Flat vs Round

Forgive my ignorance, but you reference flat and round earth all the time. Could someone give me representative examples of flat and round, and some explanatory notes. I've kinda gathered that Naim is flat earth, but having never heard Naim I can't extrapolate from there.

 

:cry: :NADowner: :boughtMF: :toomuchtv :kneel: RaT: :music: :band:

:duck:

 

possibly the second most contentious question to ever ask on a hi-fi forum. with any question involving the 'm' word comming in in first place.

flat earth and round earth are terms used to describe the preferred presentation of your hi-fi.
at their extremes:
flat earth kit highlights pace, rythm, timing, transients, 'boogie factor' - the emotional enjoyment of music
whilst,
round earth kit highlights air, space, soundstage, texture, - the cerebral enjoyment of music.

of course these two extremes are not mutually exclusive but it's not easy or cheap to find kit that does both well and once you fall into a preference for one, kit that concentrates on the other side sounds broken, hence all the arguments.
at the end of the day if you like your kit then that's good enough.
cheers


julian

 

Thanks Julian, I feel enlightened!

This is one statement I agree with whole heartedly. Don't think it was what you were getting at, but sometimes I think we (as audiophiles/music lovers/kit fetishists/whatever) seek acceptance from our peers for our equipment. Bizarre behaviour if you ask me. How we can claim/give kudos for something bought off a shelf is beyond me.

Now if you built your own CDP/amp/speakers, that's another matter...

Oh dear, I feel a flaming coming on...

 

stumblin,
shhhh, you'll shatter the fragile ego's and reveal the fact that the great and powerful oz is nothing but a man pulling levers. i amongs others have alluded to the 'willy waving' nature of this hobby but at the end of the day a nice stereo means you have a nice amount of disposable income to sink into fripperies i.e. it's a status symbol as well as something to enjoy.
cheers


julian

 

Now what's all this about then?

 

Aha, seems like I have the right idea then. I don't go to hi-fi shows, and I don't demo anything that I can't buy there and then. If I listen to a friends kit, I don't judge it - I just listen to the music while chatting/drinking etc...

As such I have the best stereo I've ever heard (how many can say that?)!I'm sure that my kit has a good helping of both schools - but then maybe it's just because I don't have something better to compare it with. Hey ho.

Don't get me wrong, I upgrade if I percieve weakness in my system, but I never find myself scratching around for pennies for the latest whirligig 6000 because it sounded so great at the show that I must have it. My 'audio palate' is improving so I do upgrade, but always at my own pace and I really appreciate every move I make.

In short I couldn't care less about the sound of any kit but my own. Best way to keep the balance, and keeps me in audio nirvana.

Of course all of the above is my own opinion and there is nothing wrong whatsoever with anyone elses approach - as long as you don't touch my stuff!

 

stumblin,
a nice philosophy however if you had been to a hi-fi show you'd realise that most aiwa mini systems sound better than kit at shows.
also, i think quite a few people on ZG could actually say that they prefer the way their kit sounds to the kit that they've heard elsewhere. i know i can, and have. the thing is that zg members have spent a lot of time (and in some cases money) making their kit sound the way they want it to. from equipment changes and auditioning to wires to stands to blu-tak to fettling about inside their cd players everyone here does it to some extent.
cheers

julian

 

OK, we got crying out loud because, as Julian mentioned, it's the 2nd worse question to ask over here (although a very relevant and interesting one IMO ), then you've got the reference to everybody laughing at each others kit, then we have the bitching aspect (which invariably arises ), next up is 'falling for the advertising malarky, closely followed by the much mentioned 'overpowering manufacture's attitude' of "Brand X is best - yours is sh*te", finished off with a dash of what it's all about in the first place : PRaT, Imaging and most importantly........Music.

I'd best get back to bed :MILD:.

 

As a mild-mannered speaker designer with a foot in both camps, might I quibble?

I would remove 'the emotional enjoyment of music' and 'the cerebral enjoyment of music' from these categories as assigning these attributes to either the flat or round camps is, in itself, biased and would be hotly debated by the members of both.

Now, what's your view on equipment supports? :chop:

 

The sole purpose of an equipment stand/rack is to make your kit look acceptable to SWMBO

(or in my case, make it look acceptable to me )