Using Bad Recording to Evaluate a System


Once I went to a dealer to audition a speaker, brought a few CD's. One of them was a CD of a group I like but has rather low quality recording.
Well, I put that CD in and cued up a track, and when the music ended the dealer asked why I was using such a horrible sounding recording to audition. (I think he looked kinda slightly pissed. Maybe because the music sounded shrill and irritating the whole time???)
Yeah, why?
Here's what I think: an audio system should make listening the music a pleasant experience. The better your system can reproduce, the more enjoyment you get regardless of recording quality. Saying that 'my system is so good I can only play my audiophile discs' is basically saying something is wrong with my system. Yes, nowadays I tend to play my 'audiophile' CDs much more than regular ones, but that's because of the music AND the excellent recording quality, but when I play my regular or lower recording quality CD's, I find that, although the shortcomings are more obvious, my system can reproduce the music as an enjoyable presentation, and I enjoy it more than when I used to in prev. lower-res/quality/musicality systems.
yr44

Showing 3 responses by jay_douglas_2879b79

most remastered recordings do contain changes and enhancements to the original recorded sides. equalization is the rule not the exception.
any great loudspeaker plays pretty much everything well. you have just exposed a poorly designed loudspeaker. you are right to do what you did. many will disagree but, but virtually most of the music worth owning is a far cry from audiophileville
jea48 has just hit the nerve. if your system is dictating the purchase of music based on sonic characteristics and not the material itself, your stereo is hi end in name and cost only.