[Monty Burns]

Today's Summer Listening Attire
 

 

[Ivabign]

Monty!
 
That's great.....
 
I want one that states my earphones are more expensive (and sound better) than your home stereo... 
 
(valid for 90% of the systems out there) 

 

 

[Whazzzup]

err you might want to consider where you advertise this.

 

[LFC_SL]

The good thing with iem - unless you rock customs with really showy faceplates - ppl have no clue what they are worth. Work colleagues have questioned why I use an otter case for the SE846 and yeah to the casual the P7 would be of more obvious monetary value.

They will never ever see the TH900

 

[Whazzzup]

The good thing with iem - unless you rock customs with really showy faceplates - ppl have no clue what they are worth. Work colleagues have questioned why I use an otter case for the SE846 and yeah to the casual the P7 would be of more obvious monetary value.

They will never ever see the TH900

While I agree the t shirt kinda is a give away, and one time taking the 846 out of my ears, my 22 year old niece commented, wow those things are huge, how much are they? Well a subject change was in order..

 

[spook76]

To me, that shirt has douchbag written all over it.  

What a pleasant word to use. Is there any civility left?

 

[koiloco]

The problem with current song mastering process is that the engineers get too lazy and don't bother to spend more time on each track. As I think these days they care more about quantities than qualities. As it turns out, teenagers these days cannot differentiate between good music and loud music. I remember back in the days when I listen to GNR, Pearl Jam, Metadeth, Nirvana, RHCP, slayer... These are all still "loud music" by today's standard but somehow you would appreciate more than stuff kid's listen to these days. Maybe better songwriters or simply because sound engineers put more heart into the mixings and editings. I have the chance to listen to my cousin's "precious collection" of his music library through his new Beats Studio headphones (Yes I know it's a joke), and OMG, those are the puriest form of crap I ever heard in my life. Of course I didn't tell him the truth to avoid hurting his feelings but I really feel sorry for this generation of young people who doesn't have the chance to listen to some truly great music. Very few that I know of really knows what they're talking about when we talk about music.

 
Let's not self-elevate but instead trying to understand why/what/how the younger generation is enjoying their music. IMO, we will learn quite a bit from them.  I am going through this exploration with my son. He had 5 years of classical piano and currently about 2 years of drums.  He's exposed to a lot of different music genres but does develop his own preference. I wouldn't call his music preference crap even though I don't enjoy them.  Music itself in any form or quality is not "crap" so let's stop the bull sh..ting.  Last but not least, yes Beats HPs are not the best, esp. for the $, but they are more than adequate to enjoy music.  I still use my mono radio and listen to Frank, Billie Holiday, Ella when I work in my garage.  The enjoyment is tremendous.
As far as engineers and modern mastering, let's not talk about what we don't know for sure.  Calling modern engineers lazy...not spending more time on each track....vs. the previous gen. engineers is really not justified.
 
I am not picking at your post.  I am just trying to offer a balanced view.  Peace out!

 

[SilverEars]

I agree with both of yall.  

  Personally, 90's popular music was musical to me(didn't run into many good mastering from the generation either), but there are better mastering out there from any generation.  Every generation has it's flavor of popular music, and what teens get hooked on is what it is.  
 
I believe the music from long ago didn't have the modern technology to process the sound.  I'm sure there is a good reason behind compression and lots of digital editing is probably done so laziness is most likely not the real reason.  

 

[koiloco]

  I agree with both of yall.  

  Personally, 90's popular music was musical to me(didn't run into many good mastering from the generation either), but there are better mastering out there from any generation.  Every generation has it's flavor of popular music, and what people enjoy is what they enjoy.  
 
I believe the music from long ago didn't have the modern technology to process the sound.  I'm sure there is a good reason behind compression and lots of digital editing is probably done so laziness is most likely not the real reason.  

With that sentence alone, you hit the nail on the head.

 

[Monty Burns]

  To me, that shirt has douchbag written all over it.  

Clearly time and context (oh and lets not forget tact clearly) are something lost on you.
 
In 2005 this was the truth and Mission Statement from SHURE. It was marketing at CES for the E500 (SE530) There was life beyond the earbud. It was intentionally Douchy but it was also at the time Ground-breaking
 
Predecessors and evolutionary steps on the road to the 8s Had to pay their way and hearld their own might when they were thrust out upon that Cruel Capitalistic stage The CES.In 2005 SHURE decided they had something to shout rather loudly and unabashedly  about ...and they made a bunch of T-Shirts ....turns out they did!
 
PS in case I missed something I will also note  in that picture  it is   Summer and a Weekend  -  And an Old T-Shirt My 10 year Od T-Shirt!

 

[Whazzzup]

Music masterd today is way better, a few exceptions of past brilliance, queen, steely dan, a few others. Electronic and down beat today is way better in the sense of dynamic and expanse, even lady gaga kicks Bowie arse nowadays, and I love Bowie. Ps the electronic genre of music itself is so large now, one has to listen and listen to find what turns your crank, I'll give one great example " tilt" by "babe" check it out. Or "settle down" by kimbra

 

[Ivabign]

The electronics used may be superior (It would have to be) but the actual techniques IMO are sub par - but they know their market - compress so that soft passages aren't missed because of subway noise and other audible intrusions. Dynamic range is not what it used to be.
 
My friends and I used to have a pirate radio station in the late 70's and early 80's - we recorded a lot of those shows. We only used music on vinyl and recorded on reel to reel and high end cassette - one of my buddies is transferring the shows (and cataloguing them - uh, the monotony) to .wav files...
 
He can't believe how good they sound - how punchy they are - he started encoding to mp3, but compared the files to the .wav and stopped mp3 encoding immediately....

 

[koiloco]

^  here are some materials that I personally find very interesting.
 
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=1&doc_id=1283408
 
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl)
 
http://www.rockedition.com/columns/guest-blogs/why-cds-sound-better-than-vinyl/

 

[Monty Burns]

FYI FIVE HOURS with the 8s anchored in perfect comfort thanks to the SCS.
 
The SCS really make long term listening a true pleasure. If it wasn't for the music right in my brain I would not be aware I waswearing them. Just sweet music .. No interruptions  on a perfect summers day.
 
Good Music 8s paired with the SCS relaxing on The Bliss Liner Summer. What could be better... (Yes I know Balanced outputs and silver cables....) FLAC and 24 bit encryption yadda yadda
 
My, my Look at the time to feed the dogs and save the world

 

[Loquah]

There are lots of big generalisations going on in this thread lately...

 
A lot of the music from the past is beautifully recorded despite some lesser technology (try Duke Ellington live at Newport 1958 - wow!), but a lot of it is also pretty poorly recorded / mastered (try Leon Russell's 1969 self titled album). On the other hand there is some really poorly recorded new stuff that is compressed and sometimes even too hot to the point of distortion (try Leon Russell's latest album, Life Journey - eek! Also, John Mayer has both some amazing recordings and some with clipping in the vocals), but there are some recording masterpieces as well from current times and in wide-ranging genres (including pop). I've noticed some especially good recordings coming from the indie scene too.