The Distortion of Sound

[vonclod]

This is pretty interesting vid about the current state of music listening via digital source like mp3 or any compressed files. Seems like some artists feel..almost like they are wasting their time creating an album with any quality due to the fact it will for the most part be compressed to shit and lose its soul really. I tend to buy alot of vinyl and the odd cd. I know EeePee likes his audio stuff, and Im a bit of an audio nut..anyone else put any time and effort into their stereo gear?

[The Violator]

In the olden days I always had huge stereos in my vehicle. I have a moderate home stereo. Even on my nearly stock stereo in my Tundra ( deck and Image Dynamics separates, small amps) the sound from a CD to an MP3 is night and day. Radio and Sirius are fine for talk radio, but thats it.

New music has so much compression that on MP3 it is passable. Anything older that has people that actually play a real instrument, not processed to death, it needs to be on cd at minimum. MP3 if fine for listening on my phone through a $10 set of earbuds or crap blue tooth speaker. Critical listening needs a better source.

Vinyl is a little ( OK a lot ) on the hipster side. CD works well enough. Anyone who says they hear the difference is probably drinking the kool aid. Short of all tube amps, a $10k turntable, and great hearing I would bet they would not hear the difference, short of the pops and noise on a record. DVD audio is great, IMO, and my preferred choice for high res.

[vonclod]

Its a shame that vinyl has been lumped in with the hipsters..lol It has its own quality and if you have a good setup(my tt uses 50,000wt diff fluid..lol) it can surpass cd..probably not on a spec sheet but for listenability. It all depends on the recording really. I like the fact it takes just a bit of effort..your probably right though as to hearing a difference most of the time and it will cost you some more. Vinyl is pretty strong now..I think it took about 5% of the music sales market last year.
At home I have a mix of tube stuff and solid state..love the tubes they sounds really good but can be a pain. Anything digital(computer,tv box, cd) goes through a DAC and that makes a big difference to some stuff. I agree DVD audio is a good format as well as HDCD. and SACD, hard to find anything up here in those formats though. Cd can be ok or terrible sometimes. The loudness wars robbed the modern cd of alot of its dynamics.
In the car I mostly listen to talk radio when im driving so not much invested there. In the online world there needs to be better access to lossless files..they take up more room but memory is cheap now so not a huge need to compress stuff. The mp3 is long obsolete.

[badhoopty]

i got cdt/alpine/jlaudio/memphis audio in my car. i can totally tell the difference between a cd and mp3. same with satellite radio over a clear fm station, imo fm sounds waaay better.

[wings_of_fire]

[vonclod]

I think if you get the highest bitrate mp3s they are like violater said passable, maybee hard to tell the difference in a moderate or lower end system..I think though the better the system is the more it may make a crappy file sound even crappier.

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by wings_of_fire

Really cool..those are Martin Logans. Magneplanar..or Maggies are nice
Electrostatics are really sweet but they take a big amp to run them.

I will try to find some plasma speaker info, sound better than anything ever made but they will kill you..lol..with ozone. Mostly banned by now im sure..apparently not.
Here is one maker
Brochures | hillplasmatronics.com

[wings_of_fire]

Originally Posted by vonclod

Really cool
plasma speaker info, sound better than anything ever made but they will kill you..lol..with ozone. Mostly banned by now im sure..apparently not.
Here is one maker
Brochures | hillplasmatronics.com

That's pretty cool Only issue is helium and its refilling.

[vonclod]

Here is a plasma tweeter..no moving parts just a high frequency plasma arc..like off a tig welder.

lots of homemade ones on youtube

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by wings_of_fire

That's pretty cool Only issue is helium and its refilling.

They are not overly practical I think though really the ozone can be a problem. One famous audio gear designer named Nelson Pass and a few others have been hospitalized or knocked out at audio shows because of working with these..im sure earlier versions.
Here is a current production plasma tweeter Magnat in Germany makes them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu5tEDhqkRk

[Peaker]

Hell we even made a festival of it

Distortion 2015 | 3-7 June, Copenhagen

[gearhead79]

Ive never listened to much on vinyl,nothing against it!!!!!!!! But i enjoy my music,so my standard cab f150 has 4 6x9 blaupunkt speakers,a 10" kicker sub,a rinky dink amp,and a kenwood head unit(i wish i waited and got an alpine) its an ok setup.my music jumps from frank sinatra to creedence to metal(lots and lots of metal) to alternative to anything from the 50's to the 60's and then even some hip hopAnonymous so most of the time im cranked as loud as my head unit will go.theres nothing like having a good metal band use the double bass for almost the entire song pounding through my kicker sub.
But it does suck now that almost everything that comes out goes to itunes or some sort of digital download b.s.!!! My saturday morning's were always spent at bestbuy or little music shops buying cd's,and now my bestbuy has 1 rack of cd's...1 rack,and my little music shops are closed.im not liking the digital age,the sound quality sucks!!! And ill admit,i download stuff,but i have to bust my butt to find the right copy.
Its funny cuz i was thinking of this topic just the other day!!! Where are we heading as far as music??? I have a bunch of bands that have new albums out and unless i buy online, i cant get them.i dont like buying cd's online,i wanna walk out to my truck from a store and fumble around trying to get the seal of a cd off,pop it into my cd player and blast it!!!! Im sorry but this day and age is taking away all the fun little things,like listening to music even,and making everything more complicated while saying this or that makes life more easier!!!! Really Sorry for the small novel guys,just a fellow music and sound quality lover here and hater of all that the digital takes away

[Stormin2u]

I grew up with vynil it's was great but it's a huge storage space problem IMO. Digital is here to stay no question. There has never been so many artists brining so much new music to the market place and it's an extremely competitive busines. Producing records is expensive in every aspect and much of the new fresh talent would never have been heard? Collect what ever you want but vynil and tape are really for recording purists who have more time space and money for their listening pleasures. Digital works harder for most music consumers the market is a much bigger place that it was when vynil was being produced. Granted artist market share is harder to conrol due to competion for listeners and the shear volume of new work being released today.

[JeremyH]

I listen to a lot of music and will use digital music a lot, but when I want it to sound good, it's either on record or CD.

[ROWDY RACING]

Originally Posted by JeremyH

I listen to a lot of music and will use digital music a lot, but when I want it to sound good, it's either on record or CD.

8 tracks bruh

[EeePee]

That video was okay, but talking about two different types of compression and lumping them into the same reason why today's music doesn't sound good, is wrong. Loudness war is not the same as compressed file types, and whether you can hear the difference. I'd put money on most people not hearing a difference between full size files and 320 kbs mp3s. There's tests, if you want to try.

I like vinyl because it's a physical media, and the record player is mechanical, and I like to watch it work. It's totally cool. Sounds good too. Costs too much.

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by EeePee

That video was okay, but talking about two different types of compression and lumping them into the same reason why today's music doesn't sound good, is wrong. Loudness war is not the same as compressed file types, and whether you can hear the difference. I'd put money on most people not hearing a difference between full size files and 320 kbs mp3s. There's tests, if you want to try.

I like vinyl because it's a physical media, and the record player is mechanical, and I like to watch it work. It's totally cool. Sounds good too. Costs too much.

I was interested in the artists perspective, I agree the cd's loudness wars is not the same thing..its not stripped down more of an oversaturation of the levels..no breathing room.
As for the digi files I think your right in alot of cases where a 320kbs might be indistinguishable from a flac or lossless..I can get it right about 50% of the time..could be just chance but sometimes I feel a difference? not that I spend alot of time listening to files off the computer.
Im totaly with you on the physical media as opposed to scrolling down the screen. I love the mechanics and gizmoness of the process..you tend to listen to the whole thing..more rewading I think.
What TT and cart are you running? Im playing around with an older Oracle, SME arm, and Shure V15 MKIV..I must admit as cool as it is I like My beater Denon table maybee just a tad more. The MC cart I think has a bit more something..lol

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by gearhead79

Ive never listened to much on vinyl,nothing against it!!!!!!!! But i enjoy my music,so my standard cab f150 has 4 6x9 blaupunkt speakers,a 10" kicker sub,a rinky dink amp,and a kenwood head unit(i wish i waited and got an alpine) its an ok setup.my music jumps from frank sinatra to creedence to metal(lots and lots of metal) to alternative to anything from the 50's to the 60's and then even some hip hopAnonymous so most of the time im cranked as loud as my head unit will go.theres nothing like having a good metal band use the double bass for almost the entire song pounding through my kicker sub.
But it does suck now that almost everything that comes out goes to itunes or some sort of digital download b.s.!!! My saturday morning's were always spent at bestbuy or little music shops buying cd's,and now my bestbuy has 1 rack of cd's...1 rack,and my little music shops are closed.im not liking the digital age,the sound quality sucks!!! And ill admit,i download stuff,but i have to bust my butt to find the right copy.
Its funny cuz i was thinking of this topic just the other day!!! Where are we heading as far as music??? I have a bunch of bands that have new albums out and unless i buy online, i cant get them.i dont like buying cd's online,i wanna walk out to my truck from a store and fumble around trying to get the seal of a cd off,pop it into my cd player and blast it!!!! Im sorry but this day and age is taking away all the fun little things,like listening to music even,and making everything more complicated while saying this or that makes life more easier!!!! Really Sorry for the small novel guys,just a fellow music and sound quality lover here and hater of all that the digital takes away

I hear ya bro, there is not many places here to buy the cd,s..new records I can buy from London Drugs..a chain drug store here in Canada..I guess drugs and music go together They actually had Mastodon the other day..scooped that quick I just recieved my first record(Peter Gabriel's melt album) via the mail and it arrived safley so I will probably do some more ol shopping.

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by Stormin2u

I grew up with vynil it's was great but it's a huge storage space problem IMO. Digital is here to stay no question. There has never been so many artists brining so much new music to the market place and it's an extremely competitive busines. Producing records is expensive in every aspect and much of the new fresh talent would never have been heard? Collect what ever you want but vynil and tape are really for recording purists who have more time space and money for their listening pleasures. Digital works harder for most music consumers the market is a much bigger place that it was when vynil was being produced. Granted artist market share is harder to conrol due to competion for listeners and the shear volume of new work being released today.

Me too, I think I got my 1st record player at about 9yrs old, for some reason my parents had a Black Sabbath record that I quickly gravitated to..all downhill from there
Your right though the digital mediums have made thing very accessable and has allowed alot of artists the chance to be heard

[wings_of_fire]

This is very cool. Thanks for sharing it, vonclod