Does visceral Hi-Fi exist?
Subscribe to Ask Paul Ask a QuestionWhen we go to a concert we can feel the visceral impact of the sound on us. Yet, when in our listening rooms we don't experience the same. Can the two ever come together as one?
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Even if you could achieve that goal would it be wise? I can imagine that listening to your system at concert levels regularly could eventually result in you going deaf.
sunderwood,
Or at least a lot of visits from the local Police.
You wouldn’t listen for very long but for the few tracks you do listen to, the enjoyment would be out of this world. Then you just turn it down. It’s a bit like having an 800 hp car. You don’t floor it every chance you get but the few times you do you get an adrenaline rush like no other.
It is always a great experience to hear live amplified music. You probably shouldn’t try to recreate every aspect of the experience; the smell of the crowd, and the sticky floor surface are best reserved for the local music venues. As the previous contributor points out, concert levels can’t be enjoyed every day of the week without going deaf. I don’t suppose your neighbors would be terribly supportive if you listen at 110 dBA wearing ear plugs.
My experience is that sound for rock or pop is often mixed so loud that the audio is clipped, and most of detail is lost. I’ve sometimes listened to a live recording of a concert I was at, and been amazed at how a great performance has been sacrificed to achieve high sound levels. I don’t want to recreate the visceral sound at home – I’d prefer to hear what the performers were actually playing and singing when I’m there at the concert.
My system is capable of quite visceral music that “punches you in the chest.” My secret? Multiple sealed subwoofers with pro audio amplifiers and a DSP module to clean up the lows: apply notch filters at the room resonances and apply a Linkwitz transform to extend the low end due to the sealed box acting as a high pass filter at low frequencies. The Linkwitz transform really upped my “visceral game,” and I highly recommend it. Some may have reservations about using pro audio gear in HiFi but you can’t beat the price per watt of a pro audio amp and I don’t think extremely low distortion watts is all that important in the sub frequencies. For the mains, I use a normal audiophile amp. My end game is to have a distributed bass array of four sealed subwoofers driven by two pro audio amps to the tune of 4 kilowatts of amplifier power. Right now I have 2 subs and I’m in desperate need of a power line upgrade from the breaker panel to the listening room. Things are quite visceral. Am I achieving concert levels? No, but it’s very impressive and I hope to be there one day.
Otis Taylor? Trance Blues Festival?
You folks in Boulder are so lucky to have him. And eTown.
~ Jealous in Virginia.
To the question of “visceral.” Maybe the key is not higher volume. Maybe more “musicality” at reasonable volume?
(1) Chasing visceral/musicality through DACs can become very expensive. You can easily spend $10k on CD/DAC-based electronics and achieve a better, more visceral/musical sound with vinyl for less than $5k.
(2) Many modern speakers — e.g., B&W — are just too analytical for my ears. They are hard to position, they don’t “breathe” and they are fatiguing. Many seem to chase resolution and leave musicality behind. To me, almost any 3-way tower speaker suffers from this. After much trial and error, my solution has been retro — back to dual concentric drivers, e.g., Tannoy. (And Klipsch Heritage speakers come close.) To me, they — along with 2 good REL subs — are more musical. If you have them set up properly, they can get closest to “visceral.” To my ears. Yep, you will sacrifice some resolution. but to me, it’s well worth it.
Yes, I have quality electronics that can play today’s high resolution files and achieve a decent sound with Roon/Tidal. (It’s just so darn convenient. And the best way to discover new music.) But, for your favorite music, try throwing a good vinyl signal through some “throw-back” speakers. (And don’t forget to experiment with speaker rake angle, particularly in larger rooms.)
Never say never Paul.
Sure, with the current state of the art, it’s not possible and I agree with some of the other comments here. There are some concert experiences that you wouldn’t want to frequently replicate but what about some of the more intimate venues or recitals?
With the accelerating advances in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and the accompanying improvements in transducers for sight, hearing and the other senses, I can foresee, maybe not in our lifetimes, real and virtual experiences being almost indistinguishable – for better or worse. 🙂
Funny you should bring it up… How to put this without sounding like a PS Audio sycophant? (I am constantly amazed at just how good the PWT/PWD combo are; can’t wait to afford the DSD upgrade)
I had installed a Bridge II card in my DS DAC a year ago or so, and didn’t really warm up to the streaming lifestyle. It sounded good, about the same as Red Book CD of which I have many, but I really don’t like fussing with a tablet while listening, and I’m old school enough to still enjoy the selection of a physical medium. (several thousand LP’s are also in play, with more being purchased as I can sneak them into the house)
Back to “Visceral”; something on the web alerted me to the fact that the Bridge II did MQA, so I fired up BubbleUpnp thinking of trying to find something on Tidal Masters. No success, so I Googled and found Mconnect for Android. Voila, Tidal Masters!
First cut was “Come Together” by the Beatles…. My first thought… “this is truly visceral” I had never heard or felt such impact from my system. After listening to a variety of other MQA cuts, the other “visceral experience” was from the Eagles selections under ‘Tidal Masters”. Absolutely stunning, the percussion was OMG territory and the clarity, depth and texture on the vocals was amazing. Never heard the reverb like this before…
So I guess my conclusion is that the source has a lot to do with “visceral” presentation as well as the speakers!