Music, Formats, and Accuracy – What Really Matters?

I like this discussion...well rounded and diverse opinions from all sides. What I appreciate most is the observance of there being no true scientific method for measuring emotional response and involvement....that's as accurate as it gets right there ;-)
 
Most of the recordings (punk/speed/thrash metal) I listen to are far from perfect, and I couldn't care less - they still sound great when played as intended (volume at eleven).

I'll listen on an iPod - even a cassette - if I must.
 
There are least 3 or 4 times when I got lost in the music; listening to live Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers, John Coltrane's My Favorite Things, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

The common denominators are length (about 20 minutes) and listening while driving. I don't have a fancy car stereo although I do typically upgrade the OEM stereo and speakers to something decent but inexpensive.

The experience is that of driving occupying the basic operations and allowing the rest of your mind to give full attention to the music. I doubt that I'd have the same experience listening to a crappy boombox even if it was in the car. The Stereo has to provide at least enough of a broad outline that the mind can fill in the details or at least run with what you do hear.
 
A person's happiness is all that matters. No matter in what fashion that is obtained. Some get it from the gear; some from the overall SQ obtained therefrom, and some from the actual content of the music and how it makes them feel. I doubt any of us are absolutely on one end or the other of that spectrum, and we may well move back and forth on it depending on circumstances. No matter what, in the end, floats our various boats, what matters is that we can do it and it makes us happy when we do.

This may sound odd coming from a person who eschews the exotic and expensive in favor of thrift-shop wonders, but it actually supports my premise. One man's meat is another man's poison. We're all different and that's a good thing in general.
 
All else being equal, better sound quality makes music more enjoyable. At the extreme (really, really good "hi fi" sound quality), it can make even less-appealing music more captivating and enjoyable, but there are limits to this; if you actually dislike a song, you're unlikely to suddenly love it just because it is in great fidelity, even if you can appreciate the sound quality.

Music we consider "good" is more enjoyable than music we deem "not so good." (That is sort of circular logic, but I think you get the idea! LOL) Sometimes a favorite tune can be greatly enjoyed, even through an inferior-quality system, or, say, if sung enthusiastically around a campfire when half the people are not even on pitch --because we like other characteristics of the tune itself. What appeals to us may be the rhythm, the melody, the harmonics, the emotional expression of the singer, or anything else; often it is an indefinable mixture of characteristics that we don't fully understand; we just know that we "like" that song.

In short, there is more to music, and the appeal of music, than sound quality alone, even though sound quality can affect our enjoyment of the music.

Between"sound quality" and "music likeability", sometimes one can outweigh the other, but both can be important:
Some songs I do not like, no matter what sound quality they are delivered in.
Some songs I like a lot, no matter what sound quality they are delivered in.
A few songs I only like with great sound quality, but not with lesser.
...
But what I like MOST OF ALL, is much-loved music played with great sound quality. There is nothing better than a favorite song being played with goose-bump-inducing sound quality!




I'm pretty much done splitting hairs in this regard...This will not be the popular choice, but I ripped everything into MP3 and am rolling with that format. I might look into downloading higher quality material in the future but for now I have all of the music I own in one convenient location and am listening to it much more because of doing this...As a result of being deaf on my right side since I was 12 my hearing is not sophisticated enough to make out the difference anyway.

The last sentence fully justifies your decision. This hobby is ultimately about personal enjoyment. If your hearing damage means you can enjoy MP3s just as well as higher-resolution recordings, then by all means, ENJOY THEM! :music: :thmbsp:
 
I have to say I have the JBL sound system in my car and it sounds better than my home system...
 
It's not a subjective preference by any means; it's simply a matter of enjoying the music in the moment, carpe diem if you will.

It is totally subjective when some enjoy it the way you do, and some that do not. A few years ago Stereophile conducted a survey on how folks listen to music. A full 85+% of their readers listen in their quiet listening rooms. They are enjoying the music as much as you do.

If you and others find these "distractions" cause you to make the listening "intolerable", that's too bad, and I'm glad I don't share in your curse. The point is to enjoy the music, and if some media don't meet your standards for enjoying it, that's quite unfortunate.

Some look at it as a curse(too much negativity), and some look at it as a preferred way to listen. Differences are not a curse, it is the way the world rolls.

You sound like the guy who's too focused on the destination and ignores the journey along the way. Most of life isn't nirvana; enjoy the simple pleasures too..:thmbsp:

I would argue that you don't know me from Adam's house cat. It is very difficult to make this kind of statement in light of that reality.
 
Given the choice in my listening room, I'd take vinyl & SACD, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of MP3 or FM in the car - and the turntable doesn't travel so well. :)
 
There are least 3 or 4 times when I got lost in the music... and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

Oh that one will always do it.

I don't have a fancy car stereo although I do typically upgrade the OEM stereo and speakers to something decent but inexpensive.

Same here. For home listening I've spent years and big bucks on my audio system, but in the car, for some reason, I'm still satisfied with "decent," and tend to listen to the really emotionally-charged stuff even more often. No one can hear you trying to sing along when you're alone in a car. :)

I can't drive and listen at the same time.

Cruise control man. :smoke:
 
I agree with most comments on this thread. People seem to be taking neither the high road nor the low road (although the latter would be surprising on an audio site). But speaking of low roads, I grew up with (a) my grandparents' wind-up Victrola, upon which I played beat up 78s with either a steel or bamboo needle, (b) then I became enthralled with a tiny little GE transistor radio (baby blue) which I got for either my ninth or tenth birthday (it was a long time ago) and (c) I "graduated" to 45s as a teenager, which I played in a stack on one of those little RCA player with the big spindle. Oh yeah, and we customarily taped a nickel, dime or quarter to the tone arm when the records started to skip. Of course, there were the crappy car radios, as well, which we listened to at ear-splitting volume.

When I played some of that music (doo wop, rockabilly, early R&B) on oldies compilations years later --and on a decent system , I was amazed to hear all sorts of stuff that I had never heard the first time around -- even though most of the rock and pop music of the late 40s and 50s was recorded on the cheap without a great deal of attention to fidelity.

The point is -- I listened to all this music (including Sousa marches, Dixieland and big band swing when I was down in the grandparents' basement) because it spoke to me. So while I delight today in hearing everything that a recording has to offer and sometimes immersing myself in a blissful sonic bath, the primary impetus for my listening is still the artistic communication provided by the music.

Charlie Parker recorded on a cheap wire recorder in a club is still Charlie Parker, if you know what I mean. And a table tennis game in stereo (which an "audiophile" auditioned for me back in the early 60s on his very expensive H.H. Scott amplifier and Thorens TT) still doesn't do much for me.
 
I've done a lot of research on the topic of digital music formats. I can't say I'm an expert but I am an IT guy and I am familiar with how much additional data each format provides, how it graphs on an x/y axis as far as an analog sound wave goes, etc. so if anyone wants to field questions here or in PM I'd be more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.
 
I remember reading an article and the person being reviewed ( I think it was Richard Thompson, but I may be wrong) said something like he would rather listen to an old, worn down vinyl version of Howlin Wolf than a brand new CD version of a Britney Spears album.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject. Music comes first. I remember hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time in the old jeep I used to own on a crappy stereo with the top down. It did not limit the impact of the song in any way. I was blown away by it and still remember it to this day.

I did buy some classical albums on SACD in an attempt to appreciate the sound quality, and it is fantastic, but it doesn't compare to the experience I had above.

I should mention that I still think the best way to listen is to a great recording on a great system, but it comes secondary to what music is actually on the disc/file/tape.
 
I heartily agree, uofmtiger. And it really depends on the type of music -- and your mood. Massive guitar distortion is already built into a lot of hard rock, so while it might be desirable to have a bass response that hits you right in the solar plexus, it's almost an oxymoron to be looking for a "clean, clear sound" when you're listening to hard rock or metal. The most important thing is to be able to play the music loud without permanently damaging your speakers (or your hearing).

I also used to listen to a lot of doo-wop and R&B (on 45s) when I was a teenager, and while I have a number of remastered oldies collections on CD, I don't think that the musical "communication" is any more powerful with a CD on a good system than it was on an old car radio or my cheap RCA 45 RPM player. This was simple music, without any enhanced studio techniques -- mainly vocals with no real high or low frequency range -- so you don't need a sophisticated system to hear what's there.

On the other hand, my wife and I put a CD copy of the Beatles' Abbey Road on one of my good systems last night, and it sounded far better than I have every remember it sounding on the various cheap stereos I heard it on when it was new.

So it's not exactly garbage in-garbage-out, but a killer sound system is still only going to reproduce what's already in the source medium. And music communicates on various levels, some of which are emotional and don't have much at all to do with sonic fidelity
 
Are you enjoying what you are listening to, if so, then that should be what matters. It is fun to discuss and argue the finer points of this format and that, but it comes down to enjoyment in the end.
 
Back in 1968 I was listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR); the tune 'Susie Q' at the park,
with my friends, from a portable record/turntable player (batteries operated), the 45 RPM of that tune from CCR.
...And I was in heaven then. :) ...We all were.
 
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