From: kurts@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Kurt Strain)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Air?  Wossat? (was Re: Terms)
Date: 7 Apr 92 17:53:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpnmdla.1190696
Organization: Milky Way Galaxy


		  Kurt's Audiophilese-English Dictionary

The best way to understand these terms is to listen to really high-end
systems and try to observe them.  It comes a little at a time.



Absolute sound - A magazine, but also "the holy grail" or goal of audiophiles.
      That is, the attempt to make your listening experience feel like you are
      there, just like Disneyland rides try to do.

Air - On a G-string, it's a piece written by JS Bach.  On a stereo, it's still
      not defined by all audiophiles the same.  Some call it simply the
      region of uppermost hearable frequencies, above 10 KHz.  Some call it
      the ability to hear two high pitched tones spaced closely together and
      tell them apart in image, a lot like higher frequency RADAR resolution.
      Some call it the "high edge" of a flute and other high pitched
      instruments.  Some the detailed ambient portrayal of the highs.  All
      related to high frequencies, just looked at in different ways.  A
      lot of audiophiles avoid using this term because of it's silly nature.

Articulation - Just as in speech, being articulate means very precise and
      made obvious.  An articulate midrange is well defined.

Attack - The speed of the rise in the musical waveform's envelope.  Piano keys
      are difficult to hear everything correct in it's attack envelope.  Some
      call it part of the "dynamics", some split it into "microdynamics"
      and "macrodynamics."

Bloom - That difficult to come up with, somewhat artificial creation where
      a crescendo causes a slight bloat in the soundstage timed to seem 
      natural for the reverberating effects of a large hall.

Cohesiveness - The ability to send a perfectly uniform and precisely timed
      wavefront for all frequencies.  In other words, can you spot where
      the drivers are without looking?

Coloration - Deviations in frequency response and distortions from perfect
      that are audible in terms of bad timbre and possibly variations in
      strengths of different, but same amplitude, notes played.

Depth - Image term often used because it helps define a system's performance
      relating to resolution of imaging, detail, and cohesiveness - just
      about everything is needed to make this work convincingly.  It is the
      perceived back wall of the soundstage, where instruments image small
      and usually only reverb of the hall is heard.

Decay - The speed and accuracy of the fall of a musical waveform's envelope. 

Delineation - Delineation in the soundstage refers to the ability to discern
      many instruments clearly spaced and individual, not one blob, like in
      high resolution RADAR.  Delineation can be judged in all three 
      dimensions.

Dynamics - Not to be confused with dynamic range or S/N ratio, it is the
      way a system accurately renders attack/sustain/decay.

Dynamic Range - Loosely, the range of the system from loudest to softest.

Fast Bass - Critically damped or overdamped bass that adds no overshoot or
      ringing, making it seem fast.

Glaze - A haloing of distortion in a "holographic" soundstage that obliterates
      details in the back of the soundstage, effectively reducing the depth.   
      Transistor amps are notorious for this strange side effect, not knowing
      why.  CDs have a problem, too.  All tubes seem to stay clear.

"Holographic" - The kind of precise soundstaging that puts everything in clear
      detailed 3D space, alluding to an optical analogy which audiophiles
      like to refer to often, making it more explainable.

Image - The mental image created in one's mind about the location of the
      instruments in 3D space.  More resolution creates more clear images,
      less ambiguity in placement, and more instruments set apart from each
      other.

Liquidity - Texture of the sound may be grainy or smooth.  Smooth is liquid.
      Natural sounds have no grain added to them.  CDs have often been 
      criticised for graininess.  Some late models have knocked most of it
      out. 

Muddiness - Distortion in the bass region that obscures bass details.

Size Distortion - The rendering of images that are uniform in all dimensions
      and correct with respect to instruments of different octaves. 

Soundstage - The boundaries of the musical stage, left limit, right limit,
      front limit, rear limit, bottom limit, top limit.  All sounds emanate
      from the soundstage.  Think of it as the orchestra plays sound on the
      stage.

Soundstaging - All aspects of sound, dimensionwise, contained within the
      soundstage.  This relates to imaging size accuracy, height, etc.

Sustain - The steadiness of a musical waveform after the initial attack.

Timbre - The correctness in the way an instrument or group of instruments
     sounds without regard to dimenions.  Monophonic records can have better
     timbre than stereo since both channels are utilized.  Timbre is not 
     directly related to frequency response alone.  THD, IM, and all the
     rest have bearing on perceived timbre.  (It's pronounced TAM-brrr)

Transparency - The degree to which nothing is added to the sound by a 
     component.  As an analogy, think of overhead transparencies.  Stack
     up a transparency for the power amp on top of the preamp transparency
     and add one for all the components.  If everything is transparent,
     all the light passes through, but losses occur in each piece by some
     degree.  The least transparent component may be regarded as the weak
     link, but it all adds up.