Timing, airiness, weight, depth, pinpoint imaging, "emotion"… I hear descriptions like this in audio equipment reviews all the time. Which ones, if any, correlate to which measurements? (I think this would make a great article or video btw)
I made an amendment.Emotion: The listener's subjective response to the content in conjunction with the performance and appearance of the system
What about when people refer to the width, depth and height of the soundstage. Is that just directivity and managed reflections?
Who is?how 'bout PRaT ??
- Timing: Meaningless
- Airiness: Increased response above ~12KHz
- Weight: Increased response below ~120Hz
- Depth: Even response at ~250Hz
- Pinpoint imaging: Even (especially narrow) directivity, with managed room reflections
- Emotion: The listener's subjective response to the content in conjunction with the performance of the system
I'm afraid it is rather unclear as to what you are talking about, as you still haven't provided a definition of "timing" or a specific characteristic to which you believe it pertains. Transistor rise times are unrelated to anything that a listener could detect and describe using said term.Timing can actually be measured to a pretty good extent, but its difficult. In a perfect scenario, the amplifier will create a waveform that is exact copy of the input signal, only with higher amplitude (since its supposed to be louder). However, this is not possible in real life. The higher the amplitude, the harder it is to create this. Note that transistors have a rise and fall time as well. So, it affects what you call "timing".
I'm afraid it is rather unclear as to what you are talking about, as you still haven't provided a definition of "timing" or a specific characteristic to which you believe it pertains. Transistor rise times are unrelated to anything that a listener could detect and describe using said term.
I don’t mean to come across as condescending here but this is in fact my field of expertise. Do you understand that transistor rise and fall times are typically measured in single-digit nanoseconds, within their linear region?Hmm....I am not sure how I should explain to you. OK, check out this link, especially on things like Turn ON and Turn OFF.
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/pulse_circuits/pulse_circuits_transistor_as_switch.htm
From this you can see when when we inject a square wave, the output is not perfectly square. There are delays as voltage is ramp up and delays as voltage drops. As you turn up the volume, higher voltage and current is required and this affects the Turn ON and Turn OFF parameters. Since music has continuous varying frequency and amplitufe, there are times where the amp has difficultly reproducing the input signal accuratel, esp. when the variation is very fast (e.g numerous intruments playing concurrently) and high volume (more power needed).
If the amp cannot reproduce this signal accurately, then it will start to sound a bit different, esp. in a rythm. Delays in ramping up the voltage means instruments seems to be played a bit later than usual. Then delay in ramping down means instruments seems to be played longer than usual. Musicians/conductors are people who are extremely sensitive to this timing. When playing or conducting, there isn't any tool to determine how long/short a note should be played. Its all through training and practice. So, what I want to say is don't underestimate the precision of "human timing".
Large voltage change within short times are difficult for amp an to achieve. This is why well designed amps are able to reproduce the signal more accurately even at higher volume. Although I use the word volume, it should be power (voltage + current).
So, you can measure the input signal to the amp and output signal, then make a comparison to know how good/bad the timing is.
mugbot has posted a link and this is the meaning.
Timing - A sense of precision in tempo
SO, thats what I explained earlier, how accurate can the amp reproduce this input signal.
What about when people refer to the width, depth and height of the soundstage. Is that just directivity and managed reflections?
I don’t mean to come across as condescending here but this is in fact my field of expertise. Do you understand that transistor rise and fall times are typically measured in single-digit nanoseconds, within their linear region?
The period of a 20KHz sinewave (the highest audible frequency) is 50,000 nanoseconds.
I think WL meant that amp response is typically orders of magnitude faster than the audio signal frequency, and can't really impact timing in any conventional sense.OK, since this is your field of expertise. Let me ask you regarding the rise/fall times stated in the spec sheet. Could you explain to me if those test conditions are similar to an amp in operation? What condition would best describe those test conditions? Max load? min load? 50% load?
Hmm....I am not sure how I should explain to you. OK, check out this link, especially on things like Turn ON and Turn OFF.
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/pulse_circuits/pulse_circuits_transistor_as_switch.htm
From this you can see when when we inject a square wave, the output is not perfectly square. There are delays as voltage is ramp up and delays as voltage drops. As you turn up the volume, higher voltage and current is required and this affects the Turn ON and Turn OFF parameters. Since music has continuous varying frequency and amplitufe, there are times where the amp has difficultly reproducing the input signal accuratel, esp. when the variation is very fast (e.g numerous intruments playing concurrently) and high volume (more power needed).
If the amp cannot reproduce this signal accurately, then it will start to sound a bit different, esp. in a rythm. Delays in ramping up the voltage means instruments seems to be played a bit later than usual. Then delay in ramping down means instruments seems to be played longer than usual. Musicians/conductors are people who are extremely sensitive to this timing. When playing or conducting, there isn't any tool to determine how long/short a note should be played. Its all through training and practice. So, what I want to say is don't underestimate the precision of "human timing".
Large voltage change within short times are difficult for amp an to achieve. This is why well designed amps are able to reproduce the signal more accurately even at higher volume. Although I use the word volume, it should be power (voltage + current).