Posted on 05/11/2010 11:04:04 AM PDT by newgeezer
At the ripe age of 28, Jon Zimmer is sort of an old fogey. That is, he is obsessive about the sound quality of his music. ... But iPods and compressed computer files ... are “sucking the life out of music,” he says.
The last decade has brought an explosion in dazzling technological advances ... that have transformed the fan’s experience. There are improvements in the quality of media everywhere — except in music.
In many ways, the quality of what people hear — how well the playback reflects the original sound— has taken a step back. ...
In one way, the music business has been the victim of its own technological success: the ease of loading songs onto a computer or an iPod has meant that a generation of fans has happily traded fidelity for portability and convenience. This is the obstacle the industry faces in any effort to create higher-quality — and more expensive — ways of listening.
“If people are interested in getting a better sound, there are many ways to do it,” Mr. Zimmer said. “But many people don’t even know that they might be interested.”
Take Thomas Pinales, a 22-year-old from Spanish Harlem and a fan of some of today’s most popular artists... Mr. Pinales listens to his music stored on his Apple iPod through a pair of earbuds, and while he wouldn’t mind upgrading, he is not convinced that it would be worth the cost.
“My ears aren’t fine tuned,” he said. “I don’t know if I could really tell the difference.”
The change in sound quality is as much cultural as technological. For decades, starting around the 1950s, high-end stereos were a status symbol. A high-quality system was something to show off, much like a new flat-screen TV today. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“I like hearing the ORIGINAL 16track tape hiss on the Black Sabbath CDs”
Yup! Sabbath is tremendous, those first six albums are hard to beat!
I think a big part is how people listen to music today. For most folks it’s mostly while doing something else—driving, jogging, reading, and on crappy speakers or ear buds. And doing it a song at a time from different artists. So the cats mastering the music keep that in mind, and make the mix as loud and in your face as possible, in order to ensure that their tune has just as much chance of getting noticed as everyone elses. A mix like that is going to sound awful on a decent home hi-fi, whether its on vinyl, cd or some form of electronic media, but with ear buds you might not notice it.
The cats who like to listen to loud music on their home hi-fi system are few and far between. I love kicking the rock. There are lotsa new and old artists whose mixes still sound awesome, and I think more and more are recognizing the problem and rebelling against it.
Freegards, rock on
I was wondering how long until the “Mc” word showed up.
I’ll never forget hearing some classical guitar stuff, don’t remember who the artist was, through a system of Revox reel, McIntosh preamp/amp, Soundcraftsmen EQ and Klipsch speakers back in the 70s. It gave me chills. ‘Course, the room was tweaked for sound like that.
WOW, just WOW!
Same model here. I've rebuilt them once with new surrounds
on the woofer and passive radiator and new diaphragms. One
of he best speakers ever made.
I’ll start shopping.
I'm hearing impaired for almost exactly the same reasons. I have a Yamaha graphic equalizer on my system and have the
sound tailored to the high end audio loss that I have. It
would probably sound too “bright” to most people.
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