Post by jetok on Dec 20, 2005 18:29:10 GMT 7
hans,
eto na yung hinahanap mo para we are not grasping for words kapag audiophile kausap natin. ;D ;D ;D
Audiophile Terms
absolute phase, absolute polarity - Refers to the preservation of the initial acoustic waveform all the way through the recording and reproducing system so that a compression that reaches the original microphone will be reproduced in the listener's system as a compression reaching his or her ears. Some listeners appear to be more sensitive to this being correct than others, often referring to the inverted state as "muffled."
accuracy, accurate - The degree to which the output signal from a component or system is perceived as replicating the sonic qualities of its input signal. An accurate device reproduces what is on the recording, which may or may not be an accurate representation of the original sound. Accurate can also describe how well a piece of equipment can reproduce instruments
acoustical space - 1) A large performing or recording hall. 2) All the spatial and reverberant characteristics of the performing hall or location in which a recording was made.
acuity 1) The sensitivity of the ears to very soft sounds. 2) The learned ability to hear and to assess the subtle qualitative attributes and nuances of reproduced sound.
aggressive - Reproduced sound that is excessively forward and bright. A reproduction that sounds in your face. Opposite of laid-back or polite.
"ah" - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 1000Hz.
airy - Pertaining to treble which sounds light, delicate, open, and seemingly unrestricted in upper extension. A quality of reproducing systems having very smooth and very extended HF response.
aliveness - A quality of sound reproduction which gives an impression that the performers are present, in person, in the listening room. The sound no longer has the appearance of coming from your system, but takes on a sense of “thereness” that seemingly transports you to the actual recording location.
ambiance (pronounced "ahmbee-onts") - The feeling or mood evoked by an environment.
ambience (pronounced "ahmbee-ints") - The aurally perceived impression of an acoustical space, such as the performing hall in which a recording was made.
amperage, amps, amp - Used to describe the amount of current in a circuit. Expressed with the letter A or a.
analytical - Very detailed, almost to the point of excess.
articulate, articulation - 1) Clarity and intelligibility, usually of voice reproduction. 2) The reproduction of inner detail in complex sounds, which makes it easy to follow an individual musical voice among many.
artifact - any random additive sounds caused by digital processing. This can come from a lossy compression, scratches, dirt, or some other form of disruption of the laser pick-up’s ability to read the digital data correctly, an out of round disc, or can be due to vibration.
attack - Attack is the sudden change from low or no volume to high volume caused mostly by string, percussion, or horn instruments.
attack transient - The initial energy pulse of sound created. This is the leading edge of the sound.
audibility - The measure of the severity of a sonic imperfection. The scale of audibility, from least audible to most audible, is: inaudible, subtle, slight, moderate, obvious, conspicuous, and Arrggh!!
audiophile - listed as a sickness for which there truly is no cure in the national psychology manual. Symptoms usually include: lack of money, large periods of time spent alone with only music as their company, a compulsion to spend large periods of their free and work time posting useless and pointless posts on web sites like Head-Fi, DIYAudio, or HeadWize, and is usually accompanied by a severe case of upgraditis. They are deemed as being deluded by their family members (especially their spouse), aloof by their friends, and abusive by their wallet. The funny thing is that they normally find a close kindred with audio salesman and other sufferers of this sickness.
auronihilist (pronounced "auro-nigh-illist") - A person who believes that all components that measure the same, sound the same. A meter man.
autohype - Suggestive self-deception; hearing something that isn't there, because you expect it to be. A rich source of audio mythology.
"aw" (rhymes with "paw") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 450Hz. An "aw" coloration tends to emphasize and glamorize the sound of large brass instruments (trombone, tuba).
balance - 1) The subjective relationship between the relative loudness of the full range of the audio spectrum from lows to highs; "tonal balance." 2) The relative loudness of the instruments in a performing group. 3) Equality of signal level between the left and right stereo channels, which centers the soundstage and allows mono program material to image at the center; “channel balance”.
ballsy - Describes a system which has a very tight and palpable bass reproduction.
banger - A very loud LP surface-noise pop.
bass - Frequencies that fall below 160Hz.
billowing, billowy - Excessively reverberant.
binaural - Literally hearing with "two ears," refers to a recording/playback system which presents the listener's ears with the acoustic waveforms they would have received at the original event. Only currently achievable with a "dummy-head" microphone and playback via headphones.
bloated - 1) When describing a phantom image: excessively wide. 2) When describing sound in general: overdone, overly rich, warm, and or reverberant. A bloated bass is one that is sloppy and/or overdone. Opposite of “ballsy” “tight” or “punchy”.
blob, blobs - used to describe the reproduction of music coming from headphones that appears to come from blobs of sound located in the right, left, and center of one’s head.
bloom - A quality of expansive richness and warmth, like the live body sound of a cello. Also any “hump” in the reproduction of a given frequency or frequency range that is not in the recording. A tubed item is normally noted to have a characteristic midrange bloom that is both pleasant and pleasing.
body - A quality of roundness and robustness in reproduced sound. "Gutsiness."
body sound - Of a musical instrument: the characteristic sound of the material of which the instrument is made, due to resonances of that material. The wooden quality of a viola, the "signature" by which a brass flute is distinguishable from a wooden or platinum one.
boomy - Characterized by pronounced exaggeration of the midbass and, often, dominance of a narrow range of bass frequencies. ("One-note bass.")
boxy - 1) Characterized by an "oh" vowel coloration, as when speaking with one's head inside a box. 2) Used to describe the upper-bass/lower-midrange sound of a loudspeaker with excessive cabinet-wall resonances.
breakup - The sound of severe analog-disc mistracking.
breathing - From a dynamic noise-reduction system: audible changes in the level of background hiss in accordance with changes in signal volume. See "pumping."
bright, brilliant - The most often misused terms in audio, these describe the degree to which reproduced sound has a hard, crisp edge to it. Brightness relates to the energy content in the 4kHz-8kHz band. It is not related to output in the extreme-high-frequency range. All live sound has brightness; it is a problem only when it is excessive.
bunching - 1) In double-mono reproduction, the imaging of all sounds from a small area between the loudspeakers. Tight (narrow) bunching in A+B mode is essential for good imaging specificity in stereo. 2) In stereo reproduction, excessive center fill with inadequate spread. Compare with stereo spread.
buzz - A low-frequency sound having a spiky or fuzzy character.
bypass test - Directly comparing the output signal from a device with the input signal being fed to it, by putting the device into and then out of the signal path and observing the difference.
canal type headphones - Headphones in which you actually insert them into your ears vice on or around your head. Etymonics and Shure are examples of manufacturers that use this design. See also “in-ear”.
cans - Slang word for headphones. Shorter and easier to type also.
CDP - Compact Disc Player.
center fill - Correct image placement between the loudspeakers of sound sources which were originally located at or near center-stage. See "localization," "stereo spread."
center stage - That part of the soundstage that appears to come from midway between the loudspeakers.
chalky - Describes a texturing of sound that is finer than grainy but coarser than dry. See "texture."
channel - Path or source of sound. This can be left, right, center, rear, surround, etc. in it’s origin.
characteristic - One of the basic constituents of reproduced sound, which contributes to its perception. Frequency response, loudness, extension, soundstaging, and resolution are sonic characteristics.
chesty- A pronounced thickness or heaviness from reproduced male voice, due to excessive energy in the upper bass or lower midrange.
chocolatey - Like "syrupy," but darker and more full-bodied.
circularity - The paradox of subjectivity: "You can't judge a recording without reproducing it, and you can't judge a reproducer without listening to a recording." Also known as circular logic.
circumaural - a headphone design in which the ear pads totally surround the ears and instead of resting directly upon the ears, they rests on the parts of the head surrounding the ear.
clean - Free from audible distortion, colorations, or any other item that detracts from a pure sound.
click - A small, sharp impulse that sounds like the word "click."
clinical - Sound that is pristinely clean but wholly uninvolving emotionally.
clip-on - A headphones design in which the headphones have a clip that wraps around the ear to hold them onto the ear where they rest. closed - Used to describe a headphone design in which the driver is enclosed at the side opposite the ear. These headphones do not usually leak sound, and provide some amount of isolation from outside noises.
closed-in - Lacking in openness, delicacy, air, and fine detail. A closed-in sound is usually caused by HF rolloff above 10kHz. Compare with "open," "airy."
coarse - A large-grained texturing of reproduced sound; very gritty. The continuum of reproduced sound seems to be comprised of large particles. See "texture."
thingytail-party effect - The auditory system's controllable ability to separate-out, on the basis of direction alone, one sound source from many coming from different directions. It allows you to follow one voice among the others at a noisy thingytail party.
cognitive dissonance - A conflict between observations, as when a sound has the timbre of a close listening seat but the perspective of a distant one.
coherent - 1) Pertaining to a multi-way loudspeaker's sound: seamless from top to bottom; showing no audible evidence of a crossover or of different driver colorations in different frequency ranges. 2) Pertaining to the soundstage: Phantom imaging that reproduces within the stereo stage the original lateral positions of the performers. See "bunching," "hole-in-the-middle."
cold - One step worse than "cool". Having somewhat excessive high-end output and weak low-end output.
coloration - An audible "signature" with which a reproducing system adds to all signals passing through it. The bass boost found in some portable CD player, PCDP, units is an example of purposeful coloration added.
comb filtering - A hollow coloration that, once recognized, is unmistakable. Caused by a regularly spaced series of frequency-response peaks and dips, most often due to interference between two identical signals spaced in time. If that time difference is continually changed, the comb-filter peaks and dips move accordingly, giving rise to the familiar "phasing," "flanging," or "jet plane" effect used in modern rock music.
compressed - used to describe a soundstage in which the instruments are bunched together too closely. The sounds tend to emanate from a smaller area than they should. The next worse step of congested.
congested - Sound that is coming or appears to be coming from an area so close together that the sounds lose their individuality and blend into one sound, or a combination of those sounds. This is the opposite of transparency.
consonant - Agreeable to the ear; pleasant-sounding. Compare "dissonant."
conspicuous - Very audible. See "audibility."
continuity 1) Of the soundstage: the reproduction of the original lateral positions of the stereo images. See "bunching," "hole-in-the-middle," "stereo spread." 2) Of a multi-way loudspeaker: uniformity of coloration from the operating range of one driver to that of the other(s). 3) Of sound: a reproduction of sounds that proceed from one ear to the other in one contiguous sound that doesn’t get lost in the transition.
control - The extent to which a loudspeaker sounds as if it is "tracking" the signal being fed to it. The sound is tight, detailed, and focused. See "damping."
cool - Moderately deficient in body & warmth due to progressive attenuation of frequencies below ~ 150Hz.
crackle - Intermittent medium-sized clicks. The usual background noise from much-played vinyl discs.
crisp - In reproduced sound: sharply focused and detailed, sometimes excessively so because of a peak in the mid-treble region.
crossfeed - the purposeful addition of sound from one channel to the other to remove any blobs of sound, or help with older recordings with extreme channel separation.
crosstalk - unwanted bleeding of sound from one channel to the other.
cupped-hands - A coloration reminiscent of someone speaking through cupped hands or, if extreme, a megaphone.
current - The flow of electrons thru a circuit. Expressed with the letter I in formulas, and expressed in amps using the letter A. Calculated as follows: I=E/R. Current is equal to the voltage divided by resistance.
damping - The amount of control an amplifier seems to impose on a woofer. Under damping causes loose, heavy bass; over damping yields very tight but lean bass.
damping factor - A numerical rating of how much control an amp has on the bass. The higher the better.
dark - A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."
dead - Dull and lifeless sound that is totally uninvolving.
decay - The reverberant fadeout of a musical sound after it has ceased. Compare "attack." This is the trailing off of the note or instrument. Opposite of attack. A cymbal is one instrument that combines a massive attack when struck hard, then displays a length decay as it fades to nothing.
decibel, dB - Unit of measurement 1/10th that of a Bel. Each 3dB of sound represents a doubling in noise, and power needed to produce that level of noise. It is normally a logarithmic expression, not a linear one.
deep bass - Frequencies below 40Hz.
definition (also resolution) - That quality of sound reproduction which enables the listener to distinguish between, and follow the melodic lines of, the individual voices or instruments comprising a large performing group. See "focus."
delicacy - The reproduction of very subtle, very faint details of musical sound, such as the fingertip-friction sounds produced when a guitar or a harp is played. See "low-level detail."
depth - The illusion of acoustical distance receding behind the loudspeaker plane, giving the impression of listening through the loudspeakers into the original performing space, rather than to them. See "layering," "transparency." Compare "flat."
detail - The subtle and most delicate parts of the original recording, which are usually the first things lost by imperfect components. See "low-level detail." Compare "haze," "smearing," "veiling."
diffuse - Reproduction which is severely deficient in detail and imaging specificity; confused, muddled.
dip - An area of depression of a frequency-response curve. Compare dished/humped
dirty - Sound reproduction which is fuzzy, cruddy, or spiky.
direct sound - A sound reaching the ears in a straight line from its source. The direct sounds are always the first sounds heard. The "critical distance" from a sound source is when the spl of the direct sound is equal to that of the reverberant field. See "far field," "near field," "precedence effect." Compare "reflected sound," "reverberation."
discontinuity - A change of timbre or coloration due to the signal's transition, in a multi-way speaker system, from one driver to another having dissimilar coloration.
dished, dished-down - Describes a frequency response that is depressed through the entire middle range. The sound has too much bass and treble, exaggerated depth, and a laid-back, lifeless quality. Compare "forward."
dissonant - Unpleasant to the ear; ugly-sounding. Dissonance is an imperfection only when the music is not supposed to sound dissonant. Compare "consonant."
distortion - 1) Any unintentional or undesirable change in an audio signal. 2) An overlay of spurious roughness, fuzziness, harshness, or stridency in reproduced sound.
double (or dual) mono - Reproduction of a monophonic signal through both channels/speakers of a stereo system, as when a preamplifier's mode switch is set to A+B (L+R). Compare "single mono."
double blind - testing method in which neither the tester nor person administering the test know the actual correct answer to the testing being done. This eliminates any influence that the administrator could have on the results of person participating.
dramatic - Describing a perceived difference between components: Very noticeable, unmistakable. A term misused by audio reviewers to demonstrate how incredibly sensitive they are to barely audible differences. See "audibility."
dry - 1) Describing the texture of reproduced sound: very fine-grained, chalky. 2) Describing an acoustical space: deficient in reverberation or having a very short reverberation time. 3) Describing bass quality: lean, over damped.
dull - Lifeless, muffled, veiled. Same as "soft," only more so. The audible effect of HF rolloff setting in at around 5kHz. Dull can also describe the uninvolving reproduction of music due to it’s lack of a desired part of the frequency spectrum. Music is dull when it lacks bass where it should have it. Some describe a component that is very flat in it’s frequency response as dull since it lacks the normal peaks one is accustomed to.
dynamic - Giving the impression of very wide range of sounds from soft to loud; punchy. This is related to system speed as well as to volume contrast.
dynamic range - 1) Pertaining to a signal: the ratio between the loudest and the quietest passages. 2) Pertaining to a component: the ratio between its no-signal noise and the loudest peak it will pass without distortion.
ear-buds - Headphones rest just inside the ear, but not all the way into the canal. ease - Pertains to the degree of reproduction which sounds free from strain.
echo - In an acoustical space: the repetition of a sound due to reflection of the original sound from a room boundary. See "hand-clap test," "fluttery," "plastery," "slap."
echoey, echoic - Pertaining to an acoustical space having excessive reverberation. Can also (rarely) be characteristic of a loudspeaker with excessive mid-frequency mechanical resonances.
"ee" (rhymes with "we") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 3.5kHz.
effortless - Unstrained; showing no signs of audible stress during loud passages. Compare "strained."
"eh" (as in "bed") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 2kHz.
element - One of the constituent parts of a sonic characteristic. Bass, midrange, and treble are elements of frequency response. Depth and breadth are elements of soundstaging.
error of commission - Signal degradation due to the addition of sounds that were not present in the original signal. Distortion and coloration are examples of errors of commission.
error of omission - Signal degradation due to the loss of information that was present in the original signal. Smearing and treble loss are examples of errors of omission.
etched - Very crisp and sharply outlined, focused to an almost excessive degree.
euphonic - Pleasing to the ear. In audio, "euphonic" has a connotation of exaggerated richness rather than literal accuracy.
extension - The low and high limits of a component's frequency range at either end of the spectrum.
extreme highs - The range of audible frequencies above 10kHz.
far field - Pertains to that range of listening distances in which the predominant sounds reaching the ears are reflections from room boundaries.
fast - Giving an impression of extremely rapid reaction time, which allows a reproducing system to "keep up with" the signal fed to it. (A "fast woofer" would seem to be an oxymoron, but this usage refers to a woofer tuning that does not boom, make the music sound "slow," obscure musical phrasing, or lead to "one-note bass.") Similar to "taut", but referring to the entire audio-frequency range instead of just the bass.
fat - The sonic effect of a moderate exaggeration of the mid- and upper-bass ranges. Excessively "warm."
flanging - See "comb filtering."
flat - 1) Having a subjectively uniform frequency response, free from humps and dips. 2) Deficient in or lacking in soundstage depth, resulting in the impression that all reproduced sound sources are the same distance from the listener.
floating - A positive attribute that pertains to soundstaging in which the phantom images seem to exist independently of the loudspeaker positions, giving the impression that the speakers are absent. See "beyond-the-speakers imaging," "depth," "layering." Compare "flat," "vagueness," "wander."
fluttery - Pertains to a repeated echo recurring at a rate of about 10 repetitions per second, common to small, bare-walled acoustical spaces. See "hand-clap test." Compare "plastery," "slap."
focus - The quality of being clearly defined, with sharply outlined phantom images. Focus has also been described as the enhanced ability to hear the brief moments of silence between the musical impulses in reproduced sound.
forward, forwardness - A quality of reproduction which seems to place sound sources closer than they were recorded. Usually the result of a humped midrange, plus a narrow horizontal dispersion pattern from the loudspeaker. See "Row-A sound." Compare "laid-back."
frequency range - A range of frequencies stated without level limits: ie, "The upper bass covers the frequency range 80-160Hz."
frequency (or amplitude) response - 1) A range of frequencies stated with level limits: ie, "The woofer's response was 20-160Hz "3dB." 2) The uniformity with which a system or individual component sounds as if it reproduces the range of audible frequencies. Equal input levels at all frequencies should be reproduced by a system with subjectively equal output. Generally, a frequency response is measures from 20Hz-20KHZ, with the amount of deviation expressed with it in decibels. Example: 20Hz-20KHZ, +-3dB.
fuzz, fuzziness - A coarse but soft-edged texturing of reproduced sound. Like "hash," but with muffled-sounding spikes.
gestalt response - The evocation of a complete memory recognition by an incomplete set of sensory cues. A gestalt response to the few things an audio system does outstandingly well can make imperfect reproduction seem more realistic than it actually is.
glare - An unpleasant quality of hardness or brightness, due to excessive low- or mid-treble energy.
glassy - Very bright.
eto na yung hinahanap mo para we are not grasping for words kapag audiophile kausap natin. ;D ;D ;D
Audiophile Terms
absolute phase, absolute polarity - Refers to the preservation of the initial acoustic waveform all the way through the recording and reproducing system so that a compression that reaches the original microphone will be reproduced in the listener's system as a compression reaching his or her ears. Some listeners appear to be more sensitive to this being correct than others, often referring to the inverted state as "muffled."
accuracy, accurate - The degree to which the output signal from a component or system is perceived as replicating the sonic qualities of its input signal. An accurate device reproduces what is on the recording, which may or may not be an accurate representation of the original sound. Accurate can also describe how well a piece of equipment can reproduce instruments
acoustical space - 1) A large performing or recording hall. 2) All the spatial and reverberant characteristics of the performing hall or location in which a recording was made.
acuity 1) The sensitivity of the ears to very soft sounds. 2) The learned ability to hear and to assess the subtle qualitative attributes and nuances of reproduced sound.
aggressive - Reproduced sound that is excessively forward and bright. A reproduction that sounds in your face. Opposite of laid-back or polite.
"ah" - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 1000Hz.
airy - Pertaining to treble which sounds light, delicate, open, and seemingly unrestricted in upper extension. A quality of reproducing systems having very smooth and very extended HF response.
aliveness - A quality of sound reproduction which gives an impression that the performers are present, in person, in the listening room. The sound no longer has the appearance of coming from your system, but takes on a sense of “thereness” that seemingly transports you to the actual recording location.
ambiance (pronounced "ahmbee-onts") - The feeling or mood evoked by an environment.
ambience (pronounced "ahmbee-ints") - The aurally perceived impression of an acoustical space, such as the performing hall in which a recording was made.
amperage, amps, amp - Used to describe the amount of current in a circuit. Expressed with the letter A or a.
analytical - Very detailed, almost to the point of excess.
articulate, articulation - 1) Clarity and intelligibility, usually of voice reproduction. 2) The reproduction of inner detail in complex sounds, which makes it easy to follow an individual musical voice among many.
artifact - any random additive sounds caused by digital processing. This can come from a lossy compression, scratches, dirt, or some other form of disruption of the laser pick-up’s ability to read the digital data correctly, an out of round disc, or can be due to vibration.
attack - Attack is the sudden change from low or no volume to high volume caused mostly by string, percussion, or horn instruments.
attack transient - The initial energy pulse of sound created. This is the leading edge of the sound.
audibility - The measure of the severity of a sonic imperfection. The scale of audibility, from least audible to most audible, is: inaudible, subtle, slight, moderate, obvious, conspicuous, and Arrggh!!
audiophile - listed as a sickness for which there truly is no cure in the national psychology manual. Symptoms usually include: lack of money, large periods of time spent alone with only music as their company, a compulsion to spend large periods of their free and work time posting useless and pointless posts on web sites like Head-Fi, DIYAudio, or HeadWize, and is usually accompanied by a severe case of upgraditis. They are deemed as being deluded by their family members (especially their spouse), aloof by their friends, and abusive by their wallet. The funny thing is that they normally find a close kindred with audio salesman and other sufferers of this sickness.
auronihilist (pronounced "auro-nigh-illist") - A person who believes that all components that measure the same, sound the same. A meter man.
autohype - Suggestive self-deception; hearing something that isn't there, because you expect it to be. A rich source of audio mythology.
"aw" (rhymes with "paw") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 450Hz. An "aw" coloration tends to emphasize and glamorize the sound of large brass instruments (trombone, tuba).
balance - 1) The subjective relationship between the relative loudness of the full range of the audio spectrum from lows to highs; "tonal balance." 2) The relative loudness of the instruments in a performing group. 3) Equality of signal level between the left and right stereo channels, which centers the soundstage and allows mono program material to image at the center; “channel balance”.
ballsy - Describes a system which has a very tight and palpable bass reproduction.
banger - A very loud LP surface-noise pop.
bass - Frequencies that fall below 160Hz.
billowing, billowy - Excessively reverberant.
binaural - Literally hearing with "two ears," refers to a recording/playback system which presents the listener's ears with the acoustic waveforms they would have received at the original event. Only currently achievable with a "dummy-head" microphone and playback via headphones.
bloated - 1) When describing a phantom image: excessively wide. 2) When describing sound in general: overdone, overly rich, warm, and or reverberant. A bloated bass is one that is sloppy and/or overdone. Opposite of “ballsy” “tight” or “punchy”.
blob, blobs - used to describe the reproduction of music coming from headphones that appears to come from blobs of sound located in the right, left, and center of one’s head.
bloom - A quality of expansive richness and warmth, like the live body sound of a cello. Also any “hump” in the reproduction of a given frequency or frequency range that is not in the recording. A tubed item is normally noted to have a characteristic midrange bloom that is both pleasant and pleasing.
body - A quality of roundness and robustness in reproduced sound. "Gutsiness."
body sound - Of a musical instrument: the characteristic sound of the material of which the instrument is made, due to resonances of that material. The wooden quality of a viola, the "signature" by which a brass flute is distinguishable from a wooden or platinum one.
boomy - Characterized by pronounced exaggeration of the midbass and, often, dominance of a narrow range of bass frequencies. ("One-note bass.")
boxy - 1) Characterized by an "oh" vowel coloration, as when speaking with one's head inside a box. 2) Used to describe the upper-bass/lower-midrange sound of a loudspeaker with excessive cabinet-wall resonances.
breakup - The sound of severe analog-disc mistracking.
breathing - From a dynamic noise-reduction system: audible changes in the level of background hiss in accordance with changes in signal volume. See "pumping."
bright, brilliant - The most often misused terms in audio, these describe the degree to which reproduced sound has a hard, crisp edge to it. Brightness relates to the energy content in the 4kHz-8kHz band. It is not related to output in the extreme-high-frequency range. All live sound has brightness; it is a problem only when it is excessive.
bunching - 1) In double-mono reproduction, the imaging of all sounds from a small area between the loudspeakers. Tight (narrow) bunching in A+B mode is essential for good imaging specificity in stereo. 2) In stereo reproduction, excessive center fill with inadequate spread. Compare with stereo spread.
buzz - A low-frequency sound having a spiky or fuzzy character.
bypass test - Directly comparing the output signal from a device with the input signal being fed to it, by putting the device into and then out of the signal path and observing the difference.
canal type headphones - Headphones in which you actually insert them into your ears vice on or around your head. Etymonics and Shure are examples of manufacturers that use this design. See also “in-ear”.
cans - Slang word for headphones. Shorter and easier to type also.
CDP - Compact Disc Player.
center fill - Correct image placement between the loudspeakers of sound sources which were originally located at or near center-stage. See "localization," "stereo spread."
center stage - That part of the soundstage that appears to come from midway between the loudspeakers.
chalky - Describes a texturing of sound that is finer than grainy but coarser than dry. See "texture."
channel - Path or source of sound. This can be left, right, center, rear, surround, etc. in it’s origin.
characteristic - One of the basic constituents of reproduced sound, which contributes to its perception. Frequency response, loudness, extension, soundstaging, and resolution are sonic characteristics.
chesty- A pronounced thickness or heaviness from reproduced male voice, due to excessive energy in the upper bass or lower midrange.
chocolatey - Like "syrupy," but darker and more full-bodied.
circularity - The paradox of subjectivity: "You can't judge a recording without reproducing it, and you can't judge a reproducer without listening to a recording." Also known as circular logic.
circumaural - a headphone design in which the ear pads totally surround the ears and instead of resting directly upon the ears, they rests on the parts of the head surrounding the ear.
clean - Free from audible distortion, colorations, or any other item that detracts from a pure sound.
click - A small, sharp impulse that sounds like the word "click."
clinical - Sound that is pristinely clean but wholly uninvolving emotionally.
clip-on - A headphones design in which the headphones have a clip that wraps around the ear to hold them onto the ear where they rest. closed - Used to describe a headphone design in which the driver is enclosed at the side opposite the ear. These headphones do not usually leak sound, and provide some amount of isolation from outside noises.
closed-in - Lacking in openness, delicacy, air, and fine detail. A closed-in sound is usually caused by HF rolloff above 10kHz. Compare with "open," "airy."
coarse - A large-grained texturing of reproduced sound; very gritty. The continuum of reproduced sound seems to be comprised of large particles. See "texture."
thingytail-party effect - The auditory system's controllable ability to separate-out, on the basis of direction alone, one sound source from many coming from different directions. It allows you to follow one voice among the others at a noisy thingytail party.
cognitive dissonance - A conflict between observations, as when a sound has the timbre of a close listening seat but the perspective of a distant one.
coherent - 1) Pertaining to a multi-way loudspeaker's sound: seamless from top to bottom; showing no audible evidence of a crossover or of different driver colorations in different frequency ranges. 2) Pertaining to the soundstage: Phantom imaging that reproduces within the stereo stage the original lateral positions of the performers. See "bunching," "hole-in-the-middle."
cold - One step worse than "cool". Having somewhat excessive high-end output and weak low-end output.
coloration - An audible "signature" with which a reproducing system adds to all signals passing through it. The bass boost found in some portable CD player, PCDP, units is an example of purposeful coloration added.
comb filtering - A hollow coloration that, once recognized, is unmistakable. Caused by a regularly spaced series of frequency-response peaks and dips, most often due to interference between two identical signals spaced in time. If that time difference is continually changed, the comb-filter peaks and dips move accordingly, giving rise to the familiar "phasing," "flanging," or "jet plane" effect used in modern rock music.
compressed - used to describe a soundstage in which the instruments are bunched together too closely. The sounds tend to emanate from a smaller area than they should. The next worse step of congested.
congested - Sound that is coming or appears to be coming from an area so close together that the sounds lose their individuality and blend into one sound, or a combination of those sounds. This is the opposite of transparency.
consonant - Agreeable to the ear; pleasant-sounding. Compare "dissonant."
conspicuous - Very audible. See "audibility."
continuity 1) Of the soundstage: the reproduction of the original lateral positions of the stereo images. See "bunching," "hole-in-the-middle," "stereo spread." 2) Of a multi-way loudspeaker: uniformity of coloration from the operating range of one driver to that of the other(s). 3) Of sound: a reproduction of sounds that proceed from one ear to the other in one contiguous sound that doesn’t get lost in the transition.
control - The extent to which a loudspeaker sounds as if it is "tracking" the signal being fed to it. The sound is tight, detailed, and focused. See "damping."
cool - Moderately deficient in body & warmth due to progressive attenuation of frequencies below ~ 150Hz.
crackle - Intermittent medium-sized clicks. The usual background noise from much-played vinyl discs.
crisp - In reproduced sound: sharply focused and detailed, sometimes excessively so because of a peak in the mid-treble region.
crossfeed - the purposeful addition of sound from one channel to the other to remove any blobs of sound, or help with older recordings with extreme channel separation.
crosstalk - unwanted bleeding of sound from one channel to the other.
cupped-hands - A coloration reminiscent of someone speaking through cupped hands or, if extreme, a megaphone.
current - The flow of electrons thru a circuit. Expressed with the letter I in formulas, and expressed in amps using the letter A. Calculated as follows: I=E/R. Current is equal to the voltage divided by resistance.
damping - The amount of control an amplifier seems to impose on a woofer. Under damping causes loose, heavy bass; over damping yields very tight but lean bass.
damping factor - A numerical rating of how much control an amp has on the bass. The higher the better.
dark - A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."
dead - Dull and lifeless sound that is totally uninvolving.
decay - The reverberant fadeout of a musical sound after it has ceased. Compare "attack." This is the trailing off of the note or instrument. Opposite of attack. A cymbal is one instrument that combines a massive attack when struck hard, then displays a length decay as it fades to nothing.
decibel, dB - Unit of measurement 1/10th that of a Bel. Each 3dB of sound represents a doubling in noise, and power needed to produce that level of noise. It is normally a logarithmic expression, not a linear one.
deep bass - Frequencies below 40Hz.
definition (also resolution) - That quality of sound reproduction which enables the listener to distinguish between, and follow the melodic lines of, the individual voices or instruments comprising a large performing group. See "focus."
delicacy - The reproduction of very subtle, very faint details of musical sound, such as the fingertip-friction sounds produced when a guitar or a harp is played. See "low-level detail."
depth - The illusion of acoustical distance receding behind the loudspeaker plane, giving the impression of listening through the loudspeakers into the original performing space, rather than to them. See "layering," "transparency." Compare "flat."
detail - The subtle and most delicate parts of the original recording, which are usually the first things lost by imperfect components. See "low-level detail." Compare "haze," "smearing," "veiling."
diffuse - Reproduction which is severely deficient in detail and imaging specificity; confused, muddled.
dip - An area of depression of a frequency-response curve. Compare dished/humped
dirty - Sound reproduction which is fuzzy, cruddy, or spiky.
direct sound - A sound reaching the ears in a straight line from its source. The direct sounds are always the first sounds heard. The "critical distance" from a sound source is when the spl of the direct sound is equal to that of the reverberant field. See "far field," "near field," "precedence effect." Compare "reflected sound," "reverberation."
discontinuity - A change of timbre or coloration due to the signal's transition, in a multi-way speaker system, from one driver to another having dissimilar coloration.
dished, dished-down - Describes a frequency response that is depressed through the entire middle range. The sound has too much bass and treble, exaggerated depth, and a laid-back, lifeless quality. Compare "forward."
dissonant - Unpleasant to the ear; ugly-sounding. Dissonance is an imperfection only when the music is not supposed to sound dissonant. Compare "consonant."
distortion - 1) Any unintentional or undesirable change in an audio signal. 2) An overlay of spurious roughness, fuzziness, harshness, or stridency in reproduced sound.
double (or dual) mono - Reproduction of a monophonic signal through both channels/speakers of a stereo system, as when a preamplifier's mode switch is set to A+B (L+R). Compare "single mono."
double blind - testing method in which neither the tester nor person administering the test know the actual correct answer to the testing being done. This eliminates any influence that the administrator could have on the results of person participating.
dramatic - Describing a perceived difference between components: Very noticeable, unmistakable. A term misused by audio reviewers to demonstrate how incredibly sensitive they are to barely audible differences. See "audibility."
dry - 1) Describing the texture of reproduced sound: very fine-grained, chalky. 2) Describing an acoustical space: deficient in reverberation or having a very short reverberation time. 3) Describing bass quality: lean, over damped.
dull - Lifeless, muffled, veiled. Same as "soft," only more so. The audible effect of HF rolloff setting in at around 5kHz. Dull can also describe the uninvolving reproduction of music due to it’s lack of a desired part of the frequency spectrum. Music is dull when it lacks bass where it should have it. Some describe a component that is very flat in it’s frequency response as dull since it lacks the normal peaks one is accustomed to.
dynamic - Giving the impression of very wide range of sounds from soft to loud; punchy. This is related to system speed as well as to volume contrast.
dynamic range - 1) Pertaining to a signal: the ratio between the loudest and the quietest passages. 2) Pertaining to a component: the ratio between its no-signal noise and the loudest peak it will pass without distortion.
ear-buds - Headphones rest just inside the ear, but not all the way into the canal. ease - Pertains to the degree of reproduction which sounds free from strain.
echo - In an acoustical space: the repetition of a sound due to reflection of the original sound from a room boundary. See "hand-clap test," "fluttery," "plastery," "slap."
echoey, echoic - Pertaining to an acoustical space having excessive reverberation. Can also (rarely) be characteristic of a loudspeaker with excessive mid-frequency mechanical resonances.
"ee" (rhymes with "we") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 3.5kHz.
effortless - Unstrained; showing no signs of audible stress during loud passages. Compare "strained."
"eh" (as in "bed") - A vowel coloration caused by a frequency-response peak centered around 2kHz.
element - One of the constituent parts of a sonic characteristic. Bass, midrange, and treble are elements of frequency response. Depth and breadth are elements of soundstaging.
error of commission - Signal degradation due to the addition of sounds that were not present in the original signal. Distortion and coloration are examples of errors of commission.
error of omission - Signal degradation due to the loss of information that was present in the original signal. Smearing and treble loss are examples of errors of omission.
etched - Very crisp and sharply outlined, focused to an almost excessive degree.
euphonic - Pleasing to the ear. In audio, "euphonic" has a connotation of exaggerated richness rather than literal accuracy.
extension - The low and high limits of a component's frequency range at either end of the spectrum.
extreme highs - The range of audible frequencies above 10kHz.
far field - Pertains to that range of listening distances in which the predominant sounds reaching the ears are reflections from room boundaries.
fast - Giving an impression of extremely rapid reaction time, which allows a reproducing system to "keep up with" the signal fed to it. (A "fast woofer" would seem to be an oxymoron, but this usage refers to a woofer tuning that does not boom, make the music sound "slow," obscure musical phrasing, or lead to "one-note bass.") Similar to "taut", but referring to the entire audio-frequency range instead of just the bass.
fat - The sonic effect of a moderate exaggeration of the mid- and upper-bass ranges. Excessively "warm."
flanging - See "comb filtering."
flat - 1) Having a subjectively uniform frequency response, free from humps and dips. 2) Deficient in or lacking in soundstage depth, resulting in the impression that all reproduced sound sources are the same distance from the listener.
floating - A positive attribute that pertains to soundstaging in which the phantom images seem to exist independently of the loudspeaker positions, giving the impression that the speakers are absent. See "beyond-the-speakers imaging," "depth," "layering." Compare "flat," "vagueness," "wander."
fluttery - Pertains to a repeated echo recurring at a rate of about 10 repetitions per second, common to small, bare-walled acoustical spaces. See "hand-clap test." Compare "plastery," "slap."
focus - The quality of being clearly defined, with sharply outlined phantom images. Focus has also been described as the enhanced ability to hear the brief moments of silence between the musical impulses in reproduced sound.
forward, forwardness - A quality of reproduction which seems to place sound sources closer than they were recorded. Usually the result of a humped midrange, plus a narrow horizontal dispersion pattern from the loudspeaker. See "Row-A sound." Compare "laid-back."
frequency range - A range of frequencies stated without level limits: ie, "The upper bass covers the frequency range 80-160Hz."
frequency (or amplitude) response - 1) A range of frequencies stated with level limits: ie, "The woofer's response was 20-160Hz "3dB." 2) The uniformity with which a system or individual component sounds as if it reproduces the range of audible frequencies. Equal input levels at all frequencies should be reproduced by a system with subjectively equal output. Generally, a frequency response is measures from 20Hz-20KHZ, with the amount of deviation expressed with it in decibels. Example: 20Hz-20KHZ, +-3dB.
fuzz, fuzziness - A coarse but soft-edged texturing of reproduced sound. Like "hash," but with muffled-sounding spikes.
gestalt response - The evocation of a complete memory recognition by an incomplete set of sensory cues. A gestalt response to the few things an audio system does outstandingly well can make imperfect reproduction seem more realistic than it actually is.
glare - An unpleasant quality of hardness or brightness, due to excessive low- or mid-treble energy.
glassy - Very bright.
