Rock and Roll Snobbery

Mmmm-I went back and listened to the only CD I had that is mentioned above,the 2nd Stone Roses album and yup it is way overcooked(haven't listened to it in years it's from '94). It strikes me and this is just an observation that it may be distinctly a problem with Artists aiming at the American market..i.e lots of radio play..certainly the Stone Roses album on Geffen was a failed attempt to break the States(almost 4 years in the making)..I guess I tend not to buy some of the artists that are mentioned above..but I can appreciate it is a problem..it maybe proves my point that it is still down to those who are aiming for big commercial gain over artistic appeal (I'm going to get in trouble on this probably..)..take artists like Radiohead ,Madonna,(no.1 albums?)it can be done--- good modern recordings....I still find some of the recordings held-up by Audiogon members as excellent,Lucianda Williams, Cowboy Junkies et al as nothing more than ok and maybe a tad sterile but we all like different things I guess...personally prefer Eva Cassidy of that ilk and I still think that even now that a good modern recording ultimately sounds better than that of even a couple of years ago......... Regards, Ben

I'd say it comes to down recording for each of these. Pop music - music promoted over the radio is recorded with tons of compression and limiting to maximize sound for signal strength over radio. AND the frequency capacity of CD's is limited by the format - it doesn't go down as low as "full range speakers" ... so...you're going to hear more depth, more of the room...things that come from deep bass and sub bass. So...midrange focused systems will be pop-o-licious but their weaknesses will really be displayed by uncompressed unlimited recordings

It is often cited in these threads that you can't (shouldn't) attempt to rectify a major weakness in a component by changing something else that pulls the system in the opposite direction - ie, don't attempt to correct a bright amp by applying extra-warm speakers. If your amp is bright to the point that you really don't like the sound, you have to change the amp. So, it doesn't seem consistent to say that a poorly recorded pop album is going to sound a lot better on a mid-fi system than a high-end one. If a CD is recorded with tons of compression, as many are, it isn't going to sound good on any system, IMO. It's going to accomplish only two "positives" - you'll be able to hear all the parts of the song better in an environment with a lot of unrelated noise (ie, a car) and it will "catch" your ear more quickly wherever it's played, a phenomena most people on this site find appealing for somewhere between zero and two seconds. I find the very compressed recordings I've listened to to sound pretty horrible and fatiguing on every system, and don't find that lowering the quality of the system to make the situation any better.

Kthomas, I agree that decreasing the overall resolution of the system will not correct a crappy recording, but maybe it changes us. That is, perhaps some people go into a different mode -- out of the critical listening phase. The other night I stopped by my local bar'n grill for a cheese-steak san'wich and beer(s),(forget audio, this is the most remakable phenomenon in L.A.), Crapola mass market electronics, equally non-audiophile approved CD's, speakers mounted on the wall, right against the ceiling (ancient bookshelf units with what I swear looked like balsa wood enclosures), ambient noise... you get the idea. Well, I enjoyed the music just as much as sittin in the dark watchin da tubes glow. Maybe more, since I usually don't have a cheese-steak in one hand and a Sierra Nevada in the other when listening at home. Maybe this is what happens in a lower res system... the listener, not the music, is adjusted. Dr. Leary was right about one thing, set and setting are the critical factors to one's experience... Happy New Year, all!

Good post, Jim. I often have very musical experiences with poor to middling stereos, even sometimes with my girlfriend's dreaded Bose Acoustimass, and certainly in the car. The sound gets out of the way, and I hear the musical line, the gestalt of the song or whatever, if you will. And then I scratch my head and wonder WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING with the home system. :-)