...it’s what surrounds the note that gives it life.
Any given pitch is built from a fundamental frequency and a series of overtones. That harmonic structure is what defines the body and warmth of an instrument. A clarinet without its overtones sounds like a sine wave—pure but dull. But add back the harmonics, and it becomes unmistakably a clarinet.
Some components mask harmonics through distortion or poor linearity. Others roll them off through limited bandwidth. I’ve found that wideband electronics preserve harmonic complexity better. The same goes for speakers that don’t compress midrange content (one good reason our electronics extend their frequency response way outside the range of human hearing).
When your system keeps those overtones intact, the music sounds complete. You’re not just hearing the notes. You’re hearing the life around them.
