[sum]

So I've come to realize that I love having a fairly revealing rig, but listening to over processed music (i.e. almost all pop) is annoying. I've found that listening to it on my Grado's is a no-no. The only word I can find to describe it is plastic. My 701s somehow make it more tolerable (i.e. less like plastic) but the effect is still there. I have read that a lot of current music has incredibly low dynamic range due to poor recording and mastering. What are everyone else's thoughts?

 

[Bizzel]

Complain about poor mastering - there's nothing like tackling the source of the problem. Of course, it probably won't change much, with most people my age suffering from "louder=better syndrome" but it sure feels good!

I had a quick listen to NOW 66 (it's my sister's

) with the 595s and it sounds...well...loud and flat - I think all high-end headphones are too revealing to make any destroyed cd sound good.

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum /img/forum/go_quote.gif So I've come to realize that I love having a fairly revealing rig, but listening to over processed music (i.e. almost all pop) is annoying. I've found that listening to it on my Grado's is a no-no. The only word I can find to describe it is plastic. My 701s somehow make it more tolerable (i.e. less like plastic) but the effect is still there. I have read that a lot of current music has incredibly low dynamic range due to poor recording and mastering. What are everyone else's thoughts?

Absolutely true, that is exactly what poor mastering actually does. In an attempt to make it louder on cheaper audio equipment good portion of the dynamic range is clipped, making drums and such sound like total ****.

Best you can do is grab headphones without a strong high frequency extension and hope the bass won't bother you on crappy recordings.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Get some Triports. You won't even notice the quality of the recordings.