Blu-ray and HD DVD Discussion Thread

Originally Posted by Megalith

It depends which party you belong to. There are people who enjoy neutral sound, and then there are people who enjoy colored sound.

If you belong to the first group, you can bring an accurate pair of headphones to gauge the neutraility of the speaker's output. If you belong to the second, then you will just have to sit down and listen to determine what kind of sound you like.

Objectivity can be applied to the concept of neutral sound, but the quality of colored sound is always subjective. Since the majority of people are usually more concerned about "quality" rather than neutrality, I refuse to tell people what sounds "good," since ultimately, I can't. One man's emphasis on treble is another man's recipe for harshness, etc. Just sit down, listen to a few of your CDs, and stick with whatever sounds best to you.

EDIT: On the topic of CDs, I would bring a couple of movie scores or symphonies which feature a wide dynamic range. In my opinion, commercial pop/rock CDs are practically worthless to gauge performance. They are specifically mixed to sound good on even the most lowly equipment, since almost all dynamic range is compressed...meaning that you won't be able to gauge a speaker's ability to transition from low to high passages, or it's ability in maintaining a low noise floor (though most of the latter is influenced by amp/connections). I've found that scores like Episode III have sounded like complete trash on inadequate equipment, so it might be a good idea to pick a couple of scores that revolve around raw orchestrations, while ignoring more of the electronic-stuff, like Crimson Tide (which sounds oddly smooth and pleasant on almost all equipment).

Megalith, can you explain in further detail about the concept of Neutral sound and Colored sound?

Jam it back in, in the dark.