I just realized, that my post I spoke about, being on another thread, was actually, on this one.....duh |
Orpheus10, it would be a shame, to not have you here. Your contributions have always been appreciated by me, even if I disagreed at times. On another thread, I put forth a question to the other posters. It went like this. " Given an opportunity to listen to a typical, junior high school jazz ensemble, in Carnegie Hall, with you being in the 1st 10 rows, OR, Miles Davis, with some of his quartet members, in an acoustic space, no better than an airport bathroom, which would you prefer ? ". I do not recall if anyone responded to me, but, without being disrespectful to the junior high band, I selected the MD quartet, not caring where they performed. Some of us, use the music, to listen to our equipment, and some of us, use the equipment, to better listen to the music. Most of my favorite music is compressed, to various degrees, such as Africa Speaks, ( actually, compared to being at a live, unamplified musical performance, once it hits the microphone, it is over ). I understand this, and feel, my system, allows me to hear more of the " music ", and I can pay less attention to the recording quality. All recordings, do not sound like a Chesky production ( it would be nice if they did ), but I know, many audiophiles, who ONLY listen to recordings, such as these. I can, and do, appreciate a recording, that is stellar in it’s recording production, but I will continue to listen to all of my recorded music, because it is all about the music. One last point. Many folks posting on this thread, feel their systems are the wonders of the audio community, but little do they know, the speakers they use, exhibit compression. Please, stick around, and see, all of the posters, who respond to my post here. Enjoy ! MrD. |
Well, I listened to Africa Speaks, again, in it's entirety, and what is amazing to me, unlike many here, I enjoyed the music, the playing, the melodies, the harmonies, the song structures, the interplay between the musicians, the creativity of what Carlos has put together, 50 years after his beginnings. My system allows musical flow, rhythm, agility, details, tone, coherence, and dynamics, to show through. My system disappears, with this, and many. Yes, it is a studio album, but all I can say, for those of you who do not give this masterpiece another go, is missing out on another Santana marvel. To not listen to music, because of some audiophile ignorance, is unfortunate. Enjoy ! MrD. |
This recording, is where, Santana is now, after 50 years of doing his thing. If you are a Santana fan, I would be surprised, if you do not like this, to some extent. If you do not like it, because : it is compressed; it is not " Africa " enough for you; or, you feel he " sold out " ( as some comments suggest ), well, you and I, listen to music, for different reasons. For those of you who are going to listen to it again, try, and not think so much. Enjoy ! MrD. |
The cd is selling on the Bay, new, for under $5, inclusive with shipping. I do not stream yet ( I am still looking into it ), but the cd, sounds good on my system. The music....., wow. I know it is a very processed studio album, but as I said many times in my posts, it is the music that matters, and Santana, being a favorite of mine for 50 years, did not let me down. Enjoy ! MrD. |
I am into dynamic range as much as the next person, likely more so. However, it is unfortunate, that many listeners who spend a considerable amount of money on audio gear ( my definition of an audiophile ), listen to recordings, putting the musical content, 2nd. If the sonics are not great, many listeners I know, will not play it. Coming from a live, un-amplified music background, the majority of recordings suffer from compression, over equalization, and so on. The recordings we buy, stream, whatever, will never be, anything like the real thing. However, I can still enjoy it all, because I put first, the musicianship, the artistry of the writing, of a piece of music, the arrangement, which is the ability, of putting it all together. This is a nice addition to my Santana catalog, and he, as far as I am concerned, has still " got it ". |
geoffkait, hello buddy....if you are suggesting that I not listen to my Rolling Stones, Beatles, Led Zep, Satriani, P.Floyd, Santana, Billy Joel, Journey, and so much more, because of a lack of dynamics, I can tell you, I would have very little to listen to. Yes, I have the Telarc’s, Chesky’s, Sheffield’s, etc., that have greater dynamic range, but even those, are far from the real thing. My Jazz collection on the Blue Note label, for example, is better in SQ, in most cases, but my listening is diverse, and I accept it all, as listening to music, " my way ", brings me the pleasure I am looking for. A great example of this, was mentioned by me, in another post. Would I rather listen to a newbie sax player, someone not very articulate, with his instrument, in an environment such as Carnegie, with me in the front row, or, would I opt for the playing, of say, someone such as John Coltrane ( this is an example, as he is deceased, fyi ), in an environment, that sounds like an airport bathroom. Let me see.....talent, or, acoustics ? I would rather listen to Coltrane, given the either / or, but yes, both would be nice. Recorded music, is what it is. And given my system has the ability to deliver dynamic range in all of it's glory ( I can connect mic's and guitars, using a mixer, and get closer to live ), as I doubt, many high end systems, would not handle this, and fall flat on their faces. I invite anyone to try it.......YMMV. Enjoy ! |
