I wanted to start with a well recorded voice with piano and great rhythm section. I had two birds with one stone in Dianna Krall's Quiet Nights. A couple of first impressions were made here and remain with all the albums I heard with my PS3 since. The first was the big difference in bass. I have read so many times the phrase "tight base". I have not been able to get on board with assimilating that expression. I can tell you what the PS3 does. Many times there are several bass producing instruments in the music. In this case bass violin, drums and the piano itself. The location and texture of these pulled into focus in my music room each in its place with its own voice rising and falling in the conversation of the song. Easier for me to digest than "tight bass". As for the piano, it also has belly, that feeling of mass of action and sound board behind the hammer beginning the note and then decaying. The other impression is the human voice. Each is unique leaving an impression heard and matched to our memory banks. The PS3 finds Dianna's intimacy, her breath and the familiarity of stage side concert seats.
Also I played a favourite, The Oscar Peterson Trio with Clark Terry (Plus One). I was minding my own business pulled along by Oscar's fingers flowing over the keys before me when Ed Thigpen began working the brushes on the symbols. Caught by surprise, out of reflex I looked to my right to see the wall! This sort of thing can be very disorienting. I was expecting to see one thing, a speaker but encountered something completely different, a bare wall. Those symbols hung in that space clear and honest. The PS3 expanded the soundstage to a wider a range my room. On one cut Mumbles has a conversation with a young female mumbles. Its dialogue is understood by tone and inflection alone, made me smile.
