[Mary]

I found this article this morning. What are your thoughts?

https://hifiauditions.wordpress.com/2025/07/24/echoes-of-intention-the-loss-hidden-in-low-fidelity/?fbclid=IwY2xjawL0kJ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkxBJ6JjAuWKs-gEAAgMW6iFC_hMkgZDSjfRlLvVrzgcqPXRbiaDXJdajKcz_aem_Ekibl8Z9x9JLa7b0aP7zYA

Mary

[Solarflares]

I found this article this morning. What are your thoughts?

I have a flat studio-monitoring system here at home. I’m a musician, and produce daily on that gear.
It’s the same gear Bernie Grundman would use to cut acetates in his famous cutting room.
Bryston 4BSST/Tannoy DMT mk1 12’s. I have also a BP6 preamp for synergy and convenience.
I like to feel I am inviting the artist into my home, and listening to him ‘speak’ with no interruptions or distractions from me.  My equipment allows that, and is, shall we say - analytical.
I can hear all the balance and detail, imaging, depth, and especially the timing. My personal sonic-preferences are not part of this experience - it’s not my work.
When I make music, if it sounds good on the Tannoys, then it will sound good on anything.
I hear great recordings, and some not so great.
Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira” is boomy sometimes, whereas surprisingly - Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Rising Force” is bass light.
I just accept that.
This allows me to experience other’s work on a more subconcious level, and from that, I can find true inspiration from myself - totally discarding any fleeting, superficial gratificational interests in sounds others have made.
Hard to explain, but I am totally removed, and simply a witness to proceedings, if you can understand that.
Of course there’s stuff I really like, and I get great pleasure from it. But it’s my deep mind telling me I should hear that again, and the big point is that it is a different experience every time, due to the intense detail.

The article reveres Prince. I’m afraid I do not. Not in any way, apart from his obvious success in a difficult industry - although the word “Hype” is screaming out here. The guitar especially was utter wank, I remember. But those record execs will push any old shit, so long as you camp it up a little, and succumb to the swirling cesspit of their steaming desires - at both ends.
He doesn’t even warrant the fidelity of a greeting card that plays as you open it up!

When I began really listening to music at 11, I had 2 Jimi Hendrix albums, a Fidelity £30 stereo, with some Amstrad headphones.
That was enough to transport me to another world, and the building blocks of my own musical career.
No-one is being short-changed by having shitty gear. But the modern music itself? That’s a whole different subject.
But if it makes people’s lives better for having a basic lo-fidelity musical medium to identify with, then good luck to them - as I was once them. The music you buy is your way of announcing yourself to the world. Don’t ever forget that.  A fancy system is an extension of that.
Does the artist need your help to get their message across? Do you need to improve the sound of their work?
My own musical journey removed me from that equation, I’m no longer a hands-on tone twiddler of other’s music, and my chosen flat-monitoring gear perpetuates that.
 I feel if others wish to seek out better ways to appreciate their ‘media’, then they will, in time. But let’s be honest - an iPhone through a good set of Bluetooth IEM’s can sound pretty damn good.

[toocool4]

With regards to the article, there’s nothing new here. People live life at such a breakneck pace that they don’t truly listen to music anymore they just consume it passively. And with everything being so cheap and easily accessible, it’s become disposable and stripped of real value.

[Solarflares]

With regards to the article, there’s nothing new here. People live life at such a breakneck pace that they don’t truly listen to music anymore they just consume it passively. And with everything being so cheap and easily accessible, it’s become disposable and stripped of real value.

Sure, but perhaps in any discussion, we should really differentiate “Pop” from any other genre?
Are they really living? The Spotify top-ten brigade? Swiping through track after track like a “Prince” dismissing his courtiers!
We all lived fast as 70’s kids, and music on the move was an accessory to that. Some of us chose to make it our lives, and give it some gravity. But Most didn’t. So it hasn’t changed much.

[toocool4]

So like I said "there’s nothing new here."

[Solarflares]

So like I said "there’s nothing new here."

Oh no.
You used the word “Anymore”. Which denotes a clear distinction in your comment between the past and the present.
But we’ll ignore that ‘eh.  Remove the word ‘Anymore’ and I totally agree with your timeless statement.
My big concern is the insularity that modern, so called ‘communication’ devices promote, and I feel big media companies are preying on that - making for addictive experiences and hooking the solo user in - when there’s a whole free world and real people out there.
But then you try to look at the world, probably through their lens, and become affected by the utter misery they kindly inform you of, and your negative reaction can soon lead to yet another addictive path of self-induced, screen-swiping pain, which will soon find you desperately seeking out the respite of light ‘entertainment’. Back to square one, with this week’s top-ten or whatever the ‘colourful and vibrant’ new poison-vanilla trend is.
For the young, this is plain and simple child-abuse, and heads should roll.
Are we having fun yet?

[WGH]

"Poor sound quality doesn’t just mute these gestures. It mistranslates them. It robs them of their resonance, replacing them with mere content."


My response: Bullshit!

The soundtrack to my life included listening to Bob Dylan on a low-fi record player in dorm room, The Chambers Brothers booming through the student union console record player, Stax Records and MoTown artists in a smokey basement bar and 1970's rock blasting over the car radio in a red 1964 Dodge Dart. I didn't miss one iota of artistry or soul.

I have quite a few re-mastered albums. Does the recent remaster of Revolver elicit more emotion than when I first heard it in 1966? Nope, it just sounds different.


Watch the excellent 4-part 2024 documentary "Stax: Soulsville USA" and even with mid-fi TV sound your mind will absorb more soul and emotion than any state-of-the-art sound system can ever hope to produce.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19891206/?ref_=ttep_ov_i



Trailer: https://youtu.be/hgR9W13B98w
 

[AllanS]

Thanks for posting Mary.  It's an interesting point/question that seems to gets little but superficial attention.
A couple of related thoughts but I agree there's nothing new here except accessibility.

There are some artists and productions that remind me of the best Disney feature length animated movies - layered  and nuanced for both child and adult.  If you have the setup and focused attention you can extract the more sophisticated content and hopefully capture some of the magic the artists (artist and engineer(s)) laid down.  But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the hell out of it on lesser systems or if you're just bebopping down the street or drowning out the noise on the subway.

I also ask compared to what and when?  The level of detail the author says we're missing out requires a decent system, the listener's attention, and decent source material. That's no different today than it's been anytime in the past.  Music is more accessible today than anytime in the past so more people are consuming, but not all music is created equal.  Many/most recordings lack that something special we're looking for.  Also nothing new.

So I agree with the premise but I think it could have just as easily been written in the 70's when mono transistor radios were the thing, or the 80's Walkman era.

[YungestMarco]

Having been born in the 90s, I grew up when mp3s were the most common way to listen to music. With slow internet speeds and limited storage on iPods/phones, most preferred lossy audio files for their convenience and ability to store more music on these devices and PCs.

Today, with much faster internet speeds and cheaper storage space on phones and PCs, hope more people want to start enjoying lossless and hi-res music instead of streaming lossy formats.

[AllanS]

Having been born in the 90s

We’re counting on your generation to fix everything else we f#$@ed up.  Might as well add lossy compressed crap to the pile.

[Solarflares]

"Poor sound quality doesn’t just mute these gestures. It mistranslates them. It robs them of their resonance, replacing them with mere content."

My response: Bullshit

I have quite a few re-mastered albums. Does the recent remaster of Revolver elicit more emotion than when I first heard it in 1966? Nope, it just sounds different.

Yeah right. As a kid, I loved my old original “Sputnik” Crystal Set, with single earpiece, a world in itself.
I first heard “Revolver” on one of these Dansettes at 7 years old.
(Note the “Apple” label on the single)
“Eleanor Rigby” was a visceral experience, filled with atmosphere, poignancy, and drama - with the mind easily conjuring up images of mist winding around gravestones, the bleak lonely doorway of an empty church, and the grey starkness of a life I didn’t yet know.
60 years later, I remember it like it was yesterday, so deep was the experience.

[Letitroll98]

So I'm kinda on the fence here.  I think it's a great topic of discussion for Mary to post, and the article is a good jumping off point for the discussion, but I wasn't a fan of the article itself.  Prince, as the banner for high fidelity?  Really?  I suppose there's no accounting for taste.  For myself high fidelity examples were Jennifer Warnes, Sara K's Chesky work, Bernstein's CBS recordings of The Planets, Dark Side of the Moon, etc.  I'm sure you all have your examples and not very many are Prince.

As for high fidelity, I sometimes listen to music on my phone.  YouTube clips, Elizabeth Zarhoff's The Charismatic Voice, AGT singers, all kinds of music.  And it's fine, I don't feel robbed of anything.  If it's really good I might grab my headphones with the dongle DAC to hear more fidelity, but a lot of music goes through those tiny little phone speakers.  Separately if I want high fidelity with soundstage and fine detail I go to the dedicated listening room.  Each experience has it's place.   

[Solarflares]

I sometimes listen to music on my phone. And it's fine, I don't feel robbed of anything.  If it's really good I might grab my headphones.

I’ve watched a lot of bands on YouTube using my iPad. But there’s no bottom-end at all obviously. Like you though, if it piques my interest, then out come the Beyer DT880’s and DT990’s - then I get the full YouTube audio experience. Lol.
One example was Zappa Plays Zappa - “Inca Roads”. I’d watched it a few times, but on headphones the bass was delightful, and that was quite a stern reminder of how weedy the iPad speakers are, and how much I’d missed when lazily watching other stuff.
The atmosphere and crowd really come through on a good set of cans. The emotion of hearing the start of that guitar solo, with a pic of Frank on the screen behind them - you can clearly hear the initial excitement turn into jaw-dropping silence, as 2000 people are wiping the tears away. Well 2001 in fact, as I’m sitting here with my hankie.
One of the most deserved standing ovations, and not a feather Boa or purple beret in sight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=F6YKJX-dXIM&dp_isNewTab=1&dp_referrer=serp&dp_allowFirstVideo=1

I would imagine kids with decent IEM’s get a pretty full balance though, with enough bass to be going on with.
I did try some lossless stuff on YouTube through my main monitoring system, when I first bought my Tannoy System 15 DMT mk2’s, as my CD refused to work at the time. But after 5 mins of very loud, decently ‘contrived’ vocal/piano/synth - I was rewarded with a dramatic, booming volume boost, and someone trying to sell me something at 120dB. Might have been DulcoLax possibly, but I didn’t need it since I’d already soiled my pants.
Now that’s what I call streaming!
In the interests of preserving my 30 year-old Tannoys, I strictly limit any main-system audio to CD’s and my music production.