Details

[karatestu]

Does detail get in the way of the music ?

For me it doesn't, well not with the equipment I have now. I am a detail junkie, if it's on the record I wanna hear it. If the artist put it there then they obviously wanted you to hear it. Sometimes those little details make the song or piece make sense. I have come to like some songs now that I was never that bothered for compared to others on the same album.

Ofc this highly detailed sound must not be in your face, harsh or fatiguing otherwise you can forget it In the past before I got nva amp boards there was a tendency for any extra detail extracted through mods like adding super regulators etc to be on the fatiguing side. When I visited LesW of Avondale Audio I was there all day. I remember many things he said that day one being that your brain has to process a highly detailed sound and soon gets tired.

I think that is the case with many pieces of equipment, or it's just not very detailed and harsh at the same time Anyway, my view is that the nva way is quite detailed and certainly not in your face and fatiguing. My recent experiments with removing unnecessary circuitry and components has certainly added to the detail and enjoyment on offer without it becoming fatiguing.

My speaker experiments have shown to me that things like being able to remove the padding resistor and doing the tweeter high pass filter passively at line level by the use of a single polystyrene capacitor has extracted oodles of hidden detail, texture and musucal enjoyment. Spherical enclosures have also teased out more of it and I am truly amazed at how much is hidden and can be uncovered just by streamlining the enclosure the driver is in.

What do the hfs massive think about this ?

[Geoff.R.G]

Difficult to say Stu, I don't use my Hi-Fi much but in live sound if the guy or gal up front is giving their best it is my job to make sure they can be heard, which is kind of saying I'll do my best to put it in the mix and/or recording. It is discourteous to the musicians and singers not to make them heard and in a church setting it can be difficult to differentiate one instrument from another when they are all playing the same notes.

If it is in the performance I want it in the recording and if it is in the recording I want to hear it. The difference for me is that, if I made the recording I know what is there.

[karatestu]

Difficult to say Stu, I don't use my Hi-Fi much but in live sound if the guy or gal up front is giving their best it is my job to make sure they can be heard, which is kind of saying I'll do my best to put it in the mix and/or recording. It is discourteous to the musicians and singers not to make them heard and in a church setting it can be difficult to differentiate one instrument from another when they are all playing the same notes.

If it is in the performance I want it in the recording and if it is in the recording I want to hear it. The difference for me is that, if I made the recording I know what is there.

Yes I certainly agree that if it is in the performance it should be on the recording and we should be able to hear it when playing the recording back at home through our sound system. I have found myself enjoying some songs much more now, they just seem to have clicked and the artists intention now makes perfect sense.

Some say that a hyper detailed system can make a poor recording unbearable. I have not found that to be the case and I have played quite a few ( as well as many very well recorded music). I have found that all recordings are lifted in enjoyment and some musicians and singers I have much more respect for. There certainly have been some incredibly talented performers recorded in the past. I hope it continues because music is the essence of life.

[Fretless]

There might be a difference between 'recording detail' and 'performance detail'. I am finding so much more musicality and 'life' from an effectively lower-spec analogue system than from my ultra-detailed digital rig.

The revitalised TT setup is giving me insights into the artist's intentions that I haven't previously picked up on.

[Geoff.R.G]

There might be a difference between 'recording detail' and 'performance detail'. I am finding so much more musicality and 'life' from an effectively lower-spec analogue system than from my ultra-detailed digital rig.

The revitalised TT setup is giving me insights into the artist's intentions that I haven't previously picked up on.

All analog recording devices have a limited dynamic range, well below digital, and restricted frequency response. However, analog recordings, dynamic range aside, are good where we hear best. They also preserve timing, something digital recording messes up. In my experience something is always lost between performance and tape recording but a higher tape speed reduces the loss. Being 20+ years removed from the last performance I recorded to tape I couldn’t tell you how that loss manifests itself.

Of course, as with photographs, too much fine detail can be a disadvantage if it causes us to lose sight of the whole. Listen for the triangle and you miss the violins.

[CN211276]

Detail is important to me. Hearing instruments and voices which are low in the mix contributes to my musical enjoyment, though not at the expense of missing out on the whole. As my digital sources have improve I am hearing subtle things on familiar recordings which I was not hearing before and have a greater insight into the recording and mixing process. The great thing about NVA kit is its transparancy, it does not get in the way.

[antonio66]

Strangely enough I had to tell someone, "it doesn't matter if you can't hear the triangle at the back of the Orchestra, as long as the music comes through", so I guess details are not everything for me. When I'm back in England I listen to a very costly set-up, and it's detailed, over here I'm using a simple system, obviously small nuances are missed, but I still enjoy the music.

[Geoff.R.G]

Strangely enough I had to tell someone, "it doesn't matter if you can't hear the triangle at the back of the Orchestra, as long as the music comes through", so I guess details are not everything for me. When I'm back in England I listen to a very costly set-up, and it's detailed, over here I'm using a simple system, obviously small nuances are missed, but I still enjoy the music.

If you are listening to a school orchestra and it is your child playing the triangle, missing the music is entirely understandable. Motive matters! I haven’t recorded a school orchestra for a long time but in such circumstances detail is essential.

[Theo]

I like all the detail I can get.

Harshness / brightness / artificial forwardness are colourations, not detail.

[NSNO2021]

I am with you almost all the way Stu, the only point of disagreement being some recordings I don't like are to my ears made worse by "digging" in to the fine detail. Others I wasn't so keen on have improved so it's not cut & dried.
As I have started to install my Blake's 7 acoustic discs to the ceiling I have had to adjust the position of my Cubix. As I adjusted them I felt I was robbing Peter to pay Paul until I decided to go against convention and ever so slightly toe the Cubix outwards. It's difficult to express just how much better everything now sounds, it's genuinely one of those you actually have to experience it moments. It has coherent detail by the bucket load. My only regret is I didn't try this before installing the disc's because removing them is a non starter and it's impossible to know if I would have gained some or all of the improvement without the discs.
Right now my system sounds the very best it has been on it's 29 year evolution. I believe I can improve it further through different interconnects and then next year I am going to design and build a very different speaker cabinet and take the parts out of my revamped Cubix, at which point they will no longer be Cubix but the new design will always have it's origins in Richards Cubix. Anyway back to the original topic, I am getting real pleasure in revisiting long forgotten LPs and ultimately it's all about the thrill of the music.