The language that audio reviewers and writers use to describe sound quality can often be confusing. Adjectives such as crisp, delicate, coarse, airy, and others can sound more like a wine tasting event than listening to a stereo system. Understanding these terms and their meanings can help you identify what you like or don't like about the sound of a speaker or component and will help you make better buying decisions. I'm creating a glossary of sound descriptors or terms that will be a permanent feature on the stereos site, and will add new terms regularly. Let's start with the adjectives listed above:
- Crisp: lots of detail in the midrange and treble, sometimes too much.
- Delicate: lots of subtle musical details, such as fingers on a string instrument.
- Coarse: a granular, harsh sound quality in the mid and high frequency ranges.
- Airy: an open and smooth sound quality in the high frequencies; unveiled
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