24bit vs 16bit, the myth exploded!

[headdict]

 
Expand your musical tastes into classical and jazz. All those problems will go away, because those genres are generally well recorded, mixed and mastered.

 


The problem is I can't just switch to a different genre just to avoid badly mastered recordings. I won't stop listening to rock songs just because of high chance of getting a bad master.

I listen to music because I like rock the most.

Isn't it strange that the people who generate the most revenue seem to be taken the least seriously by the music industry whereas lovers of niche genres are treated with the greatest respect?

 

[castleofargh]

 

 

   
Expand your musical tastes into classical and jazz. All those problems will go away, because those genres are generally well recorded, mixed and mastered.

 


The problem is I can't just switch to a different genre just to avoid badly mastered recordings. I won't stop listening to rock songs just because of high chance of getting a bad master.

I listen to music because I like rock the most.

Isn't it strange that the people who generate the most revenue seem to be taken the least seriously by the music industry whereas lovers of niche genres are treated with the greatest respect?

to me the niche genres are sometime saved because the big shots of the industry don't have time to make bad decisions on those. the general will of those guys is to press cds as if they were only adds for radio. what counts is not that the album is good, it is that it impresses enough on radio for people to go buy it. same as trailers for movies where the trailer is pretty much the only good thing in the movie.
most sound engineers think badly of what they're told to do, but hey they're paid to do it, what can they do? I guess for those niche genres, sometimes nobody comes telling what to do to the engineer so he decides to do a proper job ^_^.

 

[Krutsch]

 

   
Expand your musical tastes into classical and jazz. All those problems will go away, because those genres are generally well recorded, mixed and mastered.

 


The problem is I can't just switch to a different genre just to avoid badly mastered recordings. I won't stop listening to rock songs just because of high chance of getting a bad master.

I listen to music because I like rock the most.

 
+1
 
Or worse, restricting your catalog of favorite albums based on their "audiophile attributes", versus your love for the music itself.

 

[cjl]

   
Expand your musical tastes into classical and jazz. All those problems will go away, because those genres are generally well recorded, mixed and mastered.

I do enjoy classical and jazz, but I also enjoy rock, electronic, and several other genres. I agree that classical and jazz are usually better recorded and mastered than the other genres, but I don't listen to music for the mastering, I listen to it for the music. Giving up music I enjoy because it isn't mastered as well as it could be would defeat the entire point of listening in the first place, in my opinion.

 

[SilverEars]

You know how people say, you are listening to you gear instead of music?  I feel like I'm listening to recordings, than music I used to enjoy.  I feel it made my ears snobby to better recordings.

 

[sonitus mirus]

No restrictions, it's been the opposite for me.  I listen to every genre of music that is available on Google Music All Access, and I do have my favorites, but it is the quality of the sound in both the recording quality and the prowess of the artist that I enjoy.  I have discovered many gems across many drastically different styles of music.  
 
Unless you have heard a song in a good audio quality, it probably would never have become a favorite at any point.  Not sure if I would appreciate AC/DC based on the highly compressed CDs I have now.  It is my memory of their music actually sounding great in the past that makes me a fan of this music.

 

[castleofargh]

with headphones it's easy, you can pick a different one for different genres. warm lazy rolled off stuff for rock (to avoid being tortured by badly recorded cymbals). detailed, neutral to bright headphones for classical etc, depending on your own tastes. and personally when I enjoy a song but can't stand how it's recorded, I listen to it on my laptop's tweeters ^_^. they're so bad that it becomes the ultimate forgiving tool.
 
but listening to some really bad recorded stuff on my not so bad rigs with what I call neutral EQ, no can do. try listening to radioactive(imagine dragons) on your most resolving system and tell me it's not a torture. but in a noisy car with bad audio system that's a pretty cool song.  "every moment has its music" taken to the next level.

 

[Krutsch]

  with headphones it's easy, you can pick a different one for different genres. warm lazy rolled off stuff for rock (to avoid being tortured by badly recorded cymbals). detailed, neutral to bright headphones for classical etc, depending on your own tastes. and personally when I enjoy a song but can't stand how it's recorded, I listen to it on my laptop's tweeters ^_^. they're so bad that it becomes the ultimate forgiving tool.
 
but listening to some really bad recorded stuff on my not so bad rigs with what I call neutral EQ, no can do. try listening to radioactive(imagine dragons) on your most resolving system and tell me it's not a torture. but in a noisy car with bad audio system that's a pretty cool song.  "every moment has its music" taken to the next level.

 
You nailed it... that's why I have Senn HD-650 and Grado RS2i and keep them on a stand, right next to my chair, using them almost exactly the way you describe.
 
I need some better Classical cans - the Grados are too bright for strings (IMO) and the Senns are too veiled (IMO).  What would Goldilocks use to listen to Hilary Hahn?  

 

[bigshot]

There's only two kinds of response curves... balanced and wrong. If you buy a different set of headphones for every type of imbalanced response, you'll spend an awful lot of money. An equalizer and a set of balanced headphones will get you where you want to go a LOT more efficiently.

 

[Mambosenior]

Audio equipment getting better and audio recording getting worse. Huh! ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,...")

 

[Krutsch]

  There's only two kinds of response curves... balanced and wrong. If you buy a different set of headphones for every type of imbalanced response, you'll spend an awful lot of money. An equalizer and a set of balanced headphones will get you where you want to go a LOT more efficiently.

 
Technically speaking, you are correct.  But where's the fun in that solution?  Just kidding...
 
So, which headphones are not the wrong headphones?

 

[bigshot]

  So, which headphones are not the wrong headphones?

 
The right headphones are one with as balanced a response as possible, and the ability to be adjusted with EQ without distorting at loud volumes.

 

[esldude]

Audio equipment getting better and audio recording getting worse. Huh! ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,...")

Right you are about that.  Even worse is the audio equipment gets better, and audiophile nonsense to worry about gets worse.  I think that is because it isn't anchored in reality, but rather in imagination.  When the real issues are nearly solved where else to get the little something extra except through imagination.

 

[headdict]

The right headphones are one with as balanced a response as possible, and the ability to be adjusted with EQ without distorting at loud volumes.

In my book the right headphones also have to be at least open, closed, comfortable and portable, all at the same time. BTW, based on your previous posts I take it you are not that much into headphones, are you? And yet, you are dedicating so much of your time to this site. How come? Anyway, by all means keep it up! Can't imagine what this place would look like without your relentness pursuit of sound (as opposed to pseudo) science.

 

[Krutsch]

   
The right headphones are one with as balanced a response as possible, and the ability to be adjusted with EQ without distorting at loud volumes.

 Very PC answer 

 
It's like what Deep Purple said: can I have everything louder than everything else?