosing equipment, the ear should always be the final arbiter of good sound.

Moreover, the musical significance of sonic differences between components can only be judged observationally.

The biggest problem in critical listening is finding the right words to express our perceptions.
We hear things in reproduced music that are difficult to identify and verbalize.

A listening vocabulary is essential to conveying to others what we hear and to define and understand our own perceptions.
If you can attach a descriptive name to a perception, you can more easily recognize that perception when you experience it again.

I recommend that you write down your listening impressions during or immediately after a listening session.
This will solidify those impressions and compel you to find words to describe what you heard.
Often we remember more strongly the memory of an impression, rather than the impression itself.

I’m often asked how I can remember how a specific component sounds when I haven’t heard that product for a year or more.
Because I record my sonic experiences when writing product reviews, I have formed a capsule impression of that product’s basic character.

I don’t remember every detail, of course, but the mental image may be something like "slightly etched treble, very transparent and spacious soundstage, lean bass, somewhat lacking in dynamics, analytical rather than smooth."

I also associate a general value judgment with that component: Would I want to listen to it for pleasure over a long period of time?
By writing down these impressions, I not only have a written record of my experience, but also a more specific mental impression, one that I can use when making later comparisons with other components.

 

[niklaus]

TONAL BALANCE

The first aspect of the musical presentation to listen for is the product’s overall tonal balance:
How well balanced are the bass, midrange, and treble?

If it sounds as though there is too much treble, we call the presentation bright.

The impression of too little treble produces a dull or rolled-off sound.

If the bass overwhelms the rest of the music, we say the presentation is heavy or weighty.

If we hear too little bass, we call the presentation thin, lightweight, uptilted, or lean.

 

[niklaus]

THE TREBLE

Good treble is essential to high-quality music reproduction.
Problems that over-emphasize treble.

The treble characteristics we want to avoid are described as:
bright, tizzy, forward, aggressive, hard, brittle, edgy, dry, white, bleached, wiry, metallic, sterile, analytical, screechy, and grainy.

If a product has too much apparent treble, it overstates sounds that are already rich in high frequencies.
Examples are overemphasized cymbals, excessive sibilance ("s" and "sh" sounds) in vocals, and thin-sounding or screechy violins.
A product with too much apparent treble is called bright.
Brightness is a prominence in the treble region, primarily between 3-6kHz.
Brightness can be caused by a rising frequency response in loudspeakers, or by poor electronic design.
Many digital sources and solid-state amplifiers that have a measurably flat (accurate) frequency response nevertheless add prominence to the treble.

Tizzy describes too much upper treble (6-10kHz), characterized as a whitening of the treble.
Tizzy cymbals have an emphasis on the upper harmonics, the sizzle and air that rides over the main cymbal sound.
Tizziness gives cymbals more of an "ssssss" than a "sssshhhh" sound.

Forward is very similar to bright; both describe too much treble.
A forward treble, however, also tends to be dry, lacking space and air.
Many of the terms listed above have virtually identical meanings.

Hard, brittle, and metallic all describe an unpleasant treble characteristic that reminds one of metal being struck.
The unique harmonic structure created from the impact of metal on metal is very similar to the distortion introduced by a power amplifier when it is asked to play louder than it is capable of playing.

I find the sound of the alto saxophone to be a good gauge of hard, brittle, and metallic treble, particularly lower treble.
If reproduced incorrectly, sax can take on a thin, reedy, very unpleasant tone. The antithesis of this sound is rich, warm, and full.
When the sax’s upper harmonics are reproduced with a metallic character, the whole instrument’s sound collapses.
The sound of the saxophone has the most complex harmonic structure of any instrument. It’s no wonder that it is so revealing of treble problems.

White and bleached are very similar to bright, but I associate them more with a thinness in the treble, often caused by a lack of energy (or what sounds like a lack of energy) in the upper midrange.
With no supporting harmonic structure beneath it, the treble becomes threadbare and thin, much like an overexposed photograph. Cymbals should have a gong-like low-frequency component with a sheen over it.
If cymbals sound like bursts of white noise (the sound you hear between radio stations), what you’re probably hearing is a white or bleached sound.

A particularly annoying treble characteristic is graininess. Treble grain is a coarseness overlying treble textures.
I notice it most on solo violin, massed violins, flute, and female voice.

On flute, treble grain is recognizable as a rough or fuzzy sound that seems to ride on top of the flute’s dynamic envelope (the grain follows the flute’s volume.)

Grain makes violins sound as though they’re being played with hacksaw blades rather than bows (a gross exaggeration), but one that conveys the idea of the coarse texture added by grain.

Treble grain can be of any texture, from very fine to coarse and rough. (Think of the difference between 400-grit and 80-grit sandpaper.) The more coarse the grain, the more objectionable it is.

Treble problems can foster the interesting perception that the treble isn’t integrated into the music’s harmonic tapestry, but is riding on top of it.
The top end seems somehow separate from the music, not an integral part of the presentation.
When this happens, we are aware of the treble as a distinct entity, not as just another aspect of the music.
The treble should sound like an extension of the upper midrange rather than separate from it.
If the treble calls attention to itself, be suspicious.

The most common sources of these problems are, in rough order of probability:
tweeters in loudspeakers, overly reflective listening rooms, digital source components, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, cables, and dirty AC power sources.

Some products tend to make the treble softer and less prominent than live music. This characteristic is often designed into the product, either to compensate for treble flaws in other components in the system, or to make the product sound more palatable.
Deliberately softening the treble is the designer’s shortcut: if he can’t get the treble right, he just makes it less offensive by reducing it.

The following terms, listed in order of increasing magnitude, describe good treble performance: smooth, sweet, soft, silky, gentle, liquid, and lush.

When the treble becomes overly smooth, we say it is romantic, rolled-off, or syrupy. A treble described as "smooth, sweet, and silky" is being complimented.

"Rolled-off and syrupy" suggests that the component goes too far in treble smoothness, and is therefore colored.
A rolled-off and syrupy treble may be a blessed relief after hearing bright, hard, and grainy treble, but it isn’t any more musically satisfying in the long run.
Such a presentation tends to be bland, uninvolving, slow, thick, closed-in, and short on detail.
All these terms describe the effects of a treble presentation that errs too far on the side of smoothness.
The presentation will lack life, air, openness, extension, and a sense of space if the treble is too soft.
The music sounds closed-in rather than being big and open.

Top-octave air describes a sense of almost unlimited treble extension, which fosters the impression of hearing the air in which the music exists.
A slight treble rolloff (a reduction in the amount of treble) in loudspeakers, for example, can diminish top-octave air.
Loss of top-octave air is also associated with an opaque or translucent soundstage.
The best treble presentation is one that sounds most like real music.
It should have lots of energy (cymbals can sound quite aggressive in real life) yet not have a synthetic, grainy, or dry character.
We don’t hear these characteristics in live music and we shouldn’t hear them in reproduced music.
More importantly, the treble should sound like an integral part of the music, not a detached noise riding on top of it.

If a component has a colored treble presentation, however, it is less musically objectionable if it errs on the side of smoothness rather than brightness.

 

[Deleted member 23222]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Πολύ ενδιαφέροντα...μπράβο Νικόλα!!!

 

[niklaus]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Πολύ ενδιαφέροντα...μπράβο Νικόλα!!!

1) Χάθηκες...
2) Νοέμβρης...
3) ... Ξετέλεπσες με την μετακόμιση Ευάγγελε??? :126:

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: ΓΕΝΙΚΑ

Bass is the most misunderstood aspect of reproduced sound.
The popular belief is that the more bass, the better.
This is reflected in ads for "subwoofers" that promise "earthshaking bass" and the ability to "rattle pant legs and stun small animals."
The ultimate expression of this perversity is boom trucks that generate absurd amounts of extraordinarily bad bass.
We want to know how a product reproduces music, not earthquakes.

To the music lover bass quality matters more than quantity.
If the bass is poorly reproduced, we’d rather not hear much bass at all.

We want to hear subtlety and nuance and not only the physical feeling that bass provides.

We want to hear precise pitch, lack of coloration, and the sharp attack of plucked acoustic-bass strings.

We want to hear every note and nuance in fast, intricate bass playing, not a muddled roar.

Low frequencies contain a surprising amount of detail when reproduced correctly.
Low frequencies constitute music’s tonal foundation and rhythmic anchor.

Terms that describe excellent bass reproduction are: taut, quick, clean, articulate, agile, tight, and precise.
Good bass is like a trampoline stretched taut, poor bass is like a trampoline hanging slack.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: PITCH DEFINITION or ARTICULATION

Perhaps the most prevalent bass problem is a lack of pitch definition or articulation.
These 2 terms describe the ability to hear bass lines as individual notes, each having an attack, a decay, and a specific pitch.

You should hear the texture of the bass,
whether it’s the sonorous resonance of a bowed doublebass or the unique character of a Fender Precision.

When bass is reproduced without pitch definition and articulation the low end degenerates into a dull roar underlying the music.
You hear low-frequency content that is not musically related to what’s going on above it.
You don’t hear the precise notes, you hear a blur of sounds: the dynamic envelopes of individual instruments are completely lost.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: AMOUNT

TOO MUCH BASS:
The amount of bass is very important: if you hear too much, the music is overwhelmed.
Excessive bass is a constant reminder that you are listening to reproduced music.
This overabundance of bass is described as heavy.

In music that bass plays an important rhythmic role (rock, electric blues and some jazz)
the bass guitar and kick drum seem to lag behind the rest of the music, putting a drag on the rhythm.

The kick drum’s dynamic envelope (which gives it the sense of sudden impact)
is buried under the bass guitar’s sound, obscuring the drum’s musical contribution.

These conditions are made worse by the common mid-fi affliction of too much bass.

Terms for this kind of bass are: muddy, thick, boomy, bloated, tubby, soft, fat, congested, loose and slow.


TOO LITTLE BASS:
If there is (you hear) too little bass the presentation is described as thin, lean, threadbare or overdamped.
An overly lean bass presence robs music of its rhythm and drive:
the full, purring sound of bass guitar is missing,
the depth and majesty of double bass or cello are gone,
the orchestra loses its sense of power,
a double bass sounds like a cello, a cello sounds like a viola,
the rhythmically satisfying weight and impact of bass drums are reduced to shadows of their actual selves.

Instruments’ harmonics are emphasized in relation to the fundamentals,
giving the impression of well-worn cloth that’s lost its supporting structure.

A thin or lean presentation lacks warmth and body.
In any discussion of audio sins of commission and omission, an overly lean bass is preferable to a fat and boomy bass.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: DEPTH or EXTENSION

Two terms related to the quantity of bass are extension or depth.
Extension is how deep the very bottom end of the audible bass spectrum goes,
not the midbass and upper bass (which are described by the words lean or weighty).
This is the realm of kick drum and pipe organ.

All --but the very best-- systems roll off (=reduce in volume) these lowermost frequencies.

Fortunately, deep extension isn’t a prerequisite to high-quality music reproduction.
If the system has good bass down to about 35Hz you don’t feel much is missing.

Pipe-organ enthusiasts will want deeper extension and are willing to pay for it.
Reproducing the bottom octave correctly can be very expensive.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: COLORATIONS

Colorations (caused by peaks and dips in frequency response) can make both the bass and the midrange unnatural.

Bass colorations create a monotonous, droning characteristic that quickly becomes tiring.

In the most extreme example (so-called "one-note bass"), bass instruments seem to have only one pitch.
This impression is created by a large peak in the system’s frequency response at a specific frequency.
This pitch is then reproduced more loudly than other pitches.
One-note bass is also described as being thumpy.

Ironically, this undesirable condition is maximized in boom trucks.
The playback system is tuned to put out all its energy at one frequency for maximum physical impact.
The drivers of those vehicles don’t seem to care that they’re losing the wealth of musical information conveyed by the bass.

Many of the terms used to describe midrange colorations actually apply to the upper bass:
chesty, thick, congested are useful in describing colored bass reproduction.

Bass lacking these colorations is called smooth or clean.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: DYNAMICS

Bass dynamics are very important to the satisfying reproduction of music:
much of music’s dynamic power (=the ability to convey wide differences between loud and soft) is contained in the bass.

A system or component that has excellent bass dynamics will provide a sense of sudden impact and explosive power:
bass drum will jump out of the presentation with startling energy,
the dynamic envelope of acoustic or electric bass will be accurately conveyed, allowing the music full rhythmic expression.

We call these components punchy and use the terms impact and slam to describe good bass dynamics.

 

[niklaus]

THE BASS: SPEED

A related aspect is speed, though, as applied to bass, "speed" is somewhat of a misnomer.
Low frequencies have inherently slower attacks than higher frequencies,
which makes calling bass response "slow" technically incorrect.

Nonetheless, the musical difference between "slow" and "fast" bass is profound:
fast, tight, punchy bass produces much greater rhythmic involvement with the music.

Reproducing the sudden attack of a bass drum is as vital as the system’s ability to reproduce a fast decay (=how a note ends):
the bass should not continue reverberating after a drum whack has stopped.

Many speakers store energy in their mechanical structures and radiate that energy slightly after the note itself.
When this happens the bass has overhang (=a condition that makes kick drum, for example, sound bloated and slow.)

Music in which the drummer uses double bass drums is particularly revealing of bass overhang.
If the 2 drums merge into a single sound, overhang is probably to blame.
You should hear the attack and decay of each drum as distinct entities.

Components that do not adequately convey the sudden dynamic impact of low-frequency instruments
rob music of its power and rhythmic drive.

 

[niklaus]

Διάλειμμα

Εδώ τελειώνει και το κεφάλαιο Μπάσο(α)...
Μένουν ακόμα 2 ενότητες από το άρθρο να φτιάξω και να αναρτήσω...
Λίγο αργότερα...

 

[ep4nder]

Ωραίο άρθρο, μπράβο!

 

[niklaus]

PERSPECTIVE

"Perspective" describes the apparent distance between the listener and the music.
Perspective is a function of the recording (the distance between performers and microphones),
but is also affected by components in the playback system.

Some products push the music forward (=toward the listener, in front of the speakers),
others sound more laid-back (=more distant, the music appears slightly behind the speakers).

(The forward product sounds as if the musicians have taken a few steps toward you,
the laid-back product gives the impression the musicians have taken a few steps back.
Another way of describing perspective is by row number in a concert hall:
some products seem to "seat" the listener at the front of the hall in Row D,
others give you the impression that you are sitting back in Row S.)

In speakers, perspective is often the result of a peak or dip in the midrange (peak is too much energy, dip is too little).
The midrange between 1-3kHz is called the presence region because it provides a sense of presence and immediacy.
The harmonics of the human voice span the presence region; thus, the voice is greatly affected by a product’s perspective.

FORWARD PRESENTATION:
Other words that describe it are: immediate, incisive, vivid, palpable, present.
Dry (generally means lacking reverberation and space) can also apply to a forward perspective.
Products with a forward presentation produce a greater sense of an instrument’s presence before you,
but can quickly become fatiguing.
When a product is overly immediate, I feel as though the music is coming at me, assaulting my ears.
The reaction is to close up, to try to keep the music at arm’s length.
The ideal midrange presentation has a sense of palpable presence:
the feeling of the musicians existing right before you, but without sounding aggressive.

LAID BACK PRESENTATION:
Terms associated with laid-back include: relaxed, easygoing, gentle.
If the presentation is too laid-back, the music is uninvolving and lacking in immediacy.
If the product under evaluation distorts the perspective captured during the recording, I prefer that it err in the direction of being laid-back.
A laid-back presentation invites the listener in, pulling her gently forward into the music, allowing her the space to explore its subtleties.
It’s like the difference between having a conversation with someone who is aggressive, gets in your face, and talks too loudly, compared with someone who stands back, speaking quietly and calmly.

Untrained listeners who can’t specifically identify whether a reproduced musical presentation is forward or laid-back
will feel a tension that usually translates into a desire to turn down the music if the presentation is too forward.
A laid-back presentation can make the music uninvolving rather than riveting.

The terms associated with overall perspective can also be used to describe specific aspects of the presentation (such as the treble).
If we say the treble is forward we mean it is overly prominent, sounding like it is closer to the listener than the rest of the music.

 

[Snow Whitty]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Ειναι ολα στα ...αμερικανικα!:111:

 

[niklaus]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Είναι... αμερικανιές! :138:
Στέη τηούνd, πλήζ! :142:

 

[Snow Whitty]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Είναι... αμερικανιές! :138:
Στέη τηούνd, πλήζ! :142:

Δεν καταλαβαινω αμερικανικα.Γιατι δεν προσπαθεις να τα μεταφρασεις πριν τα μεταφερεις εδω?:121:

 

[niklaus]

Απάντηση: ΛΕΞΙΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΣ ΑΚΡΟΑΣΕΩΝ

Γκιατί ντεν έκω κρόνο καρντιά μου! :142::143: