Tony L
Administrator
It's possible to have a less accurate reproduction which reveals more about the tune. For example, you might listen to a live radio broadcast on a pocket transistor with almost no ability to reproduce frequency extremes, and hear the melody and harmony easily. Subsequently listening to the same recording on a full range accurate turntable system in which platter speed is slightly inconsistent and pitch noticeably wobbly might 'sound' better, but the transistor radio could still win the tune dem.
I’m convinced this is why so much traditional ’flat earth’ kit tends to have a similar rather forward and mid-centric balance. I’d certainly argue the classic tune dem champ of a well sorted LP12, Naim amp and Linn Kans sounds so fun and funky because it filters so much information out. No bass, no real soundstage etc, but what is left is simple to interpret. It also just grooves with many genres and allows audio salesmen to frantically tap their foot, which they love to do.
The thing that amazes me is that some dealers keep that ‘forward thin and funky’ thing going into systems that cost a fortune, even digital ones. It is just an aesthetic IMO. Something that sounds very different to what one hears in a studio or via good neutral headphones. Also something that falls apart the further one moves away from mainstream pop/rock music choices. It is more than pushing the mid forwards, but that is certainly a factor to my ears. Say ‘tune dem’ and I have a mental image of how that system sounds and how I’d likely swiftly tire of it.