Sonic character* of AR Sound product series:

How accurately an audio product reproduces music?  In general the sonic experience can be divided into three basic aspects: Timing, colour and Resolution. Most if not all the jargon definitions like “3D sound stage” , focus etc. Will be a specific aspect within those three main sonic aspects- the TCR:

Timing:

The most basic foundation of music. Includes the Pace & rhythm of music and Transients.

Pace & Rhythm- the ability to “keep the beat” of the music, it’s what make us follow “what is going on the music” especially in a complex music- the ability to follow the tune of each of the instruments with an ease and to follow varying tempo easily.

Transients reproduction is the ability to follow the fast leading edges (attack) of the instruments (it’s easy to hear and most important aspect on percussions and drums). Transients can be divided into macro (for example the speed of a snare drum), And micro (for example the ability to reproduce a sudden tiny sound level change of a flute. although, this ability can be categorized under resolution).

Colour:  describes the Tonal balance and Timbre. The neutrality and accuracy of the sound of instruments and human voices over the frequency range. The ability to show the correct harmonic structure of voices & instruments. An Uniform frequency distribution is the key for a correct tonal balance and timbre. A lack of timber will make it difficult to distinguish between different bass guitars for example or even between a viola and a violin that plays the same note.  

Resolution:  The pudding of the cake. Timing aspects and correct tonal balance are the basic keys to reproduce music correctly but without sufficient resolution the reproduced music will sound dull and boring. High Dynamic Range will allow us to hear the most delicate sound in the recording and pianissimo details and for the other hand must be able to reproduce the full massive impact of Forte passages with a minimum of distortion.

Imaging & sound stage is another important resolution aspect. It’s the ability to show a properly natural size and spatial location of the instruments and vocals in space. High resolution also enable us to hear the Air and Ambiance of the recording- the frequency extremes reproduction, an openness of the treble sound and the feel of the concert hall boundaries. The most important technical key factor for high resolution reproduction is low noise floor of the equipment. low noise floor influence directly on the clarity and the transparency of the reproduced music.

Gestalt:   The overall impression. Sometimes the whole is more then the sum of the details... Some gear may get high scores at the TCR aspects however the overall listening experience will tell us that something is missing and vice-versa.

Legend:

Timing:        The more peaks and dips, the better is the Pace & Rhythm reproduction

                   The depth of the Zigzags represents the transients reproduction while

                   Upper Zigzags represents macro (high level) transients and bottom Zigzags

                   Represents micro (low level) transients.

Colour:       White diamond represents the most natural tonal balance. Yellowish represents

                   Warmer and darker tonal character while bluish means colder and brighter tonal

                    balance.   The diamonds width represents the Timbre and articulation qualities.   

Resolution:  The number of petals represents resolution level and details-

                     imaging & sound stage, Transperancy, air & ambiance

                         The size of the flower represents the Dynamic range

* Sonic evaluations summarizes listening's tests with various of listeners. Those evaluations are subjective and represented as a key guide and not as objective measurements. (for this reason the ranking is graphical and not numerical). AR Sound keep the rights to make a small adjustments to the table from time to time, if you want  to share your sound experience with the AR Sound cables, please Contact Us