I notice the differences in recordings much more as my system improves. Take the good with the bad. Doesn't mean a bad recording isn't an awesome song, concert etc. just enjoy that your ears can hear the difference.
Can a great system make a mediocre recording sound good?
I spend a lot of time searching for well produced recordings as they (of course) sound so good on my system (Hegel 160 + Linn Majik 140 speakers). I can't tolerate poor sounding recordings - regardless of the quality of the performance itself. I was at a high end audio store yesterday and the sales person took the position that a really high-end system can make even mediocre recordings sound good. Agree?
123 responses Add your response
I notice the differences in recordings much more as my system improves.
Better systems tend to have wider bandwidth, but mediocre recordings don't, and here lies the problem. Playing back recordings which favour the midrange ie most pop, on a wide bandwidth system is unlikely to lead to satisfaction. Not when the sound is getting pulled apart and brutally exposed. Those recordings tend to sound better on systems which favour the midrange. I suspect this is also part of the reason why small speakers like the classic LS3/5 remain so popular. Virtually any recording will sound good on them. |
Not really, you may just experience a higher degree of "not greatness." I have found however, it can cut a little both ways. Several recordings that I thought sounded pretty good went kind of flat while others that had sounded dull took on a new life after I changed gear... As a wise person wrote above "upgrade at your own risk" Still, there are many happy surprises...
I just had my amplifier so upgraded that it is essentially new except for the case, and a new pair of speakers so I know what your going through. Yes, the "room" sound plays a big part but I think you know that already. I have had many GREAT improvements by doing simple tweaks, like Tip Toes and fuses etc. Try some of those if you haven't already. There are a ton of inexpensive and DIY solutions that can make a big difference. Don't throw out your amp just yet... And of course price doesn't equal performance. It's a lot of previewing and seeing if all the gear talks to each other well.
All the best on your search for musical enjoyment!! |
One of the traps that we audiophiles fall victim of is that we often do not prioritize the musical merits (performance values) of a recorded performance as the focal point of the listening experience. Instead, we focus on the “sound” of that recording and then, if only subconsciously, compare and judge the quality of that sound relative to what is possible…the sound of the truly great sounding recordings. So, as one’s system evolves and becomes more truly transparent the sound of deficient recordings may be perceived as “worse” because the sound of truly great recordings has been revealed to be even better than previously thought. The bar has been raised, but this doesn’t mean that the sound of poor recordings is now “worse”. For me, taken on their own merits (and with some exceptions as pointed out by mikelavigne and others) “poor” recordings can often sound better on a truly great system; in great part because more of the musical details of a good performance will invariably be revealed. |
The best audio system is not revealing "per se" ... Revealing of what? Details? A good audio system reveal the WHOLE through the parts and the PARTS through the whole... Focusing on microdetails for their sake is the opposite of a good sound...It is fatiguing and not musical... Many costly system in bad room sound like microscope... I prefer my 500 bucks system in my audio room... ROOM Acoustic rule, not details or sounds plankton coming from gear ability to be a microscope for the ears... I listen musicians not details... |
A lot of complexity in this question. In my mind there are 2 fundamental different ways to listening to music on a reproduction system: 1) you can listening to the musical idears ("Hey listen to that baseline. Listen how she waits a quarter note before she ends on the G") an 2) you a listening to The Illusion of the performance ("Now listening carefully how the the instrument behind the guitar moved back a little and suddenly separate! You hear it's a clarinet?") Both ways of listening will improve when you upgrade, but only the latter is critical. |
A rising tide lifts all boats. A better system makes it sound better, but doesn't give the illusion of a well mastered recording. And if played right after a well mastered one, the difference can be striking until your ear adjusts. Agree that the system should be geared to get the best out of music, and not to serve as a demo for audiophile recordings. |
It is not so simple... Why?
Because there is the sound perception, And with it the musical evaluation...
When the recording is "bad", you lost many information which are confused and missing ...But in a very good audio system in a very well controlled room, you will, you easrs/brain will decipher more acoustical cues from the recording and with the help of the room acoustic control, the recording improved acoustic translation will reveal a bit "more" about the way the recording is flawed and what is missing or confused... Then the recording will not be perceived to be more merely only mediocre but in the opposite more "interesting" and more informational acoustically .... Then you will forget more easily the acoustic because your music evaluation will be more easy... A good system ONLY in an ordinary room perhaps will make mediocre recording more mediocre why? Because good audio systen in uncontrolled room are often too much "analysing" and the acoustical details kill the musical forest... But the same system in a controlled and well treated room relatively to it, will reveal more about soundstage, imaging, dynamic, timbre perception and even the ratio LEV/ASW will be better... Then your attention will focus more easily on the music ... The acoustic perception being improved, musical evaluation will become easier...
Then in conclusion: If an audio system made mediocre recording always worst, of two things one : your system is too analytic or badly flawed or of your system is good but the room is not well treated nor well mecanichally controlled and tuned for this specfic audio system....A good system in a bad room is easily harsh sounding, or too analytic, too resolving and not enough in phase with the room acoustic bass will not be ideal nor clear for example etc....
In a word, a good system in a well optimized room dont make "bad" recording good one, but make "bad" recording " interesting" one, more easy to decipher then it will be way more easier for your focus and attention to shift on the music forgetting what is distorted information only or missing in the sound...
|
I’ be been puzzling over this for years. One thing to help is to remember everyone on the other side, engineers, mixers, etc have all the control over this ‘Art’ they create. However, they can compromise for their perceived audience. Like any Art, a movie may be perfect for the cinema, but viewed from home may lack engagement or miss subtleties. If you can build your system toward coherence, soundstaging and try to get the bass right, then most recordings sound great. Some reveal real surprises, much as the artists intended. If the system is too imbalanced it can misemphasizes all those subtleties as irritants which is indeed hard to listen to. Most of these are dimensional cues and reverberations of the instruments, most ‘good sounding’ recordings isolate everything to remove any unwanted reverberations then add it back artificially. Musicians in a real room and all those reverberations actually sound good, so almost all blues and jazz and classical sounds fine. Rock is the culprit. A car for example may be a good place to listen to that stuff because there’s so much competition you tend not to focus in those subtleties which make it more enjoyable. |
I think I said the same thing as @mahgister ha! |
Yes we are on the same page...But you dont said exactlky the same thing... But you add something very important which is one of the reason i did not listen rock music or pop... Unnatural studio mixing sound... Then my observation from my last post was lacking this very important observation of yours that has nothing to do with the relation between an audio system and the room : the unnatural mixing technique in popular music... i forgot that most people listen much rock/pop ... 😁😊 You reminded me, and you are right to do so, that rock/pop is not classical nor jazz acoustically speaking... I do not thought about that because i never listen rock/pop at all... 😁😊 My post is an example of a statement which cannot be completely right and can be misleading because we dont listen all and everyone the same music genre...Then i correct here my last post because it can be acoustically misleading... Then i will rewrite my post adding this : If some "bad" recording sound worst after you improve a piece of gear or the relation with the room, it is because gear or the relation with the room is not optimal at all... But my observation is valid to all "naturally" recorded music with not much mixing... In the case of pop/rock i dont think that my system room will improve a "bad" recording at all, in the contrary they will be worst, because it is the "bad" tricks of the mix which will become more disturbinglay audible in rock/pop music instead of the "natural" acoustical cues which are always improved by an optimized system/room relation in the case of a jazz or classical record album... In this case only, "bad" recording may sound more acoustically interesting instead of worse when we improved the relation between the system/room....There is way less mixing imbalance to disturb our listening in jazz and classical...Almost all instruments are acoustical instruments not electrical one save by exception... Then thanks for your post very important correction about mine... All musical genres are not acoustically equal indeed.... my best to you ...
|
In a word: heavily mixed music (rock/pop) badly recorded cannot be redeem in any way... In case of jazz and classical, the first lived acoustical perspective, even if badly recorded, can be improved and made acoustically interesting by improving this second acoustical perspective : your room/system translation ... |
