2. misc-audio
  3. 1126894213

Using Bad Recording to Evaluate a System

Once I went to a dealer to audition a speaker, brought a few CD's. One of them was a CD of a group I like but has rather low quality recording.
Well, I put that CD in and cued up a track, and when the music ended the dealer asked why I was using such a horrible sounding recording to audition. (I think he looked kinda slightly pissed. Maybe because the music sounded shrill and irritating the whole time???)
Yeah, why?
Here's what I think: an audio system should make listening the music a pleasant experience. The better your system can reproduce, the more enjoyment you get regardless of recording quality. Saying that 'my system is so good I can only play my audiophile discs' is basically saying something is wrong with my system. Yes, nowadays I tend to play my 'audiophile' CDs much more than regular ones, but that's because of the music AND the excellent recording quality, but when I play my regular or lower recording quality CD's, I find that, although the shortcomings are more obvious, my system can reproduce the music as an enjoyable presentation, and I enjoy it more than when I used to in prev. lower-res/quality/musicality systems.
yr44
tlday
137 posts
 
One of the reasons I like my system so much (MF 308cd, MF Trivista Int. Amp, Nautilus 802s, all silver wiring, dedicated 20 amp lines and BPT 3.5) is that the old cds sound rally good. Cds from the 70s (Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, & Cat Stevens sound amazingly good). I thought it was the upsampling and the speakers, but don't really know. Why would anyone want a system so "accurate" that most everything sounds lousy?
brainwater
520 posts
 
Good point Guenther , I agree with you and Tvad . Its a damn if you do damn if you dont scenario in high end. I have a car stereo from hell for my poor recordings { usually classic rock I grew up on } and high resolution systems for my well recorded jazz ect . There was a thread a year or so ago that asked had moving into a high resolution stereo changed your musical listening tastes. Im presently listening to a classical disc that before I began ascending at such a frightning pace in this art , would not have been caught dead listening to. I like it now and have moved into so many unusual genres I cant count them any more . Highly resolving systems make bad recordings sound like the junk they are sonically . No way around it .
centurymantra
133 posts
 
I agree with the original post in that a system should enhance enjoyment of all recordings regardless of their 'fidelity'. Some folks feel this is an oxymoron, but I have developed a system which I think does exactly this. I might offer a different slant and suggest that, when a disc is marred by poor recording quality, one can only focus on the lack of fidelity in the majority of systems. Perhaps it is much easier for a system to reveal the flaws than going the extra step and revealing the musicality behind these flaws. I think a properly developed system can be 'ruthlessly revealing' AND more musically satisfying for ALL recordings.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I think a properly developed system can be 'ruthlessly revealing' AND more musically satisfying for ALL recordings.
In my experience, the primary issue with bad recordings is brightness and edge in the upper mids and highs. Do we agree on this as a basic premise?

If so, then I would propose that any system which magically makes these recordings more musical does so by either attenuating the highs (which therefore reduces resolution and transparency), or does so by shifting the focus of the frequency balance to the lower mids and bass region (thereby reducing the neutrality of the reproduction). Either way, a compromise is required. One may prefer the sound of what the compromise creates, but in my view "ruthlessly revealing" and "more musical" (a description open to wide interpretation) almost never co-exist.

If you've got it, Centurymantra, then we should all come over to hear it so we can copy what you've done, because you appear to have discovered the Audiophile Holy Grail. :)

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I think Centurymantra pointed in the right direction, but for myself I have to say part of the enjoyment of a "badly recorded" disc is just that. Experiencing the trashy recording quality of P.J.Harvey's Eight-Track Demo as if one was actually listening to her cheap recorded copy of some songs she demo'd is way more exciting than having it all prettied up.
So perhaps SOME crummy recordings DO SOUND BEST all crummy.
The Rolling Stones come to mind too.
Of course listening to Maria Callas on a concert taped on a 3" reel toy recorder is not quite as fun... (8^Q...
More to discover