‘Muddy’ sound using cassette tapes/deck/through quality hi fi components

[good_enough]

The tribalism in all walks of life is always entertaining. I was into cycling for a while and people used to get bulging eyes on forums shouting virtually over their keyboards about which group-sets were the best - all utterly pointless.

I'm new to this forum but see the same aimless frothing about DACs, media formats and other topics, when it all ultimately comes down to preference, the same as with which gear manufacturer you choose for your bike.

One thing that I think isn't black and white is the statement "many still want to make their listening a chore and unrewarding". I think that misses a critical point - one person's chore is another person's passion.

I used the convenience and speed of streaming yesterday to hear Taj Mahal's "Live At The Church In Tulsa" for the first time. I instantly ordered it on vinyl and have been enjoying it this afternoon. Does it sound "better"? Maybe, maybe not. But is the whole package of putting it on and turning the two LPs over after just two or three songs worth it? Yep - for me it's a fuller and more rewarding experience than just streaming the same album.

Some albums I'll never intend to own on vinyl and I'll get plenty of satisfaction streaming them instead, but for my preference and how I choose to consume music, some albums are just made to be heard through that medium, and I'm sure that nostalgia and other factors make tape sometimes the preferred format for other listeners. It's all up to the individual and pointless trying to corral people into a single pigeon-hole.

With you on this. My albums represent the circumstances in which I acquired them and often memories about that time.

Additionally as you say some things just sound right as they were originally released. 'What's Going On' or the flip side of 'Abbey Road' come to mine.

 

[Gray]

I wasn't that posh kid at school with the new trainers and best bikes whenever they came out

Tell me about it Stuart.
Other kids had Action Man.
Me and my brother shared 'Combat Johnny' - that my Mum got for about a 10th of the price down the market.

We always knew it was inferior....(and that our Mum was superior).

 

[Jasonovich]

Tell me about it Stuart.
Other kids had Action Man.
Me and my brother shared 'Combat Johnny' - that my Mum got for about a 10th of the price down the market.

We always knew it was inferior....(and that our Mum was superior).

Nah that's nothing, I had to transgender my sister's Barbie Sindy doll 🤣

 

[podknocker]

You have still never answered how you can listen to recordings that are not available on streaming, only on olde formats. (And there are thousands of them)

Bill

You say there are thousands of recordings not available on any streaming platform and I don't doubt this, but I'm 55 and I have a very eclectic taste in music. The music I listen to is always available online and I'm sure that's the same for 99% of people streaming their music. Why would anyone care about obscure, poor quality and niche recordings not being available online? The number of recordings online which are not available on cassette or vinyl far exceeds the material not available online. There are 100 million tunes online and the number of tunes only found on the old formats vanishes into insignificance compared to what's available on streaming. Around 99% of the music I stream is not available and will never be available on CD, never mind some old fashioned physical format from the 60s. I bet 99% of every recording in history is available online, plus all the podcasts and ebooks you can enjoy. There is zero benefit in holding onto ancient formats, with the lack of choice and inferior sound quality. I get the feeling some people would like to see the return of wax cylinders, holding the most obscure ancient recordings with next to nobody wanting to hear them. I've said it before, but the WHF demographic must be very old and not interested in modern recordings, nor interested in the modern playback methods available for these modern recordings. The argument for not streaming is getting weaker by the day on this site and it just confirms my belief that people fear change and are stuck in some rose tinted nostalgic view of the world. It still amazes me that people bang on about choice and wanting to hold onto their dated formats and then have a go at CD or streaming platforms. If you want to mess about with vinyl and crappy cassettes, then go for it, but don't try to berate modern music and modern music delivery methods when they offer more choice, not less and offer much better sound quality. Wanting faff AND worse quality sound reproduction is just a stubborn reluctance to accept that technology improves and progress is a good thing. The Luddite mentality in this sector is bewildering. In most areas of life, people would relish and appreciate change and progress, but on this forum, there seems to be a head in the sand approach to progress. 'Leave me alone with my poor quality vinyl and cassettes, because I don't like more choice and better sound quality'. Many on here openly admit it's not about sound quality, but the ritual of playing vinyl, or the collection of rare and poor quality recordings. It's fine as a hobby, but I was under the impression this forum was the pursuit of high fidelity and authentic music reproduction. It's turning into What Faff and no longer aspires to acheiving the best possible system for the money. It's obsessive vinyl collectors, sniffing their sleeve notes and prioritising the ritual of their preferred playback method, over the ultimate goal of attaining superior sound quality in order to better appreciate their favourite music. Utterly bizarre.

 

[Gray]

You say there are thousands of recordings not available on any streaming platform and I don't doubt this, but I'm 55 and I have a very eclectic taste in music. The music I listen to is always available online and I'm sure that's the same for 99% of people streaming their music. Why would anyone care about obscure, poor quality and niche recordings not being available online? The number of recordings online which are not available on cassette or vinyl far exceeds the material not available online. There are 100 million tunes online and the number of tunes only found on the old formats vanishes into insignificance compared to what's available on streaming. Around 99% of the music I stream is not available and will never be available on some old fashioned physical format from the 70s. I bet 99% of every recording in history is available online, plus all the podcasts and ebooks you can enjoy. There is zero benefit in holding onto ancient formats, with the lack of choice and inferior sound quality. I get the feeling some people would like to see the return of wax cylinders, holding the most obscure ancient recordings with next to nobody wanting to hear them. I've said it before, but the WHF demographic must be very old and not interested in modern recordings, nor interested in the modern playback methods available for these modern recordings. The argument for not streaming is getting weaker by the day on this site and it just confirms my belief that people fear change and are stuck in some rose tinted nostalgic view of the world. It still amazes me that people bang on about choice and wanting to hold onto their dated formats and then have a go at CD or streaming platforms. If you want to mess about with vinyl and crappy cassettes, then go for it, but don't try to berate modern music and modern music delivery methods when it offers more choice, not less and offers much better sound quality. Wanting faff AND worse quality sound reproduction is just a stubborn reluctance to accept that technology improves and progress is a good thing. The Luddite mentality in this sector is bewildering. In most areas of life, people would relish and appreciate change and progress, but on this forum, there seems to be a head in the sand approach to progress. 'Leave me alone with my poor quality vinyl and cassettes, because I don't like more choice and better sound quality' Utterly bizarre.

Who's rattled Pod's cage again?
Seriously Pod, save yourself the trouble.

All I can say is that no streaming has better sound quality than my CDs (even if it is higher than 16/44.1).

And as for technology improving and being a good thing....
If it did always improve things, it might be a good thing.
I just recommended a nice Panasonic OLED to a mate - who bought it.
Nice picture.
But the setup, thanks to the 'improved' technology....what a ......g unintuitive, frustrating faff before he and his wife could watch TV via an aerial, which is all they want to do.

As it happens, I previously installed and setup TVs for a retail chain and have got a few electronics qualifications, but as far as I'm concerned, you can keep half your new, improved tech boy!

....and good luck when the updates stop 🤞

 

[podknocker]

Who's rattled Pod's cage again?
Seriously Pod, save yourself the trouble.

All I can say is that no streaming has better sound quality than my CDs (even if it is higher than 16/44.1).

And as for technology improving and being a good thing....
If it did always improve things, it might be a good thing.
I just recommended a nice Panasonic OLED to a mate - who bought it.
Nice picture.
But the setup, thanks to the 'improved' technology....what a ......g unintuitive, frustrating faff before he and his wife could watch TV via an aerial, which is all they want to do.

As it happens, I previously installed and setup TVs for a retail chain and have got a few electronics qualifications, but as far as I'm concerned, you can keep half your new, improved tech boy!

....and good luck when the updates stop 🤞

I have to disagree Gray. If the master used for CD is the same as the one used on streaming services, then it will be the same quality. It will be a bit forbit copy and the same quality. With modern TVs, there are many competing technologies and the TV sector is in a state of flux at the moment, but it will settle down eventually, when someone finally decides which tech is the most convincing and reliable.