[nintendoeats]

With the maturity of digital audio and IC components, transparency has become very affordable. As such I have finally spent a little bit of money, mostly on Fiio products, getting some near-flat low-distortion equipment. While overall I am happy with the results, I have also discovered a real downside.
 
I listen to a wide range of music but a majority of it was recorded on analogue equipment 30 years ago or more. As I have put flatter and less distorted equipment in line I am finding that there are parts of this music which I have never heard before, but are clearly very carefully placed and probably had some subtle effect on the texture of the music even on muddier kit. The problem is that with the intentional details you also get the unintentional ones. Much like HD scans of 70s TV shows and films, there are things which virtually no equipment of the period would have shown but which is glaringly obvious now. In a very short time I've identified a couple of my favourite songs which are kind of difficult to listen to on proper kit, Walking on The Moon by The Police and Hope She'll Be Happy by Bill Withers.
 
Walking on the Moon has very serious clipping at the top of the guitar which plays through almost the entire song. It's actually quite obnoxious. The Bill Withers tune is not so bad, but there is some sibilance, also at the top of some parts of the guitar. Even the Led Zepplin song I'm listening to right now has clipping at points in the vocal track (though that is a little more pleasing to the ear and may possibly have been known to the engineers).
 
These effects led me to try and find if they existed in the source material. Using 2 sets of headphones, a set of speakers, a sound card, a DAP, 2 headphone amps, FLAC files and youtube I have determined that these really are parts of the original recordings, they simply aren't noticeable on lower end equipment and formats unless you are listening for them. I think this really highlights the fact that modern consumer equipment contains significantly less distortion than even the highest grade analogue gear (these are not musicians who recorded in their friend's basement into a Walkman).
 
I was wondering if other people had similar experiences, any particular tracks which come to mind and perhaps any thoughts on how to curb these nasty details without losing the good ones.

 

[VNandor]

This problem really just comes down to how you look at it. I would say that what you experience is rather a downside of bad recordings than transparent gear.
 
Some people prefer tube amps, warm headphones and such to mask imperfections. Other people listen to high quality recordings only. And then, there are people like me who are not getting pissed off of clipping,sibilance, compression and bad mastering  that much as long as the music is good otherwise.

 

[nintendoeats]

True, the downside really is of the error in recordings, but from a practical standpoint the recordings are as good as they will ever be while gear can be changed. I generally see the fidelity vs. pleasing sound debate as being about the listener's relationship with the artist, but that breaks down somewhat when fidelity leads to hearing something that they didn't think you would. I suppose that one possible answer is to listen to analog recordings on high qualtiy period gear. That route isn't for me, but I would understand it in somebody with money to burn and the patience to swap things around for different music.
 
The idea of only listening to music of a certain level of quality is strange to me, since you effectively limit yourself to the mid-80s or even later. Many of my favourite songs are recorded on equipment so archaic that anybody with ears using the worst headphones ever made (which are the House of Marley Liberate XLs by the way, just in case somebody is writing a textbook or anything) would be able to date them. In fact, some of the live recordings out there sound great partially because of the absolutely horrific recording quality. I mean, listen to this version of Ceremony. It is absolutely haunting and you can't hear a damned thing Ian Curtis is saying.