The What, Who, How and Why of Music At Home

[NigelB]

@Leggit

While I am no too far away from retirement, I really envy anyone who has the time to ponder the what, who, how and why of music at home.

Took three minutes of thought….certainly less time than it took you to write that post.

@Sloop_John_B

I moved on to “real” hifi separates Denon/ Marantz and although there were many wow moments there was still too much music not sounding like I remembered it and my system was dictating what I listened to - or more correctly what I didn’t listen to.

I remember going through that phase. It even led to some music purchases based on the supposed SQ rather than a real liking for an album. It seems some mid priced hifi systems can exhibit this trait of making some stuff sound great, but others sound mediocre, usually the albums I had fond memories of. May be it is also a case of rose-tinted spectacles.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

Nigel, interesting perspective. In my experience the more revealing and accurate a replay system the greater the potential to hear the way and playing, details of instrumentation and as importantly to my mind how the performance is recorded, created and mastered.
There is a significant amount of skill that often goes into mixing, mastering and production… to allow the recording to sound the way it does… from a punk band in a small low tech studio, to a choir in a grand cathedral… to me this grounds a recording of a piece of music or performance … rather than it being an amorphous blob of aesthetic emotional sounds… and allows one to analyze and listen in to it.
The better a system the more insight it gives. I get far more from listening to some recordings now compared to when I was kid also with my then Amstrad system.

I guess being able to play certain instruments and being taught music (not to any perfection, but enough to enjoy) encourages you to listen into beyond the superficial.

[NigelB]

Although a good system will usually make the best of a poorly recorded/mastered album, the ear/brain can get ‘spoiled’ through a constant diet of high SQ material, and ‘expects’ everything to sound great. This phenomenon of ‘spoilt ears’ is also apparent to me when I move from a ‘great’ to a ‘good’ set up, or when an upgrade is removed. I am referring to that ‘meh’ feeling we all get from time to time.

As has already been said, an appreciation of recording, mixing and mastering techniques can help in an understanding of why albums differ in SQ.