The Dumbing Down of Audio

[gene]

audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-dumbing-down-of-audio/">
We live in an amazing time. Science is making bigger and better tomatoes, continually perfecting synthetic materials to enhance our lives, while making electronics more compact, powerful and affordable. It's amazing that you can buy a wrist watch with a more powerful computer today than the ancient computers that used to fill an entire room only 50 or so years ago.

Science has also made significant advances in the home theater world. Displays are continually getting better, slimmer and cheaper. Speakers are continually getting more refined and accurate. Receivers are being packed with more powerful processing features making them a better value to the end-user and yielding higher entertainment because of their ability to be the master of so many domains.

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[Buckeyefan 1]

Awesome editorial. I couldn't agree more.

[furrycute]

These days I am mainly listening to audio books compressed in mp3 format on my cheap flash memory player. This way I have been "reading" more books than I ever would if I were actually to sit down and read a book. And the mp3 files sound adequate to convey the vocal information.

While I had my ipod, I exclusively ripped my CDs in the apple lossless format. I just couldn't tolerate compression of music of any sort.

[Sheep]

I spotted a typo.

Receivers are being packed with more powerful processing features making them a better value to the end-user and yielding higher entertainment because of their ability to be THE master of so many domains.

There ya go.

Great read. One day, with your help, we can rid the world of this bull.

SheepStar

[Jedi2016]

I get into this argument all the time, trying to explain audio compression to people who think that 128Kb MP3s sound "just as good" as a CD.

Granted, I fall into the category of owning cube speakers (not as small and tinny as the Bose cubes mentioned in the article), but I still know when something is getting too dumbed down.

MP3 is good enough to listen to on my computer when I'm working (background filler), but not enough for when I really want to enjoy music.. then I go for DVDs or CDs running through the sound system downstairs. I heartily agree with the whole iPod thing.. MP3 is killing the quality of music, and people are eating it up left and right. I fear that some day, it'll be nigh impossible to get real music.

[~JC~]

I spotted a typo.

Need to get out more, my friend.

[supervij]

Great article, Gene, and I don't disagree with anything you wrote, but I am getting a little tired of all the iPod-bashing. These things (and other mp3 players) were designed to be portable, i.e., for when you're taking the bus downtown or going for a walk outside. And with all the background noise coming from traffic and other people, it wouldn't matter if you were listening to an mp3, a CD, or an SACD. You're still going to hear pretty much the same thing.

For me, mp3s haven't replaced CDs, DVDs, DVD-As and SACDs in terms of critical listening. Maybe they have for some people, but I find that hard to imagine. The truth is, most people think of music as something to have playing in the background. Very few people actually sit down and listen intently to a CD anymore -- who has the time for that? They do so while they're doing other things: cooking, surfing the net, working, etc. So if you're not paying full attention to a piece of music, it hardly matters if it's SACD-quality or mp3-quality.

I don't think it's necessarily all these gadgets that have dumbed down audio, it's the way we think of music itself.

Just my opinion.

cheers,
supervij

[Sheep]

I spotted a typo.

Need to get out more, my friend.

I found it as I was reading...

What are you saying? You're incapable of reading properly?

SheepStar

[MDS]

Great article, Gene, and I don't disagree with anything you wrote, but I am getting a little tired of all the iPod-bashing. These things (and other mp3 players) were designed to be portable, i.e., for when you're taking the bus downtown or going for a walk outside.

Agreed. Pick the right tool for the job. If you are one of the few that does critical listening, then lossy compression formats aren't the right tool for the job. Then again, MP3 does a very good on many types of music but Jazz and Classical as mentioned in the article are not the types it does well.

Critical listening is a euphemism for 'sit there absolutely still and try to pick out as many flaws as you possibly can'...

[mtrycrafts]

Great read. One day, with your help, we can rid the world of this bull.

SheepStar

We won't live that long.