HIFI and poor recordings (coping)

General Discvssions & Theory/Vnderstanding
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I actually started this thread to discuss some odd behavior I’ve noted in myself.

I relatively commonly listen to less than ideal recording (it’s probably most of my library), and occasionally down right bad recordings. My system isn’t overly kind to some of these, but I enjoy them and listen to them anyway, certainly doesn’t stop me enjoying the music.

However I do find if I listen to a couple of terrible recordings, I am compelled to go find a good recording and listen to it, often rediscovering just how good my system sounds. As a result there are a number of albums that have disproportional numbers of plays even though the music itself might not be my favorites.

I was just wondering if others had similar rituals.

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Yes it’s still beneficial imo, hearing things in their full shitty glory enhances the experience in a way

You have to listen to poor recordings to really appreciate the good ones lol

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I’m only starting to discover how crappy some of my library is, whether because of being poorly recorded or because it’s a low quality rip. I’m generally too lazy to track when they come up at random, though, so they just keep coming up and I keep skipping through them when I hit my threshold for trying to listen through it. Bob Marley seems to be one that I commonly end up skipping through some of. Love the music, but seemingly lots of bad recordings.

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I really enjoy allot of older blues and Jazz. Some pretty old blues in particular. It sometimes hurts to listen to it but I grit through it for a few songs and move on to pieces that are of newer recordings and simply better sound quality. I think a few of my quirks in my equipment choices are because of my choices in some of this old music. Good to know I’m not the only one that grits through and enjoys pieces whose quality is lacking for different reasons.

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I listen to The Weeknd a lot and most of his music is not mixed well at all. His most recent album is an OK mix at best

Short answer yes. Usually I find well mixed music to listen to after hearing something that’s not done well

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Couldn’t agree more.

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This is something I’m really starting to take a liking to, lo-fi/poor recordings and the lot. Something raw about them that accentuates blemishes and beauties of certain mixes.

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So on Tidal I’ve heard really bad remastered recordings where I thought dude what is this bullshit.

Listen to Sade-Smooth operator as a remaster.
The original sounds so damn better and more authentic than remastered recordings.

But there were also good remaster recordings where I said hats off.
I’m trying to get into the habit of searching for the original recording instead of the remastered version when I expand the playlist.

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Poor recordings but a song you love? That’s what the car stereo is for!

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The Bronx had 2 decent recorded albums then their 3rd is just thin rattle before getting good again. That album has some of my favorite songs but at times all i can think of is the bad quality.

The mariachi albums are good though.

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I like a lot of older music and have some pretty old vinyl too, one or two are even mono recordings. I have specifically bought gear to listen to these! I tend to use the HE400i 2020 on the Audio GD R2R 11. More resolving gear makes older things sound harsh and, well, bad. These two mimic the gear that older recordings were intended to be heard on enough that it smooths them out, enhances the bass and makes them live again.

Something a lot of people are unaware of is how audio listening technology has affected music sound. I am thinking of things like how the crooner style of the 40s was designed to be kind to valve based radios - too much treble and the valves would pop quicker - or how vinyl encouraged electric guitar music as it enhanced a more v-shaped and grainy sound. With the mass adoption of cds and now digital downloads music became more layered and detailed in the mids and trebles and now with young people listening more and more on small devices like phones modern popular music is all about the trebles and mids as bass sounds will be largely unheard.

It all makes for an interesting puzzle for how you listen if you have an unhealthy interest in such things (Hi, my name is Gothique and I am an audiophile) This is my reason for having more than one headphone and amp - I like discovering which pairings match which music!

For example apart from the above pairing my Geshelli E2 with the DT880 is wonderful for older classical recordings, chamber music and electronic music. The RNHP with Elegia or HD660s absolutely excels with melodic music, jazz, rap and vocals. My Whammy and those two is perfect with good quality guitar music, orchestral music, bassier electronic, hip hop.

That’s my ritual I guess then. I listen to the same track on different gear and decide which one I feel enhances my listening the most and then squirrel that knowledge away to enjoy again next time I want to listen to it.

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They put quite a lot of effort into such things, but if they enjoy it, why not?
When we talk about audio technology, we have to add that streaming providers and manufacturers are also somewhat to blame for the fact that certain recordings are worse than ever.
And they should have been left untouched.

Why I say that is easy to explain, because of all the trying and offering, the customer has been led to believe that it is right, which in reality is not the case.
To give you some examples, DSD was or is still halfway usable.
But the rest with Mqa, 3D audio, remastering etc. is simply deceptive, even if they are only audio formats.
On the manufacturer side I see more the blame on clueless companies Samsung,Apple,Bose,also Sennheiser etc. have paved the way for making a lot of things sound wrong just to emphasise certain details better.and to sell them outrageously with a lot of marketing.
Especially with headphones that were not even worth making.
Then we have several gaming manufacturers like Logitech,Turtlebeach,Corsair ect who are also involved in this.
Offering plastic headphones that cost maybe $10 to make and then selling them at outrageous prices was a lot of marketing.
And is already harmful to the hearing.

The other and ugly side I see is the record industry, which even today can’t get its neck full of wanting to make cash.
They are just as involved in the misery where only greed reigns.
Why do they still charge money for Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and many other artists who perhaps only made one hit song?
The songs are no longer interesting for many people, not even my father, who is over 70, listens to them.

In the end you can only say who doesn’t want all that better buys vinyl or cd’s at a good price.there is a lot to find on the second hand market and it’s yours.

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This kills me. Every time. :rofl:

Ive ripped 10,000s of my own tracks from CDs to 320k MP3 and FLAC over the last 20 years. Ive acquired many hires files, as well, which are in the 24bit/192khz range. I obsessively test and re-test all versions of an individual recording I can find, focusing on what’s important to my tastes.

I started this process in the year 2000 when I bought a new Nakamichi CD70z + Nak speaker set + custom built Alumapro competition grade subs for my truck. Every new CD was a big deal, and became a ritual where I would only buy new CDs on weekends or days off so I could drive around in my truck for hours, listening and re-listening to every track. Over time I moved to burned CDs, which often sounded like thin, weak garbage because of the compressed files used, and I immediately heard the difference between compressed rips and uncompressed original music.

So I built a 1U rack chassis into an MP3 player, bought a power inverter, and stuffed that 1U in the extended cab. Added a small LCD screen, and pre-configured the windows2k box to autoload Foobar2000 on start, which loaded playlists that I did not have to mess with much while driving. Wired it into the CD70z’s RCA ins, which were hidden on the back of the unit, by running cables through my dash hahaha! Played MP3, WAV, and FLAC on that 1U until I sold my truck and… my Nakamichi.
(had to share that story lol)

As time passed and I acquired better audio gear, I found myself going through the same playlists(mostly electronic, some grunge, some rap & hiphop, some classical) over and over, to listen to fine details of the music, and I was able to A/B/C/etc test different file formats, recordings, playback devices, etc. I marched through plastic, highly tuned, low quality stuff, and then eventually found my way to “neutral” sound and true hifi / hifi DACs, and then I began to hear REAL TRASH RECORDINGS along with very good recordings. =P

My wife and I spend hours and hours playing back her favorite classic records on our marantz hifi, then playing back “Tidal Masters” of the same albums, and then playing back regular lossless/CD versions of the same, and I CONSTANTLY have to intervene.

I dont want my wife to think any less of our hifi, and when I hear her playing like old Bob Dylan or Neil Young recordings that sound like absolute garbage, I go on a mission to find better recordings encoded in better formats. It is essential for me to do this - every single time - because I specc’ed out the hifi and it is not only the hifi’s reputation on the line, but my own. :rofl: I justified all the components in the hifi including the Furman IT reference 15i, so I had damn well better find the best recordings/formats.

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My music collection is a large mix of vinyl, cd and digital files and each have good quality recordings and terrible versions. However in some cases better versions are not available. Thanks loudness wars.

As was said previously I tend to use certain headphones for poorly recorded albums and if the mix is good I can break out a headphone that is more resolving. This too will let you appreciate the better gear and recording more so.

In most cases I will try and listen to a specific album that I feel like like listening to regardless of the quality and adjust my gear (headphones, amp, dac) to it. The music is the more important factor rather than discounting any albums due to a poor mix / master.

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Out of curiosity, does anyone specifically test for shitty quality recordings when they try out a new system/change in their current system?

For example, this Dinah Washington recording of “I Know How to Do It” is one of my common test tracks:

(And in general, a lot of the 20’s and 30’s-era music that I like just doesn’t have great recordings sometimes.)

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The original bat out of hell recording is terrible, the hires remaster is no better.
I listen to it on all my new equipment just in case it magically fixes it.

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I have headphones dedicated to garbage recordings and up till recently I kept them around till I found the super forgiving nighthawks. My favorite album of all time is super poorly recorded but it’s arguably part of the charm of the album. And using forgiving headphones has just been my way of coping.

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