Is a highly discerning system enjoyable?
I argue that in terms of musical enjoyment, connection, feeling the musicians and composers maybe a highly discerning system is going too far? Maybe I want the warts airbrushed out. Maybe I like a system that lets me listen to a broader range of recordings without whincing?
Then there’s systems which are discerning of performances vs. discerning of upstream gear. I personally feel they are not the same thing at all.
Lastly, if your room is an acoustic mess, how can you tell?
If you feel strongly either way I'd appreciate examples of the gear that made you go one way or another.
Right?
And to think this was before digital drums were really a thing. I mean this is the producer making drums sound awful. |
Could be so very much better sounding. I get the raw quality to the production. But there is something very engaging by the layering of the sounds in the mix. So that kind of brings the raw quality of the production into question, perhaps they made a bad decision. Yeah, drums sound terrible, and it sounds like the mic was put inside a tin can for the vocals. If there was ever a recording that could benefit from a remastering, War should be on that list. Production kind of reminds me of how Chicago’s Greatest Hits sounds. So much “stuff” going on in the mix, but oh so very bright and lacking meat. This was from a Rhino re release. Then I read up somewhere that the 77’ Japanese pressing was apparently the one to get. Got ahold of a copy and man, what a difference. Anyway, think I prefer the system that is more revealing. At least I get to hear what they did w the mix. Perhaps I’ll drag my Cornwalls out and try War w those, though I doubt that will be any better. Adding a 15” woofer ain’t gonna matter if there ain’t no tone there to amplify. |
@perkri If memory serves, it was remastered, but AFAIK it was just a marketting gimmick. It was not in any way I could tell better. |
