In yesterday's post, I riffed on the difference between the broad strokes taken by recording engineers and the fine polishing we as audiophiles expend to enjoy all that the recording captured.
That line of thought can take us in a few directions. Among them is how very different our views of reality are.
Take for example the differences in sound quality between loudspeaker and microphone types.
It should be no surprise that music played through dynamic loudspeakers sounds very different than the same played through a planar ribbon design—the two transducers are built from radically different technologies.
It should also be no surprise that music captured by a ribbon microphone sounds very different than the same music as captured by a dynamic or a condenser microphone. Again, very different transducer technologies offer us very different sound.
The same can be said for most transducer types. Compare a record played back with a MC or MM cartridge.
The point here is that transducers used to either capture or reproduce sound are so radically different as to make one's head spin.
How, with all these differences, do we ever get close to the real sound as if the musician were playing in the room with us?
Are any of them accurate?
