Audiophile witch hunt or basic common sense?

[twinkletoes]

lost a lot of people there I guess....

Dyslexia, mixed with phones doesn’t end well.

 

[Al ears]

Dyslexia, mixed with phones doesn’t end well.

I know, I get my wuckin fords muddled as well....

 

[JDL]

This is what I mean and what im trying to say (not very well mind you), google more eloquently says it better than me. but I can see where you think Im talking about file compression.

"if a CD has a lower dynamic range, it means there is less information captured in the audio, as the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds is smaller, potentially leading to a less detailed and nuanced listening experience; essentially, the recording has been compressed, reducing the range of volume levels present in the music."

A lower dynamic range than what?

 

[Jasonovich]

I know, I get my wuckin fords muddled as well....

😂

 

[twinkletoes]

A lower dynamic range than what?

You probably don’t come across it to much with your chosen genre , but it’s referring to the loudness wars. If that’s what your referring to.

 

[JDL]

You probably don’t come across it to much with your chosen genre , but it’s referring to the loudness wars. If that’s what your referring to.

Possibly not. I suppose I was wondering this; if a particular genre of music requires that the dynamic range be reduced for the pleasure of the listener. What would be the reason or point in reducing it more on a CD than on other mediums?

 

[DougK1]

Possibly not. I suppose I was wondering this; if a particular genre of music requires that the dynamic range be reduced for the pleasure of the listener. What would be the reason or point in reducing it more on a CD than on other mediums?

My simple explanation. It's not for the pleasure of the listener I can assure you. It's to make the track stand out as it's louder and the brain responds more to louder than quieter, plus listening on mobile devices it sounds "better"... through a decent hifi it sounds worse. It's easy to do on CD recording just max it out during mastering, even to the point of clipping on some albums I own, which sound terrible compared to original recordings. Can't max out on vinyl recordings as the result wouldn't be playable.

 

[Roog]

As an aside, I did see something the other day which amused me, the head of a vinyl cutting lathe was being driven by a high powered class d amplifier made by Crown a device much derided by audiophile's.

I get it, they need a powerful and low impedance drive for the head, but they used a high powered class D PA amp!

 

[JDL]

My simple explanation. It's not for the pleasure of the listener I can assure you. It's to make the track stand out as it's louder and the brain responds more to louder than quieter, plus listening on mobile devices it sounds "better"... through a decent hifi it sounds worse. It's easy to do on CD recording just max it out during mastering, even to the point of clipping on some albums I own, which sound terrible compared to original recordings. Can't max out on vinyl recordings as the result wouldn't be playable.

Ah.....I see, thanks for explaining...... Actually I bought a classical music CD recently, recorded in 2022, Haydn Piano Concertos and I must admit to thinking that whoever had mastered it had set the levels too high and the Piano sounded horrible. Very harsh. I was quite surprised and thought of the loudness wars. That's the first classical music CD I've bought that sounds like that. If I were the pianist, I'd have boxed the ears of whoever was responsible for that and said ; "NO!"
But I didn't know that it's not do-able on vinyl. Thanks for the explanation.
I doubt that I'll buy a turntable though, records are too expensive for my liking.

 

[davidf]

Heck they have to sum the bass to mono for starters instantly making different.

And that's one of the many things I feel that makes records sound more "correct" to our ears. As frequency drops, it becomes less directional, but the summing range of records spills over into the range we can start to detect location.

 

[Al ears]

And that's one of the many things I feel that makes records sound more "correct" to our ears. As frequency drops, it becomes less directional, but the summing range of records spills over into the range we can start to detect location.

Any decent producer wouldn't be doing this anyway these days.

 

[davidf]

Any decent producer wouldn't be doing this anyway these days.

I guess it depends how much of a necessity it is - is anyone producing physical media for those who care any more? Or for the masses? They'll want any record they take time making to be able to play on anything, so they don't want to be upsetting Crosleys with some serious bass...

The last record I heard was an issue for anything less than a quality turntable was a Nine Inch Nails re-release about 10 years ago.

 

[Al ears]

I guess it depends how much of a necessity it is - is anyone producing physical media for those who care any more? Or for the masses? They'll want any record they take time making to be able to play on anything, so they don't want to be upsetting Crosleys with some serious bass...

The last record I heard was an issue for anything less than a quality turntable was a Nine Inch Nails re-release about 10 years ago.

that's pretty meaningless for any producer worth his salt. The only reason to mess with bass is to make an LP easier to cut which rather cheapens their whole approach.

 

[davidf]

that's pretty meaningless for any producer worth his salt. The only reason to mess with bass is to make an LP easier to cut which rather cheapens their whole approach.

That's how it has been since the dawn of the conventional record though...