Audiophiles & music-have you got it wrong?

Jeffloistarca - Ya, I do the "kids" thing too, but before you know it, they'll have grown-up considerably and you'll have more time on your hands. Right now, I can find much enjoyment in even just one day a week when I get a couple of hours to sit, undisturbed, with my eyes closed, listening to music. The music we've been buying is always there waiting for us when the opportunity arises....

Ben, I don't think the term "Audiophile" means just people who buy a bunch of equipment and change it regularly, but don't buy music. It was once explained to me like this:
"Audiophile" could perhaps refer to two different groups: Music Lovers and Hobbyists.
Music Lovers spend way more on music than equipment and often enjoy the music regardless of the recording quality.
The Hobbyists are the ones who are always changing their equipment, often because all they are doing is obsessing in how various noises are being reproduced in their system, instead of listening to the music. (although they can love music, it's just not as important to them, apparently) They often hear the noises they're looking-for, but miss the big picture - MUSICALITY!! These are often the same twits who refer to equipment or music as "unlistenable"! I just want to smack those idiots across the head! If a recording is not perfect, get over it! Listen to that one when you're working in the house or in another room and enjoy the performance for its musical value. If you want to obsess about sound quality, play the best recordings when you're sitting in your sweet spot.
I almost feel sorry for those who can't enjoy music because the recording quality isn't up to the best of modern standards. They are missing a lot of good music!!!!

I've long since exceeded the value of my system with the music I have purchased. As to pricing, I don't often pay full retail. I wait for a sale, I buy it used, I buy over the Internet, I buy at a CES when they're on sale, etc. But, it still adds-up to a LOT of money, and I sometimes wonder if I'm nuts or not. I couldn't listen to all of the music I've purchased if I sat in front of my system 24/7 for almost a year!! (with no sleep...maybe a year & a half with sleep time ;-) Why have I done this?! Hell, I coulda' bought a new car with that money! But then, even though I love cars and I love to drive fast on corners, it's mostly just transportation. Overall, I get way more satisfaction out of listening to my music system....and I'm always playing music in my car!!
I've taken a lot of time listening at various places and reading a lot of books & magazines to find the best albums by the best people. I've accumulated a very good collection of excellent albums in many different categories of music. (That's because, like has been said in this discussion, there is a LOT of good music out there; you just have to be open-minded and willing to listen) I can reach out any time I want, and depending on my mood, I can find just the right kind of music to listen-to.
Plus, if the small part of the Hobbyist inside me wants to impress a visitor, or if I want to seriously infect someone with this Audiophile Disease I have, chances are I have just the kind of music they want to listen-to, or I can 'wow' them with something great they've never heard before.

Although I'm always open to upgrading my system if the opportunity, type of component and price are right, I'm at the point that my system sounds very good all the time. I always enjoy listening to music, and I'm more likely to think about what album to buy next or what kind of music I want to try than what hardware "needs" changing.

Thanks for the thread Ben.

>>First up the price of music
Yes, this is an issue. As Sean said before & I agree - extreme greed is killing the music industry or what's left of it! Consider what it takes to actually phyiscally make a CD-ROM & what the price of music is. It's close to 1000% mark-up! Yes, the musicians need to be paid & people w/ special talents are always rewarded more than the avg. human being. But, there are 601 middle-men in the whole music distribution scheme who EACH need 100% profit!! How much greed is enough? In this, too much is not enough! Yes, the music industry does not exist as a charity or a not-for-profit organization. I agree & accept that. However, how much profit-gouging are they going to do before they think it is acceptable? As it stands today, it is totally unacceptable by me & by most of us.

>>Is it the quality of the recordings that's an issue?
Yes! For many recordings on digital medium this is an issue. If you are going to charge an astronomical price for music, atleast record it to the best of the medium's capability! In yester years, the recording industry was learning how to make CD recordings & so one can forgive the mistakes made there. However, over the years, thru the world-wide knowledge of this industry, recording houses have made leaps & bounds of progress in this domain. These days it does not take a rocket scientist to make an excellent recording. It should almost be a given that anyone in this field should be learned in the art of recording, mixing, mastering (I don't mean that the same person should be but it's entirely possible that it is). Using Digital Theory 101, it should be relatively easy to make an excellent digital medium recording. Is that we the users do not demand this from the recording houses? Is our collective population ill-educated such that the recording houses can feed us any crap & we swallow it? As a parallel example: how do you think that, say, Toyota has become the world-class car manuf. that it is today? They stumbled upon it? Ask a Japanese citizen what they *demand* from their automobile. It is clear that Toyota stepped up to that challenge. So, quality begins at home. So, maybe the masses should wizen up & demand better quality recordings for even mass music rather than accepting hot recordings with significant compression in the peaks.

>>Finally there's no new good music.
This is a very personal choice. I always felt that music (literature, art) always reflected the sign of the times. If you look thru history, this is clearly reflected. So, this line of reasoning seems to be validated emperically. Today's times seem to be vastly shallower than times gone by & the music reflects it. Many of us accept today's music. Fine by me. Many others complain that "there is no good music". Perhaps one should ask them what their definition of "good" is. For those that I personally polled, I found the answer all too close to mine - that there is no depth to the music or the lyrics as compared to yester years. Yes, I have & am expanding my music tastes. I think that I have come a long way in the last 2 years & I have a long way ahead of me. However, there is some genres of music that I cannot accept as music. Simple a matter of taste & personal opinion. It is as correct as the fellow standing next to me. It is very likely that people yearning for "good" music are yearning for times gone by. Looks like those times have gone by.....Today's information age has certainly diluted our objective of why we are alive (my opinion). Our music certainly reflects that.

Some nice replies on this thread.
Bombaywalla-nice post however a few points in response.

PRICE OF MUSIC-maybe music is overpriced but is it different from other products?Isn't our high end equipment vastly overpriced?
Not an excuse or justification of the view music is overpriced just a point.

QUALITY OF RECORDINGS-could you give some examples of new badly recorded music?
It's my view the production is a big part of the artists statement and if the band/singer produce badly recorded music it's because it doesn't feature as part of their statement.
Most new music I hear is very well recorded and suits the music,there is the odd band that obviously compress their music for some reason probably mass appeal on boom boxes etc.
I hear this a lot but don't hear too many examples with the exception of Santana and U2 recently.

NEW GOOD MUSIC-yes I agree, not everybody will like the more extreme descendants of popular forms and I can accept that easily.
My main point on this is that I believe many audiophiles are missing out on music they would like but don't take the time to find it,indeed it would seem searching out release and general music news doesn't feature strongly in their lives.
As Jeff points out above many don't have the time but some of them do then complain bitterly there is no good new music about.
That's my main point.

Ben,
>>our high end equipment vastly overpriced?
Yes! Vastly overpriced! You won't get an argument from me re. this but just 'cuz equip. is over-priced doesn't mean that music should also be! Today the amount of high quality, good sounding, reasonably priced gear is at its highest. It's a trend that I don't see stopping anytime soon.

>>could you give some examples of new badly recorded music?
I'm mostly a vinyl person so I buy fewer CDs than yourself & most of you. However, I do have a fair amount of run-ins with bad recordings. Some examples:
"All That You Leave Behind" U2 - sibilance city (Grammy award for this!). It's a Dutch pressing that I got when I went home to Bombay. I can't listen to it at all but I really like almost every song.
"Brothers In Arms" Dire Straits - original CD. Compression in many of the tracks esp. in the title track. Heard it on my friend's system, which has a SET amp, and the compression wasn't as glaring. I think it's a tube vs. ss thing.
"Greatest Hits" Carlos Santana. This is a re-issue from some yrs back (red cover). Says that it uses 20-bit re-mastering. Was listening to Black Magic Woman w/ a friend. We both agreed that the recording was marginal. Fair amount of sibilance.
"Colour of My Love" Celine Dion. I beg forgivness! I bought this CD by mistake. I do not like her one bit but something got into me & I bought it! Her voice is strong but boy is it compressed! There are very few airy highs & there is a lot of opportunity for airy highs in her CDs.
These are few that come to mind right now.

>>My main point on this is that I believe many audiophiles >>are missing out on music they would like but don't take >>the time to find it,indeed it would seem searching out >>release and general music news doesn't feature strongly >>in their lives.
Very possibly true! However, there is so much trash out there that it maskes it very hard to wade thru all of that to get a few good releases. The effort:reward ratio is tilted the wrong way! Add to that that many audiophiles/music lovers have domestic responsibilities & the effort:reward ratio gets further tilted the wrong way. When I tell my neighbours & friends what music I listen to their eyes glaze over. They tell me that their parents & grand-parents listened to the artists I'm listening to! They cannot fathom how somebody can listen to this old music today. I've got to be listening to the "latest" music! The point is: the music industry is catering to the masses. Re-issues of "good" music is a 2nd priority & are fewer & far between. The smaller recording & manuf. labels have made it their mission to fill in this gap (for which I'm grateful) but their prices are sky-high! I can get 2-3 CDs for $100 from mail-order companies! Good grief! I recently got hold of a vinyl copy of "Brothers In Arms" Dire Straits. Original LP. Probably beats the pants of the $40 XRCD re-issue. I paid 1/10th for it!

Kind of off topic, But...I picked up Muddy Waters (folk singer) cd the other day. This remaster has caused me to order another Muddy Waters remaster. I've begun to explore more of this old stuff. While Muddy Waters was no stranger to me, I am finding many of the other artist's from his day are. Sound quality on this disc is very high and was a great surprise.

Dave