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Thread: Most difficult musical instrument for Hi Fi Systems to reproduce ?

  1. #11
    Join Date: Jan 2009

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
    It is not just about dynamic range with the human voice. It is about micro detail, timbre and that "x-factor". We all know what a human voice sounds like and (for me certainly) are very sensitive to when it sounds "off".
    I agree, +2. Though I would also agree that the realistic portrayal of a jazz drum kit is a very demanding test.
    Barry

  2. #12
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    I’ve always felt a full drum kit and cymbals are near impossible to reproduce, I used to share flat with band. It’s the ability to simultaneously combine force and finesse with multiple textures, tempos and tones that few systems can mimic. Up close the volume and dynamics are scary, it’s why drummers are notoriously deaf.

    I often tune speakers using under milk wood with Richard burton As voice is so rich and diction so perfect.
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  3. #13
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    Gabba hardcore.
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  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Light Dependant Resistor View Post
    IMO its the piano, there is a lot to understand about audio systems, if the piano as a specific instrument is listened to.

    The piano of course disguises to a degree what is causing it to do what it does, as it is percussive.

    What instrument would you say is the most difficult, for HiFi Systems ?
    Good call for a thread.

    I listen to recorded opera, lieder, and chamber music, and also have spent some time in the concert halls listening to the same stuff live. There's a fairly wide gulf between the two, usually in favour of real over electronically reproduced sound (though not inevitably so). In my opinion the human voice is the hardest to reproduce properly. This has been my conviction for the last couple of decades and I've spent a fair amount of money trying to progress up the hi-fi ladder pursuing a balanced set-up that did some justice to the artists and composers I was interested in. For me much of my thinking about hi-fi has been how rto educe the simulacrum effect that listening music through hi-fi seems to involve, but especially where works have one or more vocal parts. It seems to me that technology still has some way to go. Of course, those canny enough to have made better choices in what equipment they have bought, and those fortunate enough to have been able to afford more capable gear, might have more encouraging exeriences to relate.

  5. #15
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    Piano and human voice, but it is a real problem to get well recorded voice. Our survival has depended on thousands of years of detecting subtle tonal variations of voice, and so we are very well attuned to it.

    It is also far easier to reproduce voice in band limited speakers like the LS 3/5a, and harder on full range ones.

  6. #16
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    Due to our need to identify the size and distance of predators and prey we are particularly sensitive to phase variations.
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    Worldwide 40 million chickens, ducks, and geese die daily for the plate, savage and wasteful.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flo View Post
    Due to our need to identify the size and distance of predators and prey we are particularly sensitive to phase variations.
    Very true, hence the whole audio path should not alter phase. We should examine minimizing phase variation where- ever possible.

    Loudspeakers, and amplifiers used to drive them are often thought of straight away as changing phase due to inability of the voltage amplifier model, vs the better method of current driving of loudspeakers , but other equipment contributes as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electr...c_loudspeakers https://www.current-drive.info/

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    Piano and human voice, but it is a real problem to get well recorded voice. Our survival has depended on thousands of years of detecting subtle tonal variations of voice, and so we are very well attuned to it.

    It is also far easier to reproduce voice in band limited speakers like the LS 3/5a, and harder on full range ones.
    Yes, I agree with all the above. Piano in particular shows up all sorts of equipment shortcomings.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flo View Post
    Due to our need to identify the size and distance of predators and prey we are particularly sensitive to phase variations.
    That's highly debatable. 99% of recordings are not phase-accurate and most speakers are not phase accurate and most rooms have reflections that will put sounds out of phase. If it was really an issue then almost all systems would sound rubbish.

    The question should not be what is the most difficult instrument to reproduce as that is not the starting point, it should be what instrument is the most difficult to record. You've already lost some of what makes the instrument sound real at the microphone as microphones are not perfect.
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  10. #20
    Join Date: Mar 2017

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    Amusingly Peter Walker stated that all loudspeakers sound terrible, but his no more so than the others. (paraphrasing).

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