How do you judge?

I look for the same thing in everything HIFI,

In order of importance,

1) Transparency and accuracy. I haven't got any interest in hearing what a designer thinks sounds good. I want to hear the LP as it was mixed, mastered and recorded. I don't care if it's bass light or treble heavy, I want it as is. If it doesn't measure well in this area, I sell it. I don't care what people say, for me it has to have as little impact as possible. There are too many other variables, like the room I use, the speakers etc that I can't control so I won't compromise on transparency and accuracy.

2) Distinguished Bass. A good component should have the ability to give you the start, middle and end of a note. Something do this SO well, that it becomes dry and flat. Bad components make bass notes too full so you lose the timbre and texture. I can't abide either so it has to be right (to my taste) or it moves on.

It also has to be distinguishable from the Kick drum. Something often overlooked but integral to my enjoyment. Often a bass player will play a note at the same time as the drummer hits the kick drum. If you cant hear which is which, it has to go.

3) Recording differences. I want to hear the difference between one recording and the next. Very often, even on the same album, there will be a different room used for Vocals, even during the same tracks. This was quite prevalent in the 60's and bands like The Rolling Stones were notorious for recording different parts of the same song on different days. Usually because they didn't turn up. I want to hear that, the room acoustics give it away. On "Mother's little helper" the vocals were recorded in what sounds like a Box. They are also more forward in the mix and on good equipment it's easy to hear it's a poor mastering session because it isn't seemess. If the equipment doesn't demonstrate this, it's gone.

4) Resolution (if that's the right word)

This one is contentious because it's my taste V your taste.

I want to feel like there is nothing in-between me and the performance. Almost as if I'm on the stage with the Artist. Some people prefer to feel "a few rows back" but I don't want that.

Again, not very often does kit come up that does this to the degree I like so often I move something on that others find "magnificent"

5) Soundstage.

If it's narrow, it's gone. Simple.

I don't know if any equipment exists that will do ALL of the above but I've managed to get about 80% by box swapping. For me, the main system isn't a sit there and rock uncontrollably to a song because it "Sounds good" it's job is to be the most detailed and accurate system I have. When it's the right track, it is still highly emotive and the connection is still made, it's even more intimate and personal and I value this more than anything else.

I like of the above posts. :-)

Really I just want it to sound as real as possible. If the recording is poor (eg a 1920s blues recording) hearing that the bottle neck is so obviously a long time ago in a recording studio far far away is a thrill in itself. So a bit like Savypaul in that regard.

Graniness (especially in the midrange and affecting snare drums), and a subjectively non-flat frequency response are the two things that most distract me from the music, and keep me from being at rest with my system.

I think most audiophiles want smooth and transparent mids/ highs, ultra tight/fast bass, soundstage that you could walk into, but how many of your recordings can give you ALL these things?

You differ from my brother and myself, we always take better recordings and maybe one that we both know to be poor. If a system can get the best out of the good ones, and you can hear the good and bad points of the system, then surely it would be doing the same on the poorer recordings.

Then that's a good recording to take savvypaul.

Have you considered tone controls (like a dimmer switch) to control said brightness.

I enjoyed my old Audiolab 8000A it had separate bass & treble controls...how cool was that.

Course if you were a real control freak you needed a Graphic Equaliser.


😎

100% agree, some people seem to think that a bright sound means more detail, so therefore must be better.

As my system has improved, I have a tonne more detail, but have got rid of any bright nastiness.

My selection would be ease of listen and the ability to let the music flow.

I hate bright sounding systems or metallic, Hifi sounding systems, they lose all of the musicality and it becomes dull and lifeless.

i only use amps with tone controls. hate not having them in fact

I’ve never heard that from SBLs. They are sweeties to me. I compared a pair to Neat Petite 3s I owned at one stage and the Neats were so aggressive and hard in comparison. It put me right off them. One thing many people won’t realise about SBLs is that they work very well with valve amps. They sound very different but equally good. IBLs can glare a bit of not fed suitabky or set up so they are rock solid.

I haven’t heard many other naim speakers. Credos are OK but just nothing special. Never heard SL2 or later speakers but my local,dealer said they were terrible.

Chaps, don't you listen to the MUSIC when judging a good or bad sound?

I don’t buy this nonsense about having to describe music in order to be a true music lover. The whole notion of a music lover being more worthy than a hifi enthusiast is something you know I reject anyway.,

It was started at HFS and I think it’s bollocks. I hate reviews when they write out the artist, album, recording, label etc them tell you what the trombone sounded like. It wastes space, is tedious to read and pointless to anyone without the same recording. It bores the tits off me too. If you are describing the type of sound you like or dislike, it is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to talk about sonic traits.