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can somebody define for me the word transience...


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Posted

...when used in the context of speakers of headphones? I read it a number of times but am not sure if I understand it through the context in which I read it.

EDIT: I just noticed my nickname, but I'm wondering how you found out?!?!

Posted

Transient is a quick event. In terms of sound, something like a drum hit would be a good example. When someone speaks of transients in relation to a driver (speaker or headphone), they are usually discussing the speed of the device.

Posted

thanks for the spelling correction and I think I have a good idea of what it is now. So let my try to rephrase it. A driver has to constantly has to change the frequency that it vibrates and a driver with good transients is capable of quickly change between frequencies to more accurately represent the signal flowing through it.

Posted

Blatant cop-out ahead: It depends what sort of sound you are after. If the driver moves too 'fast' on the transients it can become aggressive and harsh. Sometimes something a bit 'slower' can sound smoother and be a bit easier on the ears.

Posted

I don't think that speed has anything to do with harshness. The SR-001 is the fastest driver I've ever heard but it's not harsh in any way. Harshness is more due to irregularity in the FR in the treble, with peaks in the 6-8kHz region specifically contributing most to sibilance and harshness. Slow drivers can be quite harsh too - Ultrasones being a great example. A bright, peaky driver tends to shove microdetail into the foreground which gives the illusion of speed, but the best way to judge speed is to load the driver with stuff that has a lot of parallel, textured lines, and see if one line affects the driver's ability to portray another. A bright headphone that sounds artificially fast will still lose detail and definition of each and individual line with very dense and complex music (i.e. orchestral or very fast metal). Whereas a truly fast driver will keep up with anything and different instruments will never start to blur together or lose individual detail and texture.

"Transients" are all the things in between the main notes/sounds, i.e. the "transition" between different notes and sounds - the shimmer of a cymbal, the reverberations of a piano string, the echo of an electronic sample when it's fed through a reverb filter, etc. And yes, you do need speed primarily to do transients well, though if you have a messed-up FR you can hurt your ability to portray transients even though the driver is fast (i.e. ER-4S being a great example).

Posted
transients is the correct spelling

transcience is:

the quality or state of being transient

transience - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

I'd read that as "in changing"

transient :

1 a : passing especially quickly into and out of existence : transitory <transient beauty> b : passing through or by a place with only a brief stay or sojourn <transient visitors>

2 : affecting something or producing results beyond itself

transient - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

p.s. it was on the first page of a quick google for: definition transience

Posted
thanks for the spelling correction and I think I have a good idea of what it is now. So let my try to rephrase it. A driver has to constantly has to change the frequency that it vibrates and a driver with good transients is capable of quickly change between frequencies to more accurately represent the signal flowing through it.

I'd suggest excellent transcience to be demonstrated by a driver when it presents only what the amp sends it. It would need to have no harmonics of its own to perpetuate or blur the resulting output.

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