Detailed explanation of common terms used in speaker evaluation
| Summary of this article: Common terms used in speaker evaluation mainly introduce the knowledge of the sound field and its characteristics, the sense of space, sound quality and timbre, the detail reduction ability of the speaker, and the dynamic reduction ability of the speaker. |
With the development of manufacturing technology and the decreasing cost, PC speakers that used to be able to make sounds are more and more concerned about the quality of sound reproduction. Many speakers have more or less certain Hi-Fi characteristics. —Of course, in the fierce market competition, in order to find a selling point for their products, manufacturers ignore the true performance and quality of the products and hold the thighs of Hi-Fi to prove that their products are superior to their competitors. , Can even be said to be the main reason. ——So, more and more PC speaker evaluation articles are increasingly Hi-Fi.
Compared with previous PC speaker evaluation articles, these Hi-Fi-level evaluations seem to have two trends. First, they are completely entertaining and developing to women's magazines, as pointed out in "Let's talk about the lack of technology in speaker evaluation". , Use words such as “high-end†and “luxuries†to take a sensational way; the other is to try to add more “professional†elements and seriously evaluate PC speakers as Hi-Fi speakers. Dazzling various terms, many users often feel like they are falling into the clouds when reading this type of article: Although they are all composed of Chinese characters, it seems that it is difficult to accurately grasp the true intention to be expressed (honestly, the author sees I have a similar feeling in the stock review. Many times I imagine the charter company in "Kung Fu" shouting out loud, "Dude, speak Chinese! I don't understand"), maybe for some manufacturers, such a review is more in line with their requirements It seems that only ordinary users cannot understand their professionalism, and they can prove that they put the Hi-Fi label on their PC speakers justified. Of course, for the evaluation media This also seems to be more show its level from each obtained a happy win-win situation so that these articles more flooding. This article intends to introduce the professional terminology involved in speaker evaluation, hoping to help friends when reading such "professional" articles.
However, it should be emphasized that many of the terms in the industry do not have corresponding standards, and the extension and implication are quite vague, and the descriptions in this article are not necessarily accurate, I hope friends will understand. In addition, it should also be noted that many media reviewers may not really understand the meaning when stacking a large number of professional terms, and there are many cases of far-fetched meetings and even nonsense. Everyone needs to be aware when reading the reviews. In addition, the more important point is that you must have a clear understanding of Hi-Fi-class PC speakers. The so-called Hi-Fi strives to be more refined in the details of sound quality, and the price is only a few hundred yuan. PC speakers, even if their manufacturers are shouting at a loss, how much can they devote to carving details?
Sound field and space What is the sound field? This is a very vague concept in itself, and its origin is probably nothing more than the two terms "Sound Field" and "Sound Stage" in English. Among them, "Sound Field" tends to refer to the space where the sound is full, and "Sound" "Stage" is more focused on the arrangement of bands on the stage during music performance (including the width, depth, height, and low of different instrument positions). In Chinese media, the common "sound field" seems to be largely similar to "Sound Stage", while "Sound Field" is more often described as "space sense".
Sound field
Sound field shape
The so-called sound field shape refers to the arrangement shape of the performance band reproduced when the speaker reproduces the sound. Due to the uneven distribution of the frequency response curve, the directivity of the horn, and the sound reflection conditions of the room, some sound fields are concave, some are wider than the depth, and some are deeper than the width. Some sound fields are box-shaped and not concave. The reproduction of different shapes of this sound stage is the shape of the sound field.
A good speaker, of course, the shape of the restored sound field is the same as it was during recording, which is a basic principle. However, there is also a bias in the absoluteization of this concept. For example, in the recording of live performances, the arrangement of the orchestra is wider than the depth; but in the studio, for the sound effect, the arrangement of the orchestra will change, usually deep Will stretch, especially percussion instruments will be further away. In this way, it is not the arrangement we have seen in the concert hall. In many cases, the truthful restoration of the speaker will weaken the infection of the overall effect.
Sound field position
In addition to the shape, there is also a question of the position of the sound field, that is, where are the different instruments in the entire sound field and their layout in front, back, high, and low. During the playback of different speakers, some will make the entire sound field approach the listener; some will retreat relative to the listener; some will sound floating in the air; some will be like sitting on the second floor of the concert hall Looking at the stage in general, this is caused by the different positions of the sound field in the speaker playback.
There are many factors that affect the position of the sound field, the main of which is the uniformity of the frequency response and the positioning of the speaker. For an ideal speaker, the position of the restored sound field should include: for example, the sound of the double bass and cello should come out from a lower place, and the position of the violin is higher than that of the double bass and cello; When the arrangement is high, the appearance of the front is low and the back is high, for example, the copper pipe is generally located at a relatively high position; the height of the entire sound field should be basically equivalent to the eyes of the listener sitting straight up The height may be slightly higher. That is, the violin should be above the line of sight, and the cello and double bass should be under the line of sight. The copper pipe must be at least as high or higher as the violin.
As for the front and rear positions of the sound field, the ideal state should start to extend backward from the front line of the speaker. Of course, this optimal sound field position is not easy to find, because it also has a great relationship with the listening software. Generally, it is easier to get a line extending from the back of the horn, but it cannot be retracted too much.
Sound field width
Generally speaking, when the speaker is playing back, the entire sound field should be able to fill the space of the listening room, so-called wide side walls.
Sound field depth
Theoretically, the depth of the sound field refers to the distance between the front instrument and the last instrument in the sound field, in many cases, the distance between the violin and the bass drum and timpani. Some speakers or environments have too many mid-low frequencies or low frequencies, so the positions of the bass drum and timpani will rush forward. At this time, the depth of the sound field is of course very poor.
It is absurd for some speakers to be evaluated as "excellent depth of sound field" because the position of the sound field recedes.
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Sound field and sense of space
The spatial sense of the speaker is essentially the size of the three-dimensional space of the recording place that can be restored. To be able to fully express the sense of space, excellent detail reproduction is the basic guarantee, especially the reproduction of "Tang Yin". In a sense, it can even be said that if a complete hall sound is not heard, the "space sense" cannot be completely reproduced.
In many speaker evaluations, hall sounds and reverb are often confused, but these are two completely different things. Tangyin in English is Ambience, which refers to the surroundings, environment or atmosphere, which was later extended to the hall tone in the concert hall. From the "atmosphere" in its meaning, we can understand that it refers to the details of the music surrounding us. In addition to the perceptual meaning, Ambience has another rational explanation, specifically referring to the first reflected sound passed into the ear. Friends who have an acoustic foundation all know that our ears pass through the original sound and the first reflected sound. The time delay between positioning the sound source is the same for the speaker playback. Through the time delay of the first reflected sound and the true reception, we can "feel" the size of the concert hall space. In other words, if it is impossible to play back When you find the hall sound, you cannot restore the sense of space in your brain.
The reverb in English is ReverberaTIon. Although the reverb is also a reflection sound, the reverb has a stricter time definition, that is, after a sudden sound occurs, the energy of the sound decays to one millionth of the original (60dB) length of time. This is far from the hall sound that assists the positioning of the human ear.
Speaker positioning capability
The ability to hear the full hall sound and restore the sense of space does not mean that the positioning ability of the speaker is ok? The answer is obviously not that simple. Many friends who are new to photography may have encountered such a situation: the focus of the photo, for example, the face is blurred when the focus is not adjusted, and a small flower in the background is quite clear. Similarly, in the speaker During playback, the phase distortion will also lead to the drift of the positioning, and it will often happen that the instrument that should be on the left is restored to the front. In addition, the poor ratio of direct sound to reflected sound in the space, especially the high frequency reflection is too strong will lead to inaccurate positioning.
Layering
The sense of layering is easy to understand. It refers to whether the musical instrument can be clearly reproduced from the row after row. As far as television is concerned, if dark gray and black can be distinguished, there is a sense of hierarchy. The same is true of the sound, the arrangement of the orchestra does not mix together but has a good sense of hierarchy. What's more, we have to hear the space between musical instruments, so that we can have the best sense of hierarchy.
Body sense
The sense of shape is the ability of human voice or musical instrument to show a three-dimensional sense. A good shape speaker will make the sound more embossed, more three-dimensional, and make the shadow of the sound outline more clear.
Sound quality and timbre
Sound quality refers to the quality of the sound. In English, the quality of sound (TONE QUALITY) and timbre (TIMBRE or TONE COLOR) at a glance know that they are not the same thing. But in Chinese, sound quality and timbre are often mixed and misused.
So what is the quality of sound? To give a simple example, for example, when we evaluate the quality of a car, the quality refers mainly to the performance, safety, and service life of the car, rather than whether its shape is fancy and fashionable. In terms of, it does not mean how its level, positioning, etc., more focused on its patience. A speaker with good sound quality, it is comfortable and listening. In comparison, some speakers may be powerful and powerful, but also have strong analytical power, but they are not durable to listen to, which may be a problem of sound quality. The sound quality of a good speaker should be like a good voice, so that people can not listen to it.
In a sense, "quality" is inherent in nature. The sound quality is noble, very good, and beautiful means that the nature of this equipment is very good, it makes people sound very comfortable.
Timbre
The timbre literally refers to the color of the sound. Of course, we all know that the sound has no color. However, we often hear similar statements: this violin sounds really cold, this violin sounds really warm, etc. In terms of the violin's timbre.
In the eyes of Hi-Fi people, the sound is colored like light, but it is not seen with eyes, but heard with ears. Generally, the warmer the tone, the softer the sound; the colder the tone, the harder the sound. Too soft or too hard is certainly not very good. Sometimes, timbre can also be described by words like "noble", which is basically one of nature. However, just like cloth, cloth quality refers to its material, but cloth color refers to its color, and there are still obvious boundaries.
Transparency
The transparency of sound is almost a noun that can only be understood and unspeakable. However, friends who use innovative sound cards can compare the situation where the same piece of music is played on other sound cards-of course, as long as you use speakers with good quality-perhaps you can experience the creative word "crystal-like" that has been used for many years. The meaning of "clear" means to some extent transparency.
The difference in transparency makes some speakers sound extremely clear, while others sound like a mist. For speakers, if the transparency is not good, the overall performance will drop by multiple grades. The best sense of transparency is soft, and it does not sound like your ears are tired; the poor sense of transparency is like sunlight that hurts your eyes. Although you can see clearly, it is very sad. Most audio equipment cannot achieve the level of transparency that is both clear and soft, and can only be expressed clearly.
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The detail reduction ability of the speaker is vivid
The vividness of the speaker's reduction ability can make the music sound more lively and will not be lifeless. This is an important factor in whether the music is good or not, just like a brilliant conductor can make the music lively; and the crappy conductor often makes the music dull.
Resolution
The concept of resolution is relatively easy to understand. You can compare the resolution of its display with a high-resolution display, which can show the details of the image more clearly, and a good speaker can clearly restore the subtle and complex parts of the sound. Come out, the index that describes this ability is the resolution.
Generally speaking, the resolution of the speaker mostly refers to the resolution at low levels (subtle changes in the sound). For high-end Hi-Fi devices, the resolution of the high level is only mentioned. The reducing ability of various elements in ——For PC speakers, this is pure luxury.
Detail regeneration
In a sense, the level of detail and darkness is clear can also be attributed to resolution, but resolution does not represent all the reproduction and level of detail. For example, the level of sense of hierarchy from the back to the back is not enough To finish.
The details refer to the details of the instrument, the subtle reproduction of the hall sounds, and all the murmurs in the recording space. The details of the reproduction of a piece of audio equipment can be easily compared by AB Test. The speaker's ability to reproduce and restore details depends on many factors, such as low distortion, high signal-to-noise ratio, high sensitivity, high resolution, and transparency. Equipment with less details sounds dull: equipment with more details is interesting. An excellent speaker must ensure the ability to reproduce in rich details.
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Speaker dynamic reduction speed
The speed of the speaker in the specific reduction of the sound is mainly reflected in the rise time and slew rate, and the emphasis is on the speed of the response of the speaker performance.
Dynamic contrast
Popular contrast can be understood as the contrast of sound strength, that is, the contrast between loud and soft sounds.
In general, dynamic contrast can also be divided into large contrast dynamic contrast and small contrast dynamic contrast. For example, the dynamic contrast of classical music is often very large, because the contrast between the loudest and the loudest sounds is great; and although rock music is loud, its ups and downs are not large, so the dynamic contrast is not big.
What is dynamic contrast with minimal contrast? This is a subtle comparison of strength and weakness. This subtle contrast between strength and weakness is like a wave of water. It does not seem to move from a distance, but when I look at it, I know that it has been fluctuating slightly. The most obvious way to use dynamic contrast is as follows: the great dynamic contrast is like a storm breaking the shore; the smallest contrast between the strong and the weak is the fluctuation of the lake under the breeze.
The overall balance of the speaker
From a holistic point of view, the speaker, like the conductor of the orchestra, should achieve a balance. This is like everyone in an orchestra is a master of solo, but everyone wants to come forward and not listen to the interpretation of the conductor. In this way, although the individual performance is high, the overall balance of the orchestra must be very poor. This is not a good orchestra. In the same way, even a single speaker looks good in every performance index, but if it cannot achieve a delicate balance, it must be unbearable. At this time, no matter how high the resolution and how good the dynamic contrast is, it is useless. Regarding this indicator, it is often impossible to measure with specific quantifiable indicators. To distinguish the overall balance ability of the speaker is like listening to a concert to distinguish the quality of the orchestra. You have to judge by your own rich listening experience.
In addition, the overall balance capability also includes appropriate volume allocation in high, medium and low frequency bands. For example, it is one of the low-frequency foundations we are talking about. The so-called low frequency basis is the stable and stable state that the low frequency band creates in the entire music. Most music fans hope that the music is very thick and rich, but do not want more high-frequency than mid-range, low-frequency, resulting in a top-heavy situation. This reasonable sense of volume in the high, mid, and low frequency bands is also a reflection of the overall balance ability of the speaker. A speaker with a strong overall balance ability sounds good to listen to, which is what most people call musicality.
For example, when positioning the speakers, the first thing to get is the overall balance. Never sacrifice the strong mid-range and low frequencies for sound field performance. If your speakers are too far away from the wall, the low frequencies will be insufficient, then you should let the speakers lean against the wall.
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