Sound Quality?…or Music Quality?

Bushikan said:
Okay, I listen to almost everything. I’ll put on whatever I’m in the mood for. I have a substantial and varied music collection. I love many genres: classical, rock, jazz, country, blues…. It runs the gamut. Absolutely no judgements here. I’ve been accused of having bad taste in music simply because I like Badfinger, which supposedly cancels out my appreciation for Nina Simone and Chopin and Bill Evans and etc. etc. Whatever. I’m a slave to the music of my youth, but I’ve expanded my tastes since I was 12. So this isn’t a thread, really, about taste, per se. (But I’m certain it could go there.)

My question: Do you have music in your collection (specific SACDs, vinyl, etc.) whose quality as recordings you appreciate but whose musical quality you respect less—music that you use as test or demonstration music, but that you don’t particularly love or respect? I do.

This isn’t so much a thread about name calling, but more about great test tracks. But just to be transparent: I’ve used Patricia Barber (right now) and Diana Krall (artists often gifted to me because I’m “an audiophile who should appreciate this”) to test new equipment in my stereo—even though I don’t really love them.
Click to expand...

I have very little music in my collection that I don't like and none that I do have is used as test tracks. When testing gear I like music that has a lot going on and that I know note for note, so I tend to use things like Pink Floyd's Obscured by Clouds or Dark Side of the Moon, Alan Parsons Project's Ammonia Avenue or Eye in the Sky, Queen's A Kind of Magic, Hawkwind's Chronicle of the Black Sword, or Rush's 2112. Those are all albums I have on cassette, vinyl, CD, and as digital audio files; and they have great, layered audio that I know better than I know my ex-wife.

Most of the music I dislike was given to me and I am quick to pass those along if I can. For instance, I inherited a Dave Matthews album from somewhere. I don't like Dave Matthews, but one of my best friends does, so I sent the album quickly along to Tulsa. There are several genres and "artists" I simply cannot stand to hear, and they will never sully my stereo, but I won't list them here in order to avoid starting a flame war.

As a postscript, I don't care what other people like or what they think about my taste in music; I care what I like. As with my coffee and my tea, I am very particular about my music. Or, like when I'm playing guitar: I'm playing for me, not you, and you don't have to like my style or tone or equipment. Music is too precious and too personal to waste time worrying about others' opinions of what one prefers.
 
demo music depends on what property/capability is being scrutinized. testing tweeters with a bass track (techmaster p.e.b.) can be more revealing than listeners realize. speed and accuracy of lows are defined by highs otherwise its a boat load of mud, like the kids passing by with their 4 wheeled boomboxes.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/56684-Techmaster-PEB

using stevie ray vaughan "chitlins con carne" to evaluate high frequency response plus a systems panoramic ability as well as "room disappeared" type of imaging can be enjoyable. so many test tracks used at the shows are complete yuck, to each their own i guess. another stevie track is the more familiar "tin pan alley" although there are several versions. for dynamics testing i'd have to go with infected mushroom, shpongle and spoonbill although there are a few others in the sonic stress testing arsenal.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/804395-Spoonbill

the right music for the right job, finding it is a journey, enjoying it is an art.

what is music but the poetry of sound, who's creation is finite and appreciation infinite.
 
Bushikan said:
My question: Do you have music in your collection (specific SACDs, vinyl, etc.) whose quality as recordings you appreciate but whose musical quality you respect less—music that you use as test or demonstration music, but that you don’t particularly love or respect? I do.
Click to expand...
So do I, I even have material provided to speaker manufacturers Paradigm and ProAc as well as Focal (speakers and headphones tuning, Yamaha and Stax.) by both record companies and audio electronics suppliers back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. The sounds they produce range from sublime to horrendous. You can actually tell that Yamaha used the "Absolute Phase Linear Neutral Response" for their NS speakers. I can only describe the sound as dullest sonic artifacts ever heard in my life but perfect for cloaking nasty vocal impurities such as nasal whistling, micro-belching and excessive saliva yackiddy yucky noises that would otherwise get any announcer afflicted with those fired. Also I don't care for the opera but I have several of them for testing purposes because they do cover a lot musical ground. I like organ though, there's no better instrument than Bach played an enormous organ recorded in an immense, sonically sound Epicospalian or Roman Catholic cathedral (I have no religious preference, it's just that these denominations have the largest churches with the biggest cost-no-object organs in them) to test one's sub or sub-bass response of high-end headphones.

Apart from that most of the music I keep I do like, and the better the recording the better I like.
 
absolutely I find my self listening to music drawn by the sound quality alone. I can also listen to music and ignore the lyrics if I really like the rest of the production. If I want to test a system I could throw Fleetwood Mac on every time for the recording quality. The better your system the harder it becomes to satisfy that hi fidelity thirst.
 
RuffzGuts said:
If I want to test a system I could throw Fleetwood Mac on every time for the recording quality.
Click to expand...

Same. Fleetwood Mac rumours sounds great and its a pleasure to listen. I also have some Diana krall album, ot cause i like music but cause i like how good it sounds. But of course i also like to listen albums that sound awfull, but its So hard to listen..
 
I believe music quality trumps SQ in the sense that great music can be emotionally involving even on the proverbial “little red pocket transistor radio on the beach”.
I do believe though a really great sound system can impart that emotion with far more depth and emotional involvement. It’s proven out for me over the years culminating in the present.
 
Condorsat said:
Yes .. but I don't use those type of recordings to test my system. I test my audio system (new upgrades) on the music that I like to listen to on a daily basis. Usually a series of test tracks (play list) on Tidal that represents the type of music that I like.

Side note: I like Badfinger as well. The story of that band is really heartbreaking. :(
Click to expand...
Me too! So did George Harrison. Pete Ham's suicide in '75 left me dumbfounded. Go deep into some of their albums, there is some very good music buried in there.
I've got some YES albums that are clean, NM. Way back when, all we did was record them to cassette and play them in our car audio. They've been spun a few times but not many. Now that I have some gear, they just sound flat, dull, uninspiring. I doubt I will ever play them again, unless I can find a decent EQ
This has been the only drawback to nice gear, I knew it could happen, but had not experienced it until recently.
I like to play "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" for some bass definition. I've got 3 dogs and 2 of them go to the bedrooms if I play that one
 
JSanders2056 said:
Me too! So did George Harrison. Pete Ham's suicide in '75 left me dumbfounded. Go deep into some of their albums, there is some very good music buried in there.
I've got some YES albums that are clean, NM. Way back when, all we did was record them to cassette and play them in our car audio. They've been spun a few times but not many. Now that I have some gear, they just sound flat, dull, uninspiring. I doubt I will ever play them again, unless I can find a decent EQ
This has been the only drawback to nice gear, I knew it could happen, but had not experienced it until recently.
I like to play "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" for some bass definition. I've got 3 dogs and 2 of them go to the bedrooms if I play that one
Click to expand...

I don’t stream, so I don’t know what some music would sound like on my system through a great DAC and streamer; but on CD some music in my collection (my Badfinger greatest hits, among many others) has basically been retired not by me but by my Klipschorns. Taking no prisoners, those speakers are just too unforgiving. Sad when your rig just chews up and spits out music you like.
 
For testing new equipment or a rearranging of speakers…..
My go to rock blues songs are generally acoustic stuff from Eric Clapton, especially “Driftin” from the From the Cradle album. For jazz it is Jazz at the Pawnshop 30th Anniversary release on SACD/CD by proprius, PRSACD7879.
 
Bushikan said:
Do you have music in your collection (specific SACDs, vinyl, etc.) whose quality as recordings you appreciate but whose musical quality you respect less—music that you use as test or demonstration music, but that you don’t particularly love or respect?
Click to expand...
Yeah, one of my favourite test tracks is borderline techno (=should be run out of town along with C&W!)
Out of body experiance - rabbit in the moon(original!)
Good test of slam/pace/separation, you name it.
I appreciate how it's been written/mixed/recorded and tests the system to unpack and place everything, keep in mind this is a test track after rework, that said, I no interest in techno music.

just dave said:
I've never bought an album I didn't like because of sound quality.
Click to expand...
Due to limited funds, I play red book CD's(*), mostly picked up at the opshop for $1- not an excuse for some of the recordings I've come across from some big names from the 70's,80's 90's. There was one Police album that sounded extra awful, sadly a few others didn't get a second play.
(*) Picked up a Denon DP-57L, still need to kit it out with cart...
 
mbz said:
Yeah, one of my favourite test tracks is borderline techno (=should be run out of town along with C&W!)
Out of body experiance - rabbit in the moon(original!)
Good test of slam/pace/separation, you name it.
I appreciate how it's been written/mixed/recorded and tests the system to unpack and place everything, keep in mind this is a test track after rework, that said, I no interest in techno music.


Due to limited funds, I play red book CD's(*), mostly picked up at the opshop for $1- not an excuse for some of the recordings I've come across from some big names from the 70's,80's 90's. There was one Police album that sounded extra awful, sadly a few others didn't get a second play.
(*) Picked up a Denon DP-57L, still need to kit it out with cart...
Click to expand...
I have a Denon DP-62L which I believe is the same turntable,just the US version.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mbz
Bushikan said:
...because I like Badfinger, which supposedly cancels out my appreciation for Nina Simone and Chopin and Bill Evans and etc. etc.
Click to expand...

Lots and lots of us around AK know this expereince first hand, both among our AK membership (somewhat) and especially, in my case at least, in the world outside, say, AK. I have been asked, angrily even, how I can listen to (and profess to adore), say, Bathory, Slayer, Slipknot, et al, and yet listen to Puccini or Delta Blues or Steve Lacy, John Prine, etc. Ef 'em... I might listen to Donnie & Marie Osmond, lol. (I do in fact rather enjoy ABBA and The Bee Gees)
 
Mystic said:
I have been asked, angrily even, how I can listen to (and profess to adore), say, Bathory, Slayer, Slipknot, et al, and yet listen to Puccini or Delta Blues or Steve Lacy, John Prine, etc. Ef 'em...
Click to expand...
I understand this, people often scratch their heads while looking through my music. I am a head banger at heart but have very eclectic tastes.
 
GChief said:
I understand this, people often scratch their heads while looking through my music. I am a head banger at heart but have very eclectic tastes.
Click to expand...

Funny, I was writing my reply to the OP. I had you in mind as as an example of someone whose eclectic tastes in music have likely drawn ire and critique over the years.
 
I have a friend that I played music with that called me an enigma in part due to my eclectic taste in music. With streaming, these days I am likely to be listening to a French Canadian radio station, or one in Lagos or the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. You don't have to understand the language to appreciate good music.

When I first moved to Austin there was a radio program, Eklektikos, on the local public radio station. John Aielli was the host and he played an entertaining and eclectic blend of music mixed with interviews. The station as a whole broadened my musical horizons with its jazz, blues, oldies, Afropop, Latin and more programming. It was good stuff and I learned a lot. https://kutx.org/eklektikos/radio-legend-john-aielli-passes-away-at-76/

I went through a phase of listening to 78s - polkas, waltzes, gospel, pop (for the era), etc. The sound quality was terrible, but I most always enjoyed the music. To me, good music bests good fidelity, though I do appreciate a well recorded song/album.
 
Mystic said:
Lots and lots of us around AK know this expereince first hand, both among our AK membership (somewhat) and especially, in my case at least, in the world outside, say, AK. I have been asked, angrily even, how I can listen to (and profess to adore), say, Bathory, Slayer, Slipknot, et al, and yet listen to Puccini or Delta Blues or Steve Lacy, John Prine, etc. Ef 'em... I might listen to Donnie & Marie Osmond, lol. (I do in fact rather enjoy ABBA and The Bee Gees)
Click to expand...

My late father-in-law was an extremely lovable elitist snob with a dry, biting wit: the chief neurologist at his hospital, a classical pianist, a professor, a gourmand, and a wine, martini, film, literature, poetry, philosophy, music, and cigar enthusiast. With a few words he could judge, dismiss, and cut you off at the knees. And it took me a very long time to warm up to him and his wry sense of humor.

He also had a decent stereo (Marantz, B&O, Klipsch Chorus) in order to hear classical pipe organ, opera, Chopin, and especially Wagner. He only played on his piano and listened on his stereo to classical music (occasionally some jazz)—and only certain conductors, singers, musicians. He never suffered fools at all. He had no tolerance for bad taste or anything done unsatisfactorily. And he mostly was silent when something idiotic was said. He also never gave false praise. When he complimented you, he very seriously meant it.

But he and I eventually bonded over our Klipsch speakers, music, food, gin, poetry, literature, music, Seinfeld, writing, and philosophy; and he finally warmed up to me, especially, eventually, when I assisted with his and his wife’s increasing elder care.

He commended me for having Klipschorns and McIntosh tubes (he’d auditioned and respected McIntosh but thought that, though noticeably better, it was unnecessarily extravagant). He’d also had Boston’s Billy Bell (his local McIntosh and Klipsch, etc. audio dealer) to his home to see if his living room would accommodate Klipschorns without building false corners. It wouldn’t, so he got the Choruses. (I told him he should have at least splurged for the Klipsch Belles or Cornwalls.) He was certainly not an audiophile—but definitely an Anglophile, Francophile, Germanophile, and bibliophile. (He told me he spent the money he’d saved on audio equipment on his music and books.) However, he would make a horrified face and audible snort whenever he heard that we were listening to any music (Beatles? Ugh!!!) composed after 1945.

We inherited his small but excellent vinyl collection—which has very much impressed all the classical music buffs and musicians who have visited. (He was right when he said that my wife and I were probably too ignorant of classical music to appreciate fully what he had assembled.)

He once said: “Yes, you have a much better stereo than mine, but it’s wasted if you are listening not to music but to that awful noise.”

I miss him.
 
Last edited:
If you are listening only for sound quality instead of musical talent then you are dismissing decades of work by giants in the musical hierarchy whose works were recorded by inferior equipment. Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell……
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom