REAL MUSIC VS. SHOW MUSIC PERFORMANCE AT AUDIO SHOWS. PRESENTATION V. PERFORMANCE? WHY?


One of the things that I have noticed is the kind of music being played to show system performance.  Full disclosure I’m with Infigo Audio. But as an audiophile I think it is important to hear your music in these systems.  Which means non hi rez stuff.  Stuff you would listen to in your system at home. I try to play everything at shows to show our performance.  Some systems to me are all presentation not as much performance. I play funk rock pop classical jazz folk R&B as well as test track to show what a system can do across a genres.  I think it is important to show that a system can perform on all materials. Some systems look good in presentation and sound great on hi rez and test tracks but are not musical involving and may not actually perform well across genres. Thoughts ?

calvinj

Showing 4 responses by tylermunns

One time I listened to a limited edition pressing of Reign in Blood by Slayer at the record store listening station. It sounded spectacular on the store’s mid-fi cartridge/TT/receiver/headphone system. Full, rich, accurate, clear, deep, powerful.
I brought it home to my high-end system and it sounded surprisingly bad; lacking in cohesion/warmth/power, tinny.

I agree that not everyone listens to music that the stereotypical audiophile considers “good sound” (I assume this type of recording is what you’re referring to as ‘high rez’). There are a pile of cliches in this regard.  
I listen to everything. Thusly, I want everything to sound good on my system. I agree that if I was at such an audio show, not only would being subject to Diana Krall, Kind of Blue, Eva Cassidy, Brothers in ArmsAja et. al for the trillionth time make me ill, but I would also want to hear a far wider range of music.

 


 

What if you played a diverse batch of songs, each in the 96/192/DSD range, and also sprinkled in a batch of stylistically divergent songs below said rate? The latter could be done with a preface of, “those were hi rez tracks, this one is only (blank)”

I’m sorry, but what are these “hi rez” recordings you refer to?  
(I understand ‘hi rez’ means high resolution)

It’s business. Good business knows what the customer wants and does their best to deliver it.  
Right or wrong, most audiophiles want to hear a certain kind of music. It sure as hell ain’t my music, but I wouldn’t expect such to be played at an audio show because I know what to expect in that situation.
I think the suggestion I made above seems fair in addressing the concerns of those who feel certain music and certain sample rates/bit depths are underrepresented at such shows.