I don't know about reference but some mono recordings played back on mono equiptment can have a very compelling presentation....not "better" than stereo or multi- channel but different and certainly not poor.
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Thinking outside the (Speaker) Box - Does Stereo Ruin sound?
- Thread starter AdamG
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Some years back I had a stereo integrated amp with a 'mono' button. I once discovered I had been listening to everything with the mono button engaged for at least a couple of months without noticing. We hear what we expect to hear ...
I have mentioned that many times here on ASR. Blows stereo away.
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I don't doubt that. I have heard mono sound fairly compelling sometimes.
Though - and I'm not including your post in the following - mono has often been used in the Audiophile community as a sort of virtue signal. If you also listen to and enjoy a significant amount of mono recordings it's a feather in your cap because:
1. If someone else doesn't like mono it must be because their system isn't up to snuff, because any "good" system will be compelling with mono recordings too.
2. Listening to mono recordings signals that it's at bottom All About The Music to you, and not all about wiz-bang stereo effects, soundstage and all that.
I'm not suggesting hearing differences are a problem to be accounted and/or solved in reinforcement or playback. I'm stating that such differences exist, which are a factor in individual evocation. Evocation by the listener is an endpoint, likely the endpoint, whether standing shoulder to shoulder or listening alone in a quiet space.
Yes. Mono - single source is one test situation that can provide additional information to a test listener. Long ago, I was taught by my then-boss, a very well-regarded musician-audio engineer, to plug one ear to get some information about what a microphone will hear. In recording as well as test listening, mono is useful. Amir contends that he only needs one speaker sample to estimate subjective quality. I'm inclined to take Amir at his word.
Playback with just one channel can also tell you quite a lot about your room. Try playing with just one speaker while plugging one ear. It can be revealing. On each channel, this is what your system and your room are giving your poor head to sort out and, from these, to evoke music.
I'm a music lover, mono doesn't bother me.
I have hundreds of concerts in my ear, the stereo doesn't bother me.
out of the thousands of cds, I must have 5% in sacd and I don't have the money to do multi-channel, I don't miss multi-channel.
I have hundreds of concerts in my ear, the stereo doesn't bother me.
out of the thousands of cds, I must have 5% in sacd and I don't have the money to do multi-channel, I don't miss multi-channel.
Appropriating "mono music" of quality seems to be a thorny endeavor... how does one take L and R content and sum them to a mono mix?
Get any record from the first half of the sixties or older and will most probably be in mono. There are plenty of quality ones.
Wouldn't that suggestion make the results of an A/B testing questionable; mano-y-mano?
Does that even count if summed to a mono purist?
Then again many pre-amps/receivers/avrs etc can sum to mono.....
LOL, I actually went downstairs to take a look at the front panel of my Rotel Pre/Pro and as suspected there is no (easy) single-button mono/stereo switch on it.Does that even count if summed to a mono purist?
I suspect that feature may no longer exist (in audio hardware) that is conducive to a mono/stereo comparo, either.
I have several units that can sum to mono with a button (or software)....but yours might be in a software setting....LOL, I actually went downstairs to take a look at the front panel of my Rotel Pre/Pro and as suspected there is no (easy) single-button mono/stereo switch on it.
I suspect that feature may no longer exist (in audio hardware) that is conducive to a mono/stereo comparo, either.
Wouldn't that suggestion make the results of an A/B testing questionable; mano-y-mano?
Summing stereo to mono is not usually very good. If you want to hear what mono has to offer you need a dedicated mono mix. Most of my favorite mono mixes are old where everything from the mics to mic placement to recording techniques to mixing were all geared to be presented in mono.Does that even count if summed to a mono purist?
I might have one or two mono recordings somewhere in my collection....but I usually deliberately bought stereo versions. Do streaming services offer mono mixes?
I was never a Marine but "Semper Fidelis" must be my audio motto.
I am good to go with just plain-old two channel audio, anything-more confuses and complicates and anything-less isn't as involving for me.
Could the original question be assisted by doing similar (but different) A/B testing, with headphones but using both a stereo and a binaural music mix, to get to the heart of it?
I am good to go with just plain-old two channel audio, anything-more confuses and complicates and anything-less isn't as involving for me.
Could the original question be assisted by doing similar (but different) A/B testing, with headphones but using both a stereo and a binaural music mix, to get to the heart of it?
dasdoing
Major Contributor
you can have a binaural experience with a stereo setup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiophonics
Thanx @dasdoing and @Jim Taylor,
Proof positive that sometimes asking stupid questions at ASR result in, in a good way!
Proof positive that sometimes asking stupid questions at ASR result in
, in a good way!
posvibes
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JOHN LENNON: Yes that surprised me, I don't know what we were doing there. I want to talk with George Martin, why were we always putting the drums on the right and why wasn't it in the middle? I was surprised. I always thought in terms of mono anyway. I wasn't that sold on stereo.
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