Couple great points in this video about how to describe what we are hearing and what we like/don’t like. How experience improves certain aspects of your listening time and if that is even something people would even want. Like most things, learning takes time and it is hard discern between what changes we may hear from dacs,amps, and headphones, let alone trying to desribe those changes. There are a couple of sound examples they give too, like sibilance and decay. Also i included some definitions I “stole” from Moon Audio and headphonesty that i like and are still learning about:
ADSR
- Attack: The time it takes for a sound to increase to its maximum amplitude.
- Decay: The sound immediately begins to decrease to the sustain level.
- Sustain: The sound remains at this level until released.
- Release: The sound decreases back to zero amplitude.
Airy
Describes the space and openness of the product usually associated with open back headphones and live music.
Bass-Bleed
An abundance of, or uncontrolled bass response that overwhelms or interferes with higher (midrange) frequencies.
Coloration
the effect of a device on the music signal. The opposite of “neutral.” Various aspects can affect the tone, responsiveness or the frequency response of the music/audio.
Congestion
Poor clarity caused by overlapping sounds. Congested sound signatures lack detail and clarity, making it hard to hear separate instruments and may also be called muddy or muffled.
Depth
Describing how far away the instruments spacing is from back to front.
Dynamics
The variation in loudness between notes or sections within the music.
Jitter
A loss of a sample or block of samples in a bitstream during playback in a digital device, introducing noise. It can be caused by a number of factors including sync/word clock error or even buffer issues with the interface. Regardless, it happens with all digital devices and introduces noise, so that is why it’s important to have more data or higher quality recordings for playback to minimize jitter.
Listening-Style
The way a user prefers to listen to music. Typically, users may prefer to listen more analytically, or they may prefer to relax and “get lost” in the music. There’s no right or wrong way to listen to music.
Low-Level Detail
The subtlest elements of musical sound, which include the delicate details of instrumental sounds and the final tail of reverberation decay.
Openness
Described as good width and depth in the presentation of sound. Plenty of room between the instrumentation.
Punch
Indicative of strong bass reproduction and dynamics, with fast attack and short decay, giving a sense of power but remaining coherent and controlled.
Reverb
Short for reverberation. A diminishing series of echoes spaced sufficiently closely in time that they merge into a smooth decay.
Sibilant
The high unpleasant peaks that are usually unpleasant to the ear if too prevalent.
Soundstage
The ability of the equipment to create a perception of space (width, height, and depth) in the music, within which the instruments and vocalists are located.
Synergy
The interaction or cooperation of two or more audio components in an audio system, which, when combined produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Example: the synergy between a DAC and a headphone amp.
Texture/Texturing
A perceptible pattern or structure in reproduced sound, even if random in nature. Texturing gives the impression that the energy continuum of the sound is composed of discrete particles, like the grain of a photograph.
Timbre
the basic tone of a note, or the recognizable characteristic sound signature of an instrument.
Tonality
In referring to music, tonality is the quality of the instrument’s tone. In referring to audio, it refers to the reproduction of the sound and accuracy of the original timbres.
Transparent
Described as clarity in the sound presentation; being able to distinguish details and qualities.
Veiled
Lack of full clarity due to noise or loss of detail from limited transparency.
Warm/Warmth
Engaging vocals, bumped mid-bass and clear midrange. Full sounding with clarity.
Weight
The feeling of solidity and foundation contributed to music by extended, natural bass reproduction.
Width
The apparent lateral spread of a stereo image. If appropriately recorded, a reproduced image should sound no wider or narrower than how it sounded originally.