I've heard some very good headphones referred to as 'grainy', and other headphones referred to as having a 'black background' - which apparently means free of grain.
'Grainy' sounds a negative connotation to me, yet I'm not sure that having a 'black' or 'grainless' sound is entirely good either - as it may be smoothing over the grain that is meant to be there.
This terminology confuses me.
Could someone explain what a grainy sound is? And is it always a bad thing? Likewise, is a black, grainless sound always a good thing? Are there some headphones that are grainy but overall better than grainless headphones?
Grainy typically means certain narrow bands of frequencies are peaking (either due to ringing issues or more often due to intrinsic funky frequency response) and so the end resulting sound is not smooth, because of that narrow frequency emphasis. To simplify this, think of frequency response as a piece of cloth, and peaks as little pieces of sand and grit caught up in the cloth, the grain would be what you feel when you rub that cloth against your skin, vs a grainless FR which would feel like a smooth cloth.
But it's not that simple, since music itself tends to be far from perfect, and due to recording / mastering flaws can have intrinsic peaks that show up as nasty grain/tizz/shrilly effects even out of good smooth headphones.
Also resolution is a factor, a smooth FR headphone that is not very resolving will be extremely forgiving, even to poor recordings outlined above. But it will also lack in resolution so you will miss details. To continue using the terrible analogy I started in the first part, think of low resolution headphones as a knit wool fabric, and high resolution cans as a finely woven piece of silk, both will feel smooth but one will be more revealing and transparent to details (as well as grits/grains) than the other.
Black background is something unrelated. That usually concerns how much harmonic distortion there is.
I've always taken it to mean the level of detail is such that you can hear the 'grain' of the recording. Borrowing from the film world "Bluray is so good you can see the grain of the film!"
Where as absence of grain might indicate a softness that tends to smooth out small flaws.
This is my interpretation anyway. For all I know peanut butter to me tastes completely different than it does to you.
I find Grados (prestige line) to sound grainy. Grainy describes that the sound is raw, not smoothed over or relaxed, but rather, very forceful, full of attack, rough.
I find Hifiman planar magnetics, when properly powered, to have black backgrounds. They're transparent, no noise, very fast, very detailed, very clear, and there's definite separation to sounds.
Imagine the sound of a clarinet or a saxophone and the performer playing only with his (or her) lips surrounding the mouthpiece.
Then imagine the same sound but the performer now bits with his (or her) teeths the reed of the mouthpiece of the clarinet.
When the reed vibrates free (only gently surrounded by the lips) it produces a smooth and clean sound, but when the player bits it (or press the lips more than gentle) then starts to produce a "buzzing" sound. When controlled, this "dirty" sound becomes nice and adds a "sexy" signature to the sax (by these days is a commercial cliché for sexy 9-1/2 weeks kind of things).
My analogy is not perfect but I think can illustrate the kind of differences between more or less grainy sounds.
In the world of sounds, human voices (more in the baritone register), reed instruments (clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, etc) and metal winds (trumpets use the lips as vibrating "reeds") are more prone to sound "grainy" but sometimes the recording itself can emphasize this tendency.
The above is only a reference and, of course, just an oppinion.
Grainy typically means certain narrow bands of frequencies are peaking (either due to ringing issues or more often due to intrinsic funky frequency response) and so the end resulting sound is not smooth, because of that narrow frequency emphasis. To simplify this, think of frequency response as a piece of cloth, and peaks as little pieces of sand and grit caught up in the cloth, the grain would be what you feel when you rub that cloth against your skin, vs a grainless FR which would feel like a smooth cloth.
But it's not that simple, since music itself tends to be far from perfect, and due to recording / mastering flaws can have intrinsic peaks that show up as nasty grain/tizz/shrilly effects even out of good smooth headphones.
Also resolution is a factor, a smooth FR headphone that is not very resolving will be extremely forgiving, even to poor recordings outlined above. But it will also lack in resolution so you will miss details. To continue using the terrible analogy I started in the first part, think of low resolution headphones as a knit wool fabric, and high resolution cans as a finely woven piece of silk, both will feel smooth but one will be more revealing and transparent to details (as well as grits/grains) than the other.
Black background is something unrelated. That usually concerns how much harmonic distortion there is.
“Black background” - imagine whispering in heavily treated room, with zero ambient noise. Tinniest, subtle sounds will come through with better clarity and definition. Micro details come through clearly and effortlessly, without getting smeared by “background noise”.
“Grain”? I’m not really sure. Heard it many times and often, each person meant something different by it. To me personally. It means artificial detail or exaggerated sense of detail depending on context.
For example. Microphonics prone vacuum tubes sometimes display sort of distortion that can be perceived as “detail” or artificial “micro-detail”. While in fact, it’s the effect of the surrounding element(s) that is picked up by microphonics prone tube.
I would agree with sentiment that suggest that it is a world that usually means some sort of distortion. Usually in the upper FR region. But I rarely use this descriptive adjective as IMO, it often muddies the water due to lock of clarity as to what it actually means to another person.
PS
Black background is a good thing in 99.99999 percent of cases.
While “grainy” is mostly a less desirable quality. But I’ve also heard it being used in context of resolution/detail in treble description. In a positive way. So...... IDK. Again. I think there are better and more comprehensive descriptive adjectives than “grainy”.
Grainy - A loss of smoothness resulting is a loss of clarity and transparency.
A complete-correct and even frequency response is an attribute of a good headphone. The strange “grain” is often associated with loss of harmonics which adds to the one-dimensional effect they produce. Often a headphone will have other frequencies mask over the grain. Thus the grain is still there but hidden with an overlap. It is only noticed once that near frequency is lowered.
An example of this is the XBA-Z5, the midrange BA is typically smooth sounding, but once the lower area is taken away that grain is fully noticeable. Thus you have a DD, a midrange BA and a super tweeter. Normally they sound together and cohesive, but if you try to modify the frequency response “grain” is introduced. All is well and hidden until the drivers are “pushed” and “pulled” out of place.
Typically when a BA IEM is produced there will be a crossover point between the mids and the highs, or highs and lows; depending on the number of drivers. How the high pass of the tweeters and the band pass of the midrange is done there will be an area of non-linearity of the frequency spectrum. At times they will create an area of de-essing........ not creating an overbearing presence. It’s this critical area where grain shows up. But a non-complete and uneven frequency response can be anywhere, leading to the perception of grain.
Blackness:
A low-noise floor.
Typically the grain is not readily noticeable, though upon certain musical passages, especially..........it’s noticeable.
Same as the full-range “grain” issue of a full-size headphone. The driver has the inability to produce an even-correct and complete frequency response.
I agree. Some of the commonly used descriptions are not only confusing to some folks but, they are often misleading. I would like to see a universal, audiophile “grade” language.
Perhaps someone could start a thread where ppl can chime in, discuss definitions and then, catalogue and summarize all of that commonly used language. Pin it and use it as reference for the future. Makes sense to me.
There is a Head-Fi Glossary. I put this one together from a couple sources.
Accurate - The music is (as much as possible) unaltered by the recording or playback equipment.
Aggressive - Forward and bright sonic character.
Airy - Spacious, typically referring to upper midrange and treble.
Ambience - The overall impression, feeling, or mood evoked by an environment or acoustical space, such as the performance hall in which a recording was made.
Analytical - Detailed.....typically thought of as neutral or bright.
Articulate - The overall ability to offer fast transients and efficient imaging of instruments.
Attack - The leading edge of a note and the ability of a system to reproduce the attack transients in music.
Attack (2) - The time taken for a musical note to reach its peak amplitude eg. notes will tend to sound more defined rather than blended with other notes.
Balance - Usually the tuning of the earphone. A well-balanced headphone would not have one particularly dominant frequency, but rather all would be “balanced.”
Bass - The audio frequencies between about 60Hz and 250Hz.The lower end frequency of human hearing. Bass can be measured in quantity (heaviness) and quality (clarity). Other bass descriptors are “muddy” and “boomy.”
Basshead - Emphasized Bass.
Bloated - Excessive mid bass around 250 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies, low frequency resonances.
Blurred - Poor transient response. Vague stereo imaging, not focused.
Body - Fullness of sound. Substantialness of response.
Boomy - Excessive bass around 125 Hz. Typically edging into midrange and affecting pace.
Boxy - Having resonances as if the music were enclosed in a box. Sometimes an emphasis around 250 to 500 Hz. Often called cardboard box sounding, like boxes used as drums.
Breakup - When different points on the surface of a diaphragm begin to move out of sync, causing distortion. Breakup often occurs in dynamic drivers at high volumes as forces on the diaphragm increase. Breakup is less likely to occur at lower volumes or in planar magnetic or electrostatic headphone drivers.
Bright/Brightness - Boost in the upper frequencies or upper-mid range. Brightness is a feature enjoyed by many but walks a thin line to becoming unpleasant depending on the individual.
Brilliance - The 6kHz to 16kHz range controls the brilliance and clarity of sounds. Too much emphasis in this range can produce sibilance on the vocals.
Clear - Transparent.
Closed - A closed-in sound lacking in openness, delicacy, air, and fine detail usually caused by Roll-off above 10kHz; in contrast to Open.
Congestion - Poor clarity caused by overlapping sounds. Congested sound signatures lack detail and clarity, making it hard to hear separate instruments and may also be called muddy or muffled.
Coloration - The effect of a device on the music signal. The opposite of “neutral.” Various aspects can affect the tone, responsiveness or the frequency response of the music/audio.
Crisp - Clear.
Dark - A tonal balance that tilts downwards with increasing frequency. Opposite of bright. Weak high frequencies.
Decay - The fadeout of a note as it follows the attack.
Definition (or resolution) - The ability of a component to reveal the subtle information that is fundamental to high fidelity sound.
Delicate - High frequencies extending to 15 or 20 kHz without peaks.
Density - I personally started to use this word to describe note weight, and note authority.
Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.
Detail - The most delicate elements of the original sound and those which are the first to disappear with lesser equipment.
Detailed - Easy to hear tiny details in the music; articulate. Adequate high frequency response, sharp transient response.
Dry - Lack of reverberation or delay as produced by a damped environment. May come across as fine grained and lean. Opposite of wet.
Dynamic - The suggestion of energy and wide dynamic range. Related to perceived speed as well as contrasts in volume both large and small. Still in the end this word has many interpretations.
Edgy - Too much high frequency response. Trebly. Harmonics are too strong relative to the fundamentals. Distorted, having unwanted harmonics that add an edge or raspiness.
Euphonic - An appealing form of distortion that generally enhances perceived fidelity, often ascribed to the harmonic elaborations of some valve amps.
Fast - Good reproduction of rapid transients which increase the sense of realism and "snap".
Focus - A strong, precise sense of image projection.
Forward(ness) - Similar to an aggressive sound, a sense of image being projected in front of the speakers and of music being forced upon the listener. The opposite would be “Laid-back".
Full - Strong fundamentals relative to harmonics. Good low frequency response, not necessarily extended, but with adequate level around 100 to 300 Hz. Male voices are full around 125 Hz; female voices and violins are full around 250 Hz; sax is full around 250 to 400 Hz. Opposite of thin.
Grainy - A loss of smoothness resulting is a loss of clarity and transparency.
Grunt - Actually a guitar term intended to denote an authoritative and fast low end frequency response ability in hollow body jazz guitars.
Harsh - Too much upper midrange. Peaks in the frequency response between 2 and 6 kHz.
Highs - The audio frequencies above about 6000 Hz.
High Midrange (High Mids, Upper Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 2kHz and 6kHz.
Imaging - The sense that a voice or instrument is in a particular place in the room. Directly measured with square wave graphs and indicates transient edge response quality in the time domain.
Impedance - Indicates how much power is required for the driver. The higher the impedance, the more power is required to get the maximum quality and volume of sounds out of the driver. Electrical resistance to the flow of current in an AC circuit. The higher the impedance of the headphone, for instance, the less current will flow through it.
Layering - The reproduction of depth and receding distance, which audibly places the rows of performers one behind the other.
Laid-back - Recessed, distant-sounding, having exaggerated depth, usually because of a dished midrange. Compare "Forward".
Layering - The reproduction of depth and receding distance, which audibly places the rows of performers one behind the other.
Less-Tangibles - Everything other than FR, hence reverberations, texture, instrument timbre, soundstage etc…..etc.
Liquid - Textureless sound.
Low-Level Detail - The subtlest elements of musical sound, which include the delicate details of instrumental sounds and the final tail of reverberation decay.
Low Midrange (Low Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 250Hz and 2000Hz.
Lush - Harmonically complex, typicality thought of as thick with many additives. A rich tone and usually with some warmth to the overall presentation.
Metallic - Typicality an overall sheen which can become part of an off timbre response.
Midrange (Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 250 Hz and 6000 Hz.
Musical (or musicality) - A sense of cohesion and subjective "rightness" in the sound.
Nasal - Reproduced sound having the quality of a person speaking with their nose blocked. Closed off; a measured peak in the upper midrange followed by a complimentary dip.
Naturalness - Realism.
Opaque - Unclear, lacking Transparency.
Open - Sound which has height and "air", relates to clean upper midrange and treble.
Pace - Often assoc. with rhythm, a strong sense of timing and beat.
Physicality - Weight and realness, typicality used (by me) to describe bass, but can carry over to all frequencies. Female and male vocals could have physicality, if they sound real.
Piercing - Strident, hard on the ears, screechy. Having sharp, narrow peaks in the response around 3 to 10 kHz.
PRaT - Pace, rhythm and timing.
Presence Range - The presence range between 4kHz and 6kHz is responsible for the clarity and definition of voices and instruments. Increasing this range can make the music seem closer to the listener. Reducing the 5kHz content makes the sound more distant and transparent.
Presence - An emphasized instrument response around 5 kHz for most instruments, or around 2 to 5 kHz for kick drum and bass.
Punchy - Good reproduction of dynamics. Good transient response, with strong impact. Sometimes a bump around 5 kHz or 200 Hz.
Range - The distance between the lowest and highest tones.
Resolution - The clarity to separate and delineate musical information.
Reverb - Short for reverberation. A diminishing series of echoes spaced sufficiently closely in time that they merge into a smooth decay.
Rich - See Full. Also, having euphonic distortion made of even order harmonics.
Roll-off (Rolloff) - The gradual attenuation that occurs at the lower or upper frequency range of a driver, network, or system. The roll-off frequency is usually defined as the frequency where response is reduced by 3 dB.
Round - High frequency rolloff or dip. Not edgy.
Rhythm - The controlled movement of sounds in time.
Shrill - Strident, Steely.
Sibilant - The high unpleasant peaks that are usually unpleasant to the ear if too prevalent.
Sizzly - See Sibilant. Also, too much highs on cymbals.
Smeared - Lacking detail; poor transient response, too much leakage between microphones; poorly focused images.
Smooth - Describing the quality of sound reproduction having no irritating qualities; free from high-frequency peaks, and relaxing to listen to. Not necessarily a positive system attribute if accompanied by a slow, uninvolving character.
Sound Signature - The unique intrinsic sound quality of a headphone, music player, DAC, or audio cable. Some audio products emphasize the higher treble ranges while others strengthen the bass. This overall sound profile of audio devices helps audiophiles fine-tune the listening experience by pairing the right headphone cable, DAC, or music player with their headphones.
Soundstage - An illusionary effect of headphones to produce a listening space front to back, up and down and right to left.
Speed - Pace and timing, can have relationship with overall “tune”.
Steely - Emphasized upper mids around 3 to 6 kHz. Peaky, non flat high frequency response. Metallic.
Strident - See Harsh, Edgy.
Sub-Bass - The audio frequencies between about 20Hz and 80Hz.
Sweet - Typically reference to smooth comfortable high pitch sounds.
Technical Ability - A blanket term for attack transients, imaging, decay, tonality, tonal balance, timbre, temperature, and texture. At times overall frequency response (if even and correct) is considered part of technical ability.
Synergy - The interaction or cooperation of two or more audio components in an audio system, which, when combined produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Example: the synergy between a DAC and a headphone amp.
Texture - The timbre of multiple instruments playing together, though more accurately the instrument “voices” together.
Thick - Typically bass or lower midrange density.
Thin - Fundamentals are weak relative to harmonics; bass light.
Tight - Good low frequency transient response and detail.
Timbre - The tonal character of an instrument which separates it from other instruments of the same tone.
Timing - Tempo in relationships with clarity of pace.
Tinny - Thin harmonically narrow, metallic, in treble region.
Tone - The sound of definite pitch.
Transient - The leading edge of a percussive sound, though the term can be applied to any wave form.
Transparent - Easy to hear into the music, detailed, clear, not muddy. Wide flat frequency response, sharp time response, very low distortion and noise. A hear through quality that is akin to clarity and reveals all aspects of detail.
Treble - The highest part of music and voice. See Highs. (Most often used when referring to the treble control on amplifiers).
Upper Midrange (Upper Mids, High Mids) - The audio frequencies between 2 kHz and 6 kHz.
Vivid - A word often used to describe clarity and intensity.
Veiled- Lack of full clarity due to noise or loss of detail from limited transparency.
Warm - Good bass, adequate low frequencies, adequate fundamentals relative to harmonics. Not thin. Also excessive bass or mid bass. Also, pleasantly spacious, with adequate reverberation at low frequencies. Also see Rich, Round. Warm highs means sweet highs.
Weighty - Good low frequency response below about 50 Hz. A sense of substance and underpinning produced by deep, controlled bass. Suggesting an object of great weight or power, like a diesel locomotive.
Width - The apparent lateral spread of a stereo image. If appropriately recorded, a reproduced image should sound no wider or narrower than how it sounded originally.
There is a Head-Fi Glossary. I put this one together.
Accurate - The music is (as much as possible) unaltered by the recording or playback equipment.
Aggressive - Forward and bright sonic character.
Airy - Spacious, typically referring to upper midrange and treble.
Ambience - The overall impression, feeling, or mood evoked by an environment or acoustical space, such as the performance hall in which a recording was made.
Analytical - Detailed.....typically thought of as neutral or bright.
Articulate - The overall ability to offer fast transients and efficient imaging of instruments.
Attack - The leading edge of a note and the ability of a system to reproduce the attack transients in music.
Attack (2) - The time taken for a musical note to reach its peak amplitude eg. notes will tend to sound more defined rather than blended with other notes.
Balance - Usually the tuning of the earphone. A well-balanced headphone would not have one particularly dominant frequency, but rather all would be “balanced.”
Bass - The audio frequencies between about 60Hz and 250Hz.The lower end frequency of human hearing. Bass can be measured in quantity (heaviness) and quality (clarity). Other bass descriptors are “muddy” and “boomy.”
Basshead - Emphasized Bass.
Bloated - Excessive mid bass around 250 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies, low frequency resonances.
Blurred - Poor transient response. Vague stereo imaging, not focused.
Body - Fullness of sound. Substantialness of response.
Boomy - Excessive bass around 125 Hz. Typically edging into midrange and affecting pace.
Boxy - Having resonances as if the music were enclosed in a box. Sometimes an emphasis around 250 to 500 Hz. Often called cardboard box sounding, like boxes used as drums.
Breakup - When different points on the surface of a diaphragm begin to move out of sync, causing distortion. Breakup often occurs in dynamic drivers at high volumes as forces on the diaphragm increase. Breakup is less likely to occur at lower volumes or in planar magnetic or electrostatic headphone drivers.
Bright/Brightness - Boost in the upper frequencies or upper-mid range. Brightness is a feature enjoyed by many but walks a thin line to becoming unpleasant depending on the individual.
Brilliance - The 6kHz to 16kHz range controls the brilliance and clarity of sounds. Too much emphasis in this range can produce sibilance on the vocals.
Clear - Transparent.
Closed - A closed-in sound lacking in openness, delicacy, air, and fine detail usually caused by Roll-off above 10kHz; in contrast to Open.
Congestion - Poor clarity caused by overlapping sounds. Congested sound signatures lack detail and clarity, making it hard to hear separate instruments and may also be called muddy or muffled.
Coloration - The effect of a device on the music signal. The opposite of “neutral.” Various aspects can affect the tone, responsiveness or the frequency response of the music/audio.
Crisp - Clear.
Dark - A tonal balance that tilts downwards with increasing frequency. Opposite of bright. Weak high frequencies.
Decay - The fadeout of a note as it follows the attack.
Definition (or resolution) - The ability of a component to reveal the subtle information that is fundamental to high fidelity sound.
Delicate - High frequencies extending to 15 or 20 kHz without peaks.
Density - I personally started to use this word to describe note weight, and note authority.
Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.
Detail - The most delicate elements of the original sound and those which are the first to disappear with lesser equipment.
Detailed - Easy to hear tiny details in the music; articulate. Adequate high frequency response, sharp transient response.
Dry - Lack of reverberation or delay as produced by a damped environment. May come across as fine grained and lean. Opposite of wet.
Dynamic - The suggestion of energy and wide dynamic range. Related to perceived speed as well as contrasts in volume both large and small. Still in the end this word has many interpretations.
Edgy - Too much high frequency response. Trebly. Harmonics are too strong relative to the fundamentals. Distorted, having unwanted harmonics that add an edge or raspiness.
Euphonic - An appealing form of distortion that generally enhances perceived fidelity, often ascribed to the harmonic elaborations of some valve amps.
Fast - Good reproduction of rapid transients which increase the sense of realism and "snap".
Focus - A strong, precise sense of image projection.
Forward(ness) - Similar to an aggressive sound, a sense of image being projected in front of the speakers and of music being forced upon the listener. The opposite would be “Laid-back".
Full - Strong fundamentals relative to harmonics. Good low frequency response, not necessarily extended, but with adequate level around 100 to 300 Hz. Male voices are full around 125 Hz; female voices and violins are full around 250 Hz; sax is full around 250 to 400 Hz. Opposite of thin.
Grainy - A loss of smoothness resulting is a loss of clarity and transparency.
Grunt - Actually a guitar term intended to denote an authoritative and fast low end frequency response ability in hollow body jazz guitars.
Harsh - Too much upper midrange. Peaks in the frequency response between 2 and 6 kHz.
Highs - The audio frequencies above about 6000 Hz.
High Midrange (High Mids, Upper Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 2kHz and 6kHz.
Imaging - The sense that a voice or instrument is in a particular place in the room. Directly measured with square wave graphs and indicates transient edge response quality in the time domain.
Impedance - Indicates how much power is required for the driver. The higher the impedance, the more power is required to get the maximum quality and volume of sounds out of the driver. Electrical resistance to the flow of current in an AC circuit. The higher the impedance of the headphone, for instance, the less current will flow through it.
Layering - The reproduction of depth and receding distance, which audibly places the rows of performers one behind the other.
Laid-back - Recessed, distant-sounding, having exaggerated depth, usually because of a dished midrange. Compare "Forward".
Layering - The reproduction of depth and receding distance, which audibly places the rows of performers one behind the other.
Less-Tangibles - Everything other than FR, hence reverberations, texture, instrument timbre, soundstage etc…..etc.
Liquid - Textureless sound.
Low-Level Detail - The subtlest elements of musical sound, which include the delicate details of instrumental sounds and the final tail of reverberation decay.
Low Midrange (Low Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 250Hz and 2000Hz.
Lush - Harmonically complex, typicality thought of as thick with many additives. A rich tone and usually with some warmth to the overall presentation.
Metallic - Typicality an overall sheen which can become part of an off timbre response.
Midrange (Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 250 Hz and 6000 Hz.
Musical (or musicality) - A sense of cohesion and subjective "rightness" in the sound.
Nasal - Reproduced sound having the quality of a person speaking with their nose blocked. Closed off; a measured peak in the upper midrange followed by a complimentary dip.
Naturalness - Realism.
Opaque - Unclear, lacking Transparency.
Open - Sound which has height and "air", relates to clean upper midrange and treble.
Pace - Often assoc. with rhythm, a strong sense of timing and beat.
Physicality - Weight and realness, typicality used (by me) to describe bass, but can carry over to all frequencies. Female and male vocals could have physicality, if they sound real.
Piercing - Strident, hard on the ears, screechy. Having sharp, narrow peaks in the response around 3 to 10 kHz.
PRaT - Pace, rhythm and timing.
Presence Range - The presence range between 4kHz and 6kHz is responsible for the clarity and definition of voices and instruments. Increasing this range can make the music seem closer to the listener. Reducing the 5kHz content makes the sound more distant and transparent.
Presence - An emphasized instrument response around 5 kHz for most instruments, or around 2 to 5 kHz for kick drum and bass.
Punchy - Good reproduction of dynamics. Good transient response, with strong impact. Sometimes a bump around 5 kHz or 200 Hz.
Range - The distance between the lowest and highest tones.
Resolution - The clarity to separate and delineate musical information.
Reverb - Short for reverberation. A diminishing series of echoes spaced sufficiently closely in time that they merge into a smooth decay.
Rich - See Full. Also, having euphonic distortion made of even order harmonics.
Roll-off (Rolloff) - The gradual attenuation that occurs at the lower or upper frequency range of a driver, network, or system. The roll-off frequency is usually defined as the frequency where response is reduced by 3 dB.
Round - High frequency rolloff or dip. Not edgy.
Rhythm - The controlled movement of sounds in time.
Shrill - Strident, Steely.
Sibilant - The high unpleasant peaks that are usually unpleasant to the ear if too prevalent.
Sizzly - See Sibilant. Also, too much highs on cymbals.
Smeared - Lacking detail; poor transient response, too much leakage between microphones; poorly focused images.
Smooth - Describing the quality of sound reproduction having no irritating qualities; free from high-frequency peaks, and relaxing to listen to. Not necessarily a positive system attribute if accompanied by a slow, uninvolving character.
Sound Signature - The unique intrinsic sound quality of a headphone, music player, DAC, or audio cable. Some audio products emphasize the higher treble ranges while others strengthen the bass. This overall sound profile of audio devices helps audiophiles fine-tune the listening experience by pairing the right headphone cable, DAC, or music player with their headphones.
Soundstage - An illusionary effect of headphones to produce a listening space front to back, up and down and right to left.
Speed - Pace and timing, can have relationship with overall “tune”.
Steely - Emphasized upper mids around 3 to 6 kHz. Peaky, non flat high frequency response. Metallic.
Strident - See Harsh, Edgy.
Sub-Bass - The audio frequencies between about 20Hz and 80Hz.
Sweet - Typically reference to smooth comfortable high pitch sounds.
Technical Ability - A blanket term for attack transients, imaging, decay, tonality, tonal balance, timbre, temperature, and texture. At times overall frequency response (if even and correct) is considered part of technical ability.
Synergy - The interaction or cooperation of two or more audio components in an audio system, which, when combined produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Example: the synergy between a DAC and a headphone amp.
Texture - The timbre of multiple instruments playing together, though more accurately the instrument “voices” together.
Thick - Typically bass or lower midrange density.
Thin - Fundamentals are weak relative to harmonics; bass light.
Tight - Good low frequency transient response and detail.
Timbre - The tonal character of an instrument which separates it from other instruments of the same tone.
Timing - Tempo in relationships with clarity of pace.
Tinny - Thin harmonically narrow, metallic, in treble region.
Tone - The sound of definite pitch.
Transient - The leading edge of a percussive sound, though the term can be applied to any wave form.
Transparent - Easy to hear into the music, detailed, clear, not muddy. Wide flat frequency response, sharp time response, very low distortion and noise. A hear through quality that is akin to clarity and reveals all aspects of detail.
Treble - The highest part of music and voice. See Highs. (Most often used when referring to the treble control on amplifiers).
Upper Midrange (Upper Mids, High Mids) - The audio frequencies between 2 kHz and 6 kHz.
Vivid - A word often used to describe clarity and intensity.
Veiled- Lack of full clarity due to noise or loss of detail from limited transparency.
Warm - Good bass, adequate low frequencies, adequate fundamentals relative to harmonics. Not thin. Also excessive bass or mid bass. Also, pleasantly spacious, with adequate reverberation at low frequencies. Also see Rich, Round. Warm highs means sweet highs.
Weighty - Good low frequency response below about 50 Hz. A sense of substance and underpinning produced by deep, controlled bass. Suggesting an object of great weight or power, like a diesel locomotive.
Width - The apparent lateral spread of a stereo image. If appropriately recorded, a reproduced image should sound no wider or narrower than how it sounded originally.
Oh yeah, that should clear things up quite a bit. Not sure if this is your own interpretation or was it a sort of a combination of firmly acknowledged terms and consensus on the shady ones? Good job btw
Looks like you have put a lot of work into it.
edit added.
I also believe that some of those headphone sound descriptive definitions/terms get intertwined with common stereo speakers, audiophile jargon. And coming from that world, I can definitely see some mixup in terminology between these two, different experiences.
Oh yeah, that should clear things up quite a bit. Not sure if this is your own interpretation or was it a sort of a combination of firmly acknowledged terms and consensus on the shady ones? Good job btw
Looks like you have put a lot of work into it.
I don’t need it as I usually take a little time to explain what I mean by my choice of descriptive words. Problem is with one liner responses where person on the other side got to figure out what it actually means.
2nd. Since part of your post was dedicated to taking offense with word “shady”, let’s expend on that a little. (I would also like to point out that I have not used “shady” to describe your glossary but certain words that cause confusion.
When I said “shady ones” I meant words that are a suspect. A words that cause most confusion and could miscommunicate the message.
Your offense, actually is helpful with making my point.
Without context and farther explanation, loosely thrown audiophile words will muddy the waters instead of painting a clearer picture.
I’ll give you simplest example of one word that should have clear understanding of its meaning, “warm”. Sounds almost silly to debate its meaning in audio world yet, it means different things to different people. Depends on your background or audio culture you’re coming from. Don’t believe me? Do a quick google search or YouTube search and you’ll get at least 2-3 different meaning of that word.
Again. Context and simple explanation of the meaning behind word of choice matters.
It’s a double edged sword. It sure helps articulate description of the sound characteristics but, it could also go the other way.
Inventing new word to describe all things audio only adds to this mess.
Anyway. I think that I’ve said enough on this matter and I’m sorry you took offense with “shady”. Lol
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