How Science Got Sound Wrong

Doom and gloom......stop and smell the roses.

Records were a very good innovation for delivering sound as accurately as possible with the technology available in the 1950s, almost 70 years ago.

Lots has been done to squeeze the most possible out of that inherently old technology since resulting in very expensive players that go to great ends to manage the faults and inaccuracies inherent in the system. Meanwhile quality of vinyl records continues to vary widely as it always has, but cost more than ever.

Regarding accuracy, modern digital streaming is leaps and bounds beyond that. Way more people have access to very accurate sound these days, more accurate than most anyone would ever need, than ever for very modest cost.

What sounds best to each individual is still as always up in the air, what sounds good to someone is not the same as what is accurate.

Thank you science and technology!

atdavid,

You should apologize for being so knowledgeable and taking the time sharing it with others here. Some people seem to find it offensive. Maybe even scary. Or maybe just jealousy. 
Try humoring them by saying something nice about expensive fuses. 
Or just stick to your guns and que sera sera.  

Thus spoke  Debbie Downer. 

Agree the dynamic range dB may well be quite accurate overall and is a useful reference  but the measurements there alone are not a reliable guide to quality recordings. 

Loudness wars make it harder to listen to a recording loud without distortion.
Most people don’t care of their loud music is distorted and never have. 
But audiophiles do. High end systems used to just have to handle short bursts of loudness known as dynamic peaks. Now many recordings are similarly loud pretty much throughout. Amplifiers must deliver continuous power and often current to do the job right... it’s no longer just periodic dynamic peaks. Speakers have to toughen up to to play louder more without compressing.
So you can see how loud recordings raise the bar when it comes to ability to deliver accurate reproduction with minimal distortion which is what good sound is largely about.
Now whether these recordings sound good or not reproduced properly is still a matter of preference but I will argue the system has to be able to play the game before one can properly assess how the recording sounds.

I’d assert many of these these loud recordings are inherently god awful. Whereas many others are quite good, played well.
Pretty much like all recordings in general.
However, low quality, low power amps driving inefficient speakers more than ever need not even apply.

How Science Got Sound Wrong

Let me guess.   People who know nothing about science trying to take over?