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We are doomed

barkerd

barkerd

Super Member
I teach. Getting ready for the Valentines dance totally left me flabbergasted. The kids are in charge of sourcing the music and they came to me with a bunch of mp3's ripped from youtube. I don't know what the bitrate is but its BAD .....so I said to the kids "do you hear that"? ...(the compression echo/warble coming off of the female vocalist's voice) ... they looked at me like I was crazy.....after "A-B-ing" the same song in high bitrate mp3 (I happened to have) versus the youtube version about 3 or 4 times .... and explaining EXACTLY what I was hearing ... 1 of the 4 kids "thought" she heard what I was describing.......

It can't be "thats what they are used to hearing" ... because anybody's ear can be trained ..... what gives? ... the other kids honestly did not hear a difference

"we are doomed" .... if this is the level of audio sophistication of the next generation ..... we are doomed
 
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There is hope. At least for some I think. I am assuming the kids you speak of are either Jr. High or High School age. At that same age my kids did not know good audio reproduction from a hole in their head. Today my 21 year old son (and several of his friends, due to his influence) have started getting into quality audio reproduction. My son told me today he no longer cares about playing the music loud. He wants quality. There is hope.
 
I agree. You reference what you are use to. Every reason why I take my 7 year old daughter to my listening room to have quality time with her daddy. Hearing superlative sound at a young age (I hope) will imprint on her and in the future, she will not accept compressed, shitty, poorly recorded.... It all starts young.
 
I'm curious to know what age the kids were.

My 17 yr old took his buddies in to my room while I was out to listen to their music, a Skrillix CD (dubstep genre) I bought my son for Christmas. He said they were playing it pretty loud and he looked at all his friends and they were just sitting there with mouths open because it sounded so much different than the car stereos they usually play on. They're not big into earbuds.
But I don't expect that any of them will go get a decent stereo.
 
Admittedly ; these kids were 14-15 ...I sure am hoping that their "hearing" improves ....... my punchline was going to be : " the difference between the youtube rip and the mp3 is the difference I hear between mp3's and what I listen to" .... but it wouldn't have had any punch considering they could not hear the difference ...
 
barkerd--
I theorize that many of our youth have simply damaged their hearing already. It's just not possible to hear a vehicle's audio system 500ft away with the windows up and not have considerable aural damage occurring. But that would be mostly limited to the 16+ crowd with licenses I guess. OTOH, maybe our youth just need to experience hi-fidelity a couple times so they know what they are missing. So you are "teaching" in another way I guess. Just a couple of thoughts............
 
barkerd said:
I teach. Getting ready for the Valentines dance totally left me flabbergasted. The kids are in charge of sourcing the music and they came to me with a bunch of mp3's ripped from youtube. I don't know what the bitrate is but its BAD .....so I said to the kids "do you hear that"? ...(the compression echo/warble coming off of the female vocalist's voice) ... they looked at me like I was crazy.....after "A-B-ing" the same song in high bitrate mp3 (I happened to have) versus the youtube version about 3 or 4 times .... and explaining EXACTLY what I was hearing ... 1 of the 4 kids "thought" she heard what I was describing.......

It can't be "thats what they are used to hearing" ... because anybody's ear can be trained ..... what gives? ... the other kids honestly did not hear a difference

"we are doomed" .... if this is the level of audio sophistication of the next generation ..... we are doomed
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I see this in every person that could care less about "what" they're listening to and care more about "who" they're listening to. I can play the highest bitrate my computer can pass (24/192 upsamples) and if it isn't the latest artists or a particular type of music (whether it be heavy or country or pop) they could care less. It's as if they are forcing themselves to follow blindly as if that's all they've ever heard. I play my son (18 years old) all kinds of music and always have, and he's still resistant to certain pop styles (Beatles, etc.) in lieu of heavier groups. The quality means little; I have gotten him to recognize higher bitrates but the convenience of mp3 trumps any benefit, even the one he recognizes. I feel we are doomed as well, but for me I feel somewhat vindicated as my son's been doing some roadie work for some friends of his that have a band, and the lead singer/guitarist has an awareness of high bitrate and may find some influences soundwise from his contemporaries. I've maintained a musical emvironment for him since 1993 when he was born and I haven't let prevailing attitudes corrupt him to the point that he wouldn't at least listen and see the difference. He's ADHD so I can blame a lot of what shapes hs thinking on the fact that he simply has trouble focusing on details as fine as differences in SQ when the music itself can distract him. I'm not so concerned that I'd give up on him, it's just that I don't consult him much when testing formats and gear. If he pipes up I know I've hit upon something. I'm counting on the fact that he's getting influenced by the band he's working for. I'd like to see him develop his position within the band into audio tech, but I realize that it's a long shot if he isn't striving for the best possible SQ for them. Then he can develop a sense of what makes one thing sound better for whatever reason. If he realizes that that's what the band's actually striving for he can pick up that urge to help them improve if he wants to remain involved. All for one, one for all, like that.:yes:
 
We are doomed. I was recently chatting about music with a number of my staff who are all their late 20s or early 30s. I was complaining about finding certain CDs that are out of production and how the quality of my kids' iTunes is worse than I expected. I mentioned vinyl and I had to explain what that meant to a few. One blurted out that CDs are history and to stop my search. Another thought I was exaggerating about the low quality of iTunes. Someone else asked why it was so important to me. But the best line was "don't sweat it, all you need is YouTube"!
 
Funny you should mention this. There is a fellow at work (in his mid twenties) who _only_ listens to music via Youtube. Brags on his $1.00 a pair earbuds (he buys them by the case because they fall apart at a very rapid pace).

I have tried to get in involved in quality reproduction but he won't have it. Says it's "uncool" not to like Youtube as your music source.

Yes, there will always be a few young 'ens who can listen properly but I do believe they are getting fewer and farther apart.

.
 
pffft! None of my peers in school knew good sound either. They all had crappy one piece all in one systems bought at JC Penny's or something like that. But yea I know what you mean.
 
I have had the same experiences with my students, they don't seem to recognize or care about sound quality. A lot of the music they listen to is so compressed to start with that the medium almost makes no difference. And very few even have a stereo at home, just an ipod with tiny ear buds. I think we are a dying breed.
 
When I was a kid (60's and 70's) lots of kids had transistor radios, boom boxes, maybe a Longines clock radio in their rooms. Most of their parents, mine included, had console stereos that sounded pretty decent. I had a small Panasonic all-in-one setup when I was in junior high. None of us knew what real audiophile sound was about, none of us understood that there was a higher power, a better sound. Most people don't have the patience or the ear for a nice set-up. Wether or not you think you got through to any of them some of them will remember what you taught them. I guess I feel that Youtube is the transistor radio of our times. It's easy and convenient and it's all about instant gratification, not sound. In many ways things haven't changed much and a small percentage of the population will always seek out audiophile quality sound.
 
We are not doomed. Let them pay the ridiculous prices for their crap--less competition for us looking for the good stuff. And the bands, producers, and labels not lucky enough to be endowed by Rolling Stone and the rest of the media moguls will seek us out, those who have more than 99 cents to appreciate their craft. On a side note, Rock band and Guitar Hero have made the old new, and the Stones are still touring.
 
131east23 said:
When I was a kid (60's and 70's) lots of kids had transistor radios, boom boxes, maybe a Longines clock radio in their rooms. Most of their parents, mine included, had console stereos that sounded pretty decent. I had a small Panasonic all-in-one setup when I was in junior high. None of us knew what real audiophile sound was about, none of us understood that there was a higher power, a better sound. Most people don't have the patience or the ear for a nice set-up. Wether or not you think you got through to any of them some of them will remember what you taught them. I guess I feel that Youtube is the transistor radio of our times. It's easy and convenient and it's all about instant gratification, not sound. In many ways things haven't changed much and a small percentage of the population will always seek out audiophile quality sound.
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This is true. Some of my older friends' audio nirvana is a more brighter sounding console, if you know what I'm getting at. My totally hip 14 year old rebel step-son has somehow rendered the old school Yamaha setup totally unrecognizable in terms of sound. I had a boombox and one of those all-in -ones and knew that there was better.
 
dnewma04 said:
97 out of 100 people have never cared about sound quality and I don't see this ever changing.
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That about sums it all up. It's whatever they've been "Told" to listen to. Advertising is a very powerful force in their lives. Just look at the t-shirts they wear. And "Pink" on their butts....

When I taught high school I'd see them splitting the earbuds with a friend. And when I mentioned 'stereo' a few times they had NO CLUE what I was referring to.

But that 3% is what gives me hope. I'd wager that AK is a 3-percenter population!
 
I'm 19 and while I have many friends that are musically talented and do care about sound quality and have their ears to hear it, I know a lot more people my age that don't care or just can't hear the difference. It's also not uncommon to see people my age listening to music from the speaker in their smartphone. :no:
 
I have at least half a dozen stereo systems set up in the house, some vintage (my preference by far) and some new. My three kids have no interest whatsoever. I have been told that I should feel very lucky to not have to share. Perhaps there is an upside to this generation's lack of interest to our hobby.
 
Tapehead47 said:
But that 3% is what gives me hope. I'd wager that AK is a 3-percenter population!
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Occupy Beats is coming after all you 3 percenters :D

Hi fidelity has always been a tiny slice of the pie. As cruddy as some of today's mass electronics is, its still much better than it's 60's and 70's counterparts. The good old days are now. High end new gear has never been better, and outstanding values abound in used gear that's almost as good.

We are still doomed, however. Our sun will die in about 4 billion years, and we will be gone long before that. The bright side is that all those bad you tube rips, even if they survive long enough, will eventually be consumed as the Earth is engulfed by the sun.
 
The other piece of the discussion is that they probably all think we are the oddities, and we are. most people have their thing, stereos are here. My dad is a car guy and restores cars as a hobby. When he finishes one, he is appalled when someone doesn't appreciate it but no matter how many times I tell him that most people consider cars purely transportation, he is still shocked that many people dont see the beauty in cars.
 
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