Overused "Audiophile" Terms

[jaxvon]

I'm compiling a list of all those great "Audiophile" terms. I'll explain myself later, but I'd like to get a nice big list and do something fun with them. I know I can't think of enough on my own, so I turn to the community!

Some examples I can think of are:

• Pure Virgin Teflon
• Phase Correct
• Smearing
• Skin Effect
• Strand Interaction
• Other cool sounding snake oil terms

So yeah. Help me out! I promise to do something cool with them!

 

[MDS]

Phase correct, smearing, and skin effect are all valid phenomena, although not applicable to audio in the context of cables.

 

[miklorsmith]

How about air, veils, palpable, disappearing speakers?

 

[MDS]

Yes. "It sounded like a Veil had been lifted". That one should be at the top of the list.

 

[Steve1000]

burn-in

 

[Mudcat]

Previous Thread

http://www.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5204

 

[mtrycrafts]

I'm compiling a list of all those great "Audiophile" terms. I'll explain myself later, but I'd like to get a nice big list and do something fun with them. I know I can't think of enough on my own, so I turn to the community!

Some examples I can think of are:

• Pure Virgin Teflon
• Phase Correct
• Smearing
• Skin Effect
• Strand Interaction
• Other cool sounding snake oil terms

So yeah. Help me out! I promise to do something cool with them!

Missed on the other list : microdynamics

 

[anamorphic96]

How about bleached, and dry. These seem to be used a good bit.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

"Warm"
"Analytical"
"Bloom", "Bloomy" (oft applied to the sound of bass thru a tube amp -- I think it actually means poorly damped)
"Liquid"

...all of which, when I read them, make me feel...
"Pukey"

Mudcat's Audio Daffynitions thread is definately a must-read!

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

*smooth (to describe the sound... not the speaker surface)
*ethereal
*deep

 

[goodman]

"Soundstage" and "imaging" are overused. What is the difference between them?

 

[Mudcat]

"Soundstage" and "imaging" are overused. What is the difference between them?

The Spelling

 

[mtrycrafts]

The Spelling

Number of letters

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Heh, heh...you know, when I got back into audio and started seeing these kinds of reviews my reaction was, "WTF is this, a wine review!?!". I was half expecting to see a variation on the old jokey wine cliche: "...an unpretentious little amplifier but you will be amused by its soundstage."

It also seems that the actual merits of the product under review are inversely proportional to the amount of purple prose lavished upon it!

Julian Hirsch, bless him, is spinning in his grave.

 

[markw]

"The difference was like night and day with the new cables"

"It was such a difference that my wife, who was in another room, commented on it."

I also recall one post several years ago where this eas extrended to the point where the wife was able to hear the difference while driving up the driveway!

How about "directionality" as far as the signal goes. I'm excluding the grounding issue here.

As faras "bloom" goes, I've used that term to describe how speakers need a certain amount of power (or be played at a certain loudness) before they sound decent. This is something that a "loudness" control cannot correct.

 

[miklorsmith]

This is a good thread. However, soundstage is the size of the apparent space cast by your stereo. Imaging is the apparent placement of performers within it.

 

[Vancouver]

MarkW touched it....anyone of my friends who tries to explain how much of a difference a new piece of equipment makes says..

"even my wife can tell the difference"

You would think that with how sensitive, emotional, and illogical woman are on spending money, they would make perfect audiophiles!!

 

[markw]

This is a good thread. However, soundstage is the size of the apparent space cast by your stereo. Imaging is the apparent placement of performers within it.

My Proton TV enhances the soundstage when I engage the SRS function. In fact, it expands it beyond the boundaries of the TV speakers itself. Is this a desirable thing for stereo?

And, who determines which is the correct placement of the insturments within said soundstage? The artist, engineer, SRS or DPL2? All have this capability.

 

[miklorsmith]

It can be very nice indeed for stereo. My speakers are quite incredible at it.

The correct placement is whatever is on the recording, which could be put there in different ways. I doubt an external processor would do a more accurate job, unless it's enabling some layer on the recording that is inaccessible otherwise.

My point only was that these are different concepts which a good (stereo) system treats separately. Spelling and the number of letters are irrelevant.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Julian Hirsch, bless him, is spinning in his grave.

I think he is so dizzy that he is under medication