Everything is relative. Comparing CD to cassettes, for instance, I find cassettes more dynamic, more entertaining/musical, more full bodied and more raw. I will listen to CDs on occasion, however.
Showing 6 responses by geoffkait
"And one day (we'll all probably be dead by then) I predict an entirely new, as yet unimagined way of reproducing music will emerge, rendering our present digital universe obsolete." If Sony's recent opening of a record production plant in Germany is any indication I'd say vinyl might render our present digital universe obsolete. |
Jafreeman That loudness war compilation of good and bad dynamic range does not square with many of the CDs I feel sound very good in my system. Don’t let it throw you off something you want--have to listen to it. I agree, sort of. For example, Dylan’s Modern Times sounds very good - clear, musical and the playing is great. But it’s dynamic range is quite compressed according to the official dynamic range database. It’s a subtle thing sometimes, but when you hear a CD that has very good dynamic range, you know it. It hits you in the face. And there are other aspects of sound to admire: frequency response, transparency, air, etc. so dynamic range might not necessarily be a deal breaker. |
tostadosunidos geoffkait, do you mean that new music on CD is more compressed than before or that new releases of old music (say, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s) is more compressed than previous CD releases? Here’s the deal. The industry began overly compressing (reduced dynamic range) CDs about 20 years ago for whatever reason. All CDs are a little compressed, everything is relative. But as time went on more and more CDs were being overly compressed, especially remastered CDs, as well as new issues of CD such as Stones and Dylan and Radiohead and many others. Also new releases of LPs are often but not always overly compressed, as well as some but not all SACDs and Blu Ray and hi res downloads. You can look into these statement at the Official Dynamic Range Database which now has something like 100,000 entries. Check it out! http://dr.loudness-war.info |