How can someone who listens to music 24/7 not care about sound quality?

Sep 4, 2008 at 5:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 29

acidbasement

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My brother in law, like me, is a big fan of metal music. He listens to it all the time, he travels very long distances to attend concerts, and he spent a pile of money on a huge drumset with two bass drums.
His mother (with whom he lives) has a really good stereo system - PMC speakers, Sunfire preamp, and a good power amp whose name escapes me, plus designer ICs and speaker cables.

I visited them on the weekend, and my bro in law had connected his iPod (with the bass cranked up) to the phono stage of the preamp, and then had gone on to turn the bass down to minimum on the preamp, and he was happily listening to this! When I came in, I thought it sounded like listening to a showoff car stereo from outside the car! I reconnected the iPod to the AUX input, turned off all the EQ, and all of a sudden it sounded like music. What did my bro in law say to me? "I kind of liked it better before."

Discuss.
 
Sep 4, 2008 at 6:00 PM Post #2 of 29
Those who don't know anything better are usually very content with their rigs. Meybe he has grown to the sound and even a slight EQ correction sounds bad to him. I don't know, perhaps he knows what's best for him!
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Sep 4, 2008 at 6:10 PM Post #3 of 29
i see people listening to a single ipod earbud ( stereo...what ?
biggrin.gif
) on buses and trains while talking...and they're still happy with that...that's because the're casual listeners, they listen to the coolest tunes heared on Mtv and promptly downloaded, they have more artists than songs on their players...sure someone who is into some specific genre, especially classical, jazz will always care for sound quality...even if not at "audiophile" levels....i've rarely seen the opposite happen...
 
Sep 4, 2008 at 6:17 PM Post #5 of 29
See music is something for the mind. It's just sound waves, but when the mind takes the waves and we hear the music that is when it a certain song or genre will make someone happy, sad, annoyed, and so on.

People who invest in good quality gear (and learn how to get the best out of it) find that what some cheap mp3 player and earbuds provide just isn't enough for them, it gets in the way of experiencing the music, or maybe doesn't appeal to how they think the music should sound.

It is such a subjective thing, there is no right or wrong, because in the end all the gear is just a way of hearing a musician perform, no matter how simple or complex the path the music takes before you hear it.
 
Sep 4, 2008 at 6:45 PM Post #7 of 29
im not going much furyher than i have now, unless i get more money or something but

i am glad i am this far, i have a few songs thayt i use for a test, if a setup can make a little tear form in my eye then its good! ive only really found one setup that does this, but it is amazing,

i admit i like to alter my music with eq, cause i love treble so much when its clear enough to pick out the different instruments in the top end without sibilance!
and
thats the problem, the sibilance, and only on one setup i have i can turn the eq so highs are dominant withput getting sibilance!
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 12:54 AM Post #8 of 29
I know a couple girls who couldn't live with out music, even if the music is clipping everywhere, flappy bass (not sure how to really describe that), thin tinny sound, and generally intolerable sound degradation. I heard them were complaining about not having any music after they have moved, so they got an old mini-system from their friend and started blasting some weird music with heavy beats... Drove me kinda nuts listening to that while trying to get their computer working again.

Ah well, I guess they are lucky that they don't hear the difference or don't care for the difference.
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 1:33 AM Post #9 of 29
I think it's precisely people who listen to music 24/7 who don't care about sound quality because they don't really listen to music, it's background noise.

--Chris
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 2:20 AM Post #11 of 29
Unfortuatly, most people really don't care about sound quality. But I do applaud him for actually attending concerts and buying CDs if he is doing it.

There are far worse situations. My co worker does not buy any CDs and mostly listens to music in his car from the crappy radio stations and talks alot about music but has so little knowledge and understanding about all aspects of music. His sound system is generic speakers from the computer and thinks that seeing live music on the internet broadcast is better than the real thing.

So you see, your brother in law is not that bad. There are lot's of misguided people out there when it comes to quality music and the arts. Sometimes it is shocking how people really have no taste for good quality things, even my family members.
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 2:40 AM Post #12 of 29
I don't know if you've noticed, but musicians (your bro-in-law is a drummer) tend to be satisfied with really mediocre stereo gear/and or mediocre sound. I suspect they are hearing the music in their head and not entirely through their ears. I remember reading an article on David Brubeck and it mentioned his stereo kits. Brubeck had a full McIntosh stereo kit with all the bells and whistles; however, he did most of his listening on cheap Sony or equivalent equipment. My musician friend's tend to have pretty ordinary stereo kits. They get the music, but aren't caught up in the gotta have it sound better than life game. Anyway, if they want to hear music, they play it.

My favourite listening sessions were in a friend's kitchen, sitting around a table, drinking tea or beer, while listening to a cassette of music that we have made earlier in the evening or had recorded off the soundboard after a performance. High fidelity? Ha! Mass market gear, but it was good enough for us to relive our performance or studio work. I think that if I had a big enough kitchen, I'd have my stereo kit and tv located there, so I could sit at the table and listen with my musician friends to our work and the work of others. Musicians don't need great stereos, they need to make music.

I'd rather spend my lolly on guitars than on stereo kit. I have a decent stereo, but it's not earth shattering. But it plays the music well enough.

Anyway, your brother-in-law being a musician probably doesn't worry too much about his stereo kit/hook up. His sound preferences and hook up are odd, but it must sound good enough for him. I wouldn't give it another thought.

Cheers!
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 2:54 AM Post #13 of 29
Quote:

Originally Posted by yashicaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I don't know if you've noticed, but musicians (your bro-in-law is a drummer) tend to be satisfied with really mediocre stereo gear/and or mediocre sound. I suspect they are hearing the music in their head and not entirely through their ears. I remember reading an article on David Brubeck and it mentioned his stereo kits. Brubeck had a full McIntosh stereo kit with all the bells and whistles; however, he did most of his listening on cheap Sony or equivalent equipment. My musician friend's tend to have pretty ordinary stereo kits. They get the music, but aren't caught up in the gotta have it sound better than life game. Anyway, if they want to hear music, they play it.

My favourite listening sessions were in a friend's kitchen, sitting around a table, drinking tea or beer, while listening to a cassette of music that we have made earlier in the evening or had recorded off the soundboard after a performance. High fidelity? Ha! Mass market gear, but it was good enough for us to relive our performance or studio work. I think that if I had a big enough kitchen, I'd have my stereo kit and tv located there, so I could sit at the table and listen with my musician friends to our work and the work of others. Musicians don't need great stereos, they need to make music.

I'd rather spend my lolly on guitars than on stereo kit. I have a decent stereo, but it's not earth shattering. But it plays the music well enough.

Anyway, your brother-in-law being a musician probably doesn't worry too much about his stereo kit/hook up. His sound preferences and hook up are odd, but it must sound good enough for him. I wouldn't give it another thought.

Cheers!



So true and I fully agree. Also, many musicians are used to performing in conditions of terrible sound so a decent cheap sound system is pleasing. Performing music can be like being in a battle field. It can be challenge so optimum sound quality is the last thing on their minds in general. Decent good sound and great performance is more important.

I also want to stress that a great musician is still like an audiophile because he/she will focus on the quality of tone that is being produced and this is crucial. Eddie Van Halen was very aware of the amp tone that he was producing and made some impressive sounds. A great violinist will want to play the best violin possible for the best sounding tone for the listener. And this IS the root of great audiophile sound.
 
Sep 21, 2008 at 5:42 AM Post #15 of 29
Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I also want to stress that a great musician is still like an audiophile because he/she will focus on the quality of tone that is being produced and this is crucial. Eddie Van Halen was very aware of the amp tone that he was producing and made some impressive sounds. A great violinist will want to play the best violin possible for the best sounding tone for the listener. And this IS the root of great audiophile sound.


True. It is way more impressive to have the skills to get a great sound out of an instrument than it is to listen to great sound (
rolleyes.gif
). And consider electric instruments, where the correct amp settings must be specified. We on our humble forum tend to get quite arrogant about our superior gear, and perhaps in the process forget that the only reason the high-end gear sounds good is that it was performed by great musicians. Yes, many of us recognize this, but as subtle as we think (most of) our music is, it is even more subtle than that. Why so? I think that most people who have perfected a craft tend to internalize most of their thought processes. If every album came with a book explaining every nuance of every song, we would have greater appreciation of the effort that went into our music. All of the nuances in how the music is performed reflect audiophile tendencies. Any one who has obsessed over writing a song knows this.
 

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