100%? I don't recall you asking me, but I guess I forgot. There are plenty of times I'd rather hear recorded music over live, and for many reasons.
Immersive Audio and How to Achieve It
100% of music listeners prefer live music to recorded playback, why? A live performance "immerses" you and frees you up to move around the room, the dance floor and still be immersed. The goal posts have moved away from two speakers to an array of speakers all around as well as above you to reproduce the illusion of a LIVE performance. Why, in 2023, would anyone voluntarily use only two speakers to recreate this illusion of a live performance in a large room?
Even the artists themselves are using immersive audio in concert to WOW their audience, why not do it at home:
https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/venues/on-the-cover-las-vegas-takes-immersive-live-part-1
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"Immersive" in acoustic refer to spatial relation between the listener and the translation of the recording in his room acoustic...Stereo system can do it at certain precise acoustic conditions which are very complex... I experienced them at the end with a one year experiments 7 days on 7... We can realize "immersiveness" with an acoustic room and a stereo system , not a living room generally... The physiological reaction measured in live concert is related not so much to the spatial soundfield perception but by the presence of living musicians whom with we connected ...You will measure the same in a bad acoustic spot of a concert hall... I prefer to listen alone in optimal acoustic conditions... The last concert i goes too was horrible because of the amplified sound in a super bad room... And i loved the musician... My physiological reactuion was : why did i came instead of buying his album ? 😊
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Thank you for your kind words about my system. I think we would disagree on virtually every aspect of your assertion. Perhaps, you are just trying to be controversial. For many years I have preferred listening to my system for any amplified music. Over the decades I have ended up at a couple rock concerts a year, as part of my job. I would typically walk… or run out after the first tune with my hands over my ears. Napkins stuffed in my ears would occationally allow me to stay for two. After ten years with season tickets to the Oregon symphony my system became so close as to be virtually indistinguishable. Then the the Oregon Symphony “upgraded” their hall with cutting edge DSP processing and were unable to resist using it during all acoustic symphony orchestra concerts… essentially destroying the wonderful acoustic sound. So, now my system sounds better. It is completely immursive.
Your idea of using multi speakers and Atmos… well, it is one of those things that sounds great on paper but isn’t remotely close to working in the real world. Other folks can point out the plethora of problems with the idea. But just from the point of view of cost. High quality sound requires top quality components. So scale up a really high quality system to have 7 or 12 or more speakers / amps and you just increased you system cost by ten times. The list goes on.
I have a home theater system with a flagship surround processor, B&W 805 speakers and two B&W 800 subwoofers. It sounds great… but not remotely in the same league as my audio system.
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Your idea of using multi speakers and Atmos… well, it is one of those things that sounds great on paper but isn’t remotely close to working in the real world. Santana, Adele, Aerosmith and many others are ALL incorporating Atmos in the "real world" of their shows: https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/venues/on-the-cover-las-vegas-takes-immersive-live-part-1 High quality sound requires top quality components. I can get Marantz, JBL, or Anthem SOA processors for less than $8K, can you say that about a SOA two channel preamp? High quality doesn’t have to be exorbitant. So scale up a really high quality system to have 7 or 12 or more speakers / amps and you just increased you system cost by ten times. This is debatable, I don’t think we could reach a conclusive answer. I have a home theater system with a flagship surround processor, B&W 805 speakers and two B&W 800 subwoofers. It sounds great… but not remotely in the same league as my audio system. Fair enough, I have a two channel audio system with a flagship (or Signature as Sony calls it) two channel preamp with a pair of Paradigm Studio Reference Active 40 speakers, all drivers custom built in Paradigm’s factory biamped internally by class A/B Anthem amps hand selected by the designer with a matched active crossover. It sounds great (and measures great, see my profile)...but not remotely in the same league as my 9.3.8 home theater.
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As for my preferences in ’23: Pat Metheny Live A wash. I reject the premise over by here. Pink Floyd started performing live surround in 1967 It’s OK to love Atmos. You can keep it. Live OR canned it's about the performances to me. |
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