Yes, the DR looked good but I guess it is the BMG SQ that is the problem.
Discogs looks to be European (GB) based. Any issues with high shipping costs to U.S.?
Also, I did not explore but Discogs does not seem to have SQ ratings or reviews.
The Steve Hoffman site has been recommended for that sort of thing. I may need to so a search there too. |
That could get expensive.
I can see how someone might enjoy that. I have no interest in paying for and sorting through bad recordings. |
That makes things complicated...in other words, if that is not the problem, then what is?
The implication is that you can consult the dynamic range data base and pick out the fullest dynamic representation but that alone, of course, doesn't say anything else about the whole package, the overall SQ.
And to me that is frustrating. I have a handful of CDs that are so sonically appealing that the actual song itself isn't as critical. In other words, they aren't among my all time favorites but they are so well recorded and presented on the format (CD) that they are a joy to listen to. A few that come to mind: Aja by Steely Dan, The Soul Cages by Sting, Dire Straits by Dire Straits, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
I want that in all of my CDs. So when it comes to an album like Achtung Baby which contains some of my favorite individual songs, it is disappointing when the SQ is not as compelling as I would like it to be. Then what? How many CDs do I have to buy before finding one with that SQ.....assuming it exists. Maybe it doesn't.
And then maybe it is juts a matter of taste in regard to SQ? A certain way I want stuff to sound? Maybe U2 didn't want it to sound the way I want it to. That may be it. It seems ponderously bass heavy and I know that has been a trend over the decades. Maybe I've just fallen out of love with that take on popular music. I certainly hear, and do not like, the loudness pumped into a number of recent CDs....but not this one per se.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. I appreciate the thoughts on the matter.
I'll give this CD another listen or two. Maybe it just needs a little more volume to tighten up....I'll have to wait for my wife to go out and crank it up. |
djones, my memory is from the original release but it is also from low end audio gear so I think that has less to do with it than some of the measuring stick CDs I listed above.
lowrider, I need to spend more time at the Steve Hoffman site. However it seems that it isn't organized purely for looking stuff up. You have to dig into the various very large threads. But, I'll figure it out.
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I joined the Steve Hoffman site and posted about this. There seems to be a consensus that this is just how that album was produced.
It seems like I remember hearing that U2 was influenced (among other things) by electric dance music which is, from the little I've heard, totally bass driven to the point that the bass has an atmospheric quality. So maybe that explains things.
Clearly my taste has grown away from bass heavy music. I can tolerate it as long as it is distinguishable. On the first two tracks of this album you can't differentiate the kick drum over the bass guitar and the bass guitar notes are hardly distinguishable one from another.
Its a shame. I think the songs on this album are great and the lyrics are simply incredible on almost every song. Maybe one of my favorite albums in terms of lyrics. Just amazing. But now I don't really want to listen on my new system.
I guess I can still enjoy it in the car on with ear buds while on my tractor. |
Hey, thanks for the help. That clears everything up. |
Thanks gosta. Although I am a new audiophile and don't have a lot to compare my system to in regard to other equipment, I understand that the system I have is decent. (Audio Research LS16 tubed line stage, Proceed HPA2 amp (Mark Levinson) and Aerial Acoustics 7B tower speakers.
Reviews of the LS16 and the speakers suggest that they are not bass heavy.
I do not hear the system as bass heavy with other recordings. Just the opposite sometimes. In other well recorded media (Aja by Steely Dan) I would say the bass is perfect for me. I'd even use the word luscious.
Anyway, there is a chance that it is just a matter or my taste having changed I guess. |
It seems odd to me that it requires a better speaker to cope with what by all accounts is a CD that is not particularly well produced (comparatively). It seems to me (but I am a beginner) that everything in the chain has to be at a certain quality level to achieve optimum SQ.
But, maybe SQ is not the right term. This CD might have the exact SQ U2 was after but the SQ they were after is what you would hear in a giant room full of dancing people with throbbing, pulsing base where subtlety has no place. And that's just not my taste anymore. And worse, I hear people talk of 'listening fatigue' and that seems to be the effect I get from this album.
Anyway, my speakers seem to be in the right position for well produced sources like Aja, Dire Straits, Wish You Were Here, Hemispheres (Rush) and the bulk of what I listen to, including a number of classical pieces like Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 for organ with its literally room shaking bass that is still clear and precise.
My speakers weigh #120 pounds and are on spikes. I could try to get them even further out from the wall but that seems like a lot of trouble.
I am also not in this hobby as a pursuit of anything greater than what I already have. So the equipment I have is all there is going to be. So I'm stuck with U2 as they are as well I'm afraid.
But, one afternoon when I its rainy outside and my wife isn't home I might just attempt an Achtung Baby system tune up and move those speakers around and even some furniture!
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I only have one recording of the Saint-Saens but it is the Telarc with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Will look into Budgie. Thanks. |
Audio Research LS16 tubed line stage, Madrigal Proceed HPA2 amp, Transparent balanced cables, Aerial Acoustics 7B tower speakers with Transparent Super BiWire cables. Basic Sony CDP. |
I was able to get a few minutes in my listening room-turned-refugee-camp and socks in the rear facing bass ports helps a good deal. Without the I did not even want to listen to this album.
Aerial Acoustics actually makes a 'plug' for the bass ports for situations like mine but I suspect a pair of socks works just as well....and at least one professional reviewer agrees.....
I'm not saying it made things perfect but it is a lot better.
Ideally I'd be able to move the speakers further out from the corners but it simply is not practical......plus they sound great right where they are for most of my other music. |
An idea occurred to me. I really can't move my speakers much further out from the wall than they already are and moving 120# speakers just for one album is kind of nuts. But, the bass ports on the Aerial Acoustic 7Bs is in the back. I may try putting a sock on the bass ports to see if that will un-muddy things a little on the bass end.
Will report results later....maybe much later. My son and his girlfriend are 'refugees' from Florence and are at my house now so my listening room is now my son's bedroom. |
Have been a Guess Who fan for years and even bought some Burton Cummings 45s when I was a kid, 'Stand Tall' being one of them. Was crazy about Bachman Turner Overdrive when I was a kid. Randy Bachman was a former member of the Guess Who. I think the first LP I ever bought was Not Fragile by BTO.
Will look back into the Guess Who as I have no music from them or BTO right now. |
obergaiman, thanks for the response. I have not listened to this CD much since I posted this thread. Will have some time this afternoon to play around with speaker position and blocking the rear facing bass ports. Will have to mark current speaker position because it is just right for virtually everything else. |
I plugged the rear bass ports again. The first time I did this I thought it made things better and maybe it did help with the droning quality of the bass but it also created an overall flatness that I did not like.
Decided not to bother hefting 130# speakers around.
However, with the wife not here I cranked up the volume, higher than I've had this system before....and it does help some....but not very practical.
geoff, I think I will look for that CD and give it a try if I can find it cheap. |
