Audiophilepure

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“The first point to make is that there are two distinct types of coloration, additive and subtractive. A little like odd and even-order distortion, subtractive coloration is relatively benign, whereas even small amounts of additive coloration can (and often do) wreak havoc. That’s because of the different ways in which they impact on the sense of the musical signal. The notes and different instruments in a recording constitute a three-dimensional pattern, laid out in space, time and amplitude. That pattern is what separates music from noise; it’s what a system is trying to reproduce and what our brain is trying to recognize. Subtractive distortion, as long as it is not too gross or specific, will diminish the scale or scope of that pattern, but leave it essentially intact. Once you start adding things to the pattern, especially because additive distortion is so often frequency-specific, you start to bend the pattern out of shape, so that it no longer makes sense. A bit of stored energy in a cabinet, arriving later than intended and at the wrong frequency? An energy spike in the structure of a poorly designed driver? Excessive bass output at particular frequencies? You can hear how they serve to alter not just the relative weight or amplitude of notes but their timing too — and that’s where things get destructive.”

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