... thoughts on Taylor Swift's REPUTATION CD...

@greg22lz , these posts may seem pedantic or oddball but you’ve been here a long time. I think we have a new generation of members, some who are experienced audiophiles and others who love music and want to build a system and join this hobby.

When I see an "oddball" post I check the date the OP joined. There’s a very high number who have joined in the last year...IMO, a great thing.
This OP has another thread in which he asks for recommendations of high quality recordings to test a system. That sounds like somebody who’s pretty new to high-end audio.

Based on the DR scale, the recording in question is as bad as it can possibly get and is high on the unlistenable scale.
The advice the OP should receive is the explanation of the recording process, compression, and the Loudness Wars.

... thank you all for your input... and thank you lowrider57 for the suggested topics for me to investigate and learn from.

BEST WISHES TO ALL, AND ENJOY YOUR MUSIC.

See my thread, it may explain the attacks on Taylor Swift's music.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-does-all-music-sound-the-same-an-explanation

Great to see others answered your questions so well.

Regarding if the music on this forum is too high brow, I would hope not. There are very few of us who don’t have recording that touch our hearts, or move our butts that are on the poor side of the loudness wars. Enjoy what you enjoy and post about what you enjoy, and take the criticism for what it is, another mans opinion.

However, It would help you understand what good sound is to listen to recordings that are well recorded, so you will know when a song is recorded well or you just enjoy it.

Remember we audiophiles care about sound and music, so have a little patience with us.

acman3: Thank you for your courtesy...