MP3, FlAC/WAV, CD, or Record?

[MrBoat]

Have they ever heard a live musical performance at all? Or even just any musical instrument, even as played by a street beggar!?

I don't disagree with your post, but I keep hearing this reference to "live" music as a comparison or goal. I have used it myself before but from a different perspective. Much having to do with specific genres or say, the differences between electrified vs. unplugged. I spent a lot of time listening to live music for the better part of 3 decades. The places I would have to situate myself to get the best sound overall, was about what a near field situation tends to mimic the closest, but just scaled down.

Personally, with most of the mainstream offerings, I prefer studio over live. It does not matter to me if the outcome is completely genuine, as long as it is pleasing to listen to, and the unwanted distortions, low.

I still get to hear live performances from time to time and still have friends who play different instruments. If I was going to be a stickler for true to life sound, it would be something like a violin, acoustic guitar, or other instruments on a more point blank, unplugged front. Sitting in some random spot from that of an audience, not so much. The other instruments I care about, my systems have been able to resolve that for quite some time, that spans decades.

A well designed and set up studio performance can be a wonderful thing. It's when they take shortcuts in the beginning of something live, in studio or out, with the notion of "repairing" it afterwards, is where my ears start to lose interest. That, crowd noise and other interruptions.

The real issue, from my experience is, that "audiophiles" and purists, are such a tiny minority, that recorded music dedicated to them is actually quite rare, comparatively. What they end up doing is spending a lot of time instead, trying to repair recordings that were never designed to be under such listener/equipment scrutiny to begin with. Which is no more genuine to the "live" aspect than anything else.

People often question why I have multiple systems. I'm not a collector or hoarder. It's just that a lot of the music I listen to, was designed to be played on something other than so-called "audiophile" grade equipment. The lesser stuff (again with live exposure as a comparison) just resolves it better.

 

[sterling shoote]

I don't disagree with your post, but I keep hearing this reference to "live" music as a comparison or goal. I have used it myself before but from a different perspective. Much having to do with specific genres or say, the differences between electrified vs. unplugged. I spent a lot of time listening to live music for the better part of 3 decades. The places I would have to situate myself to get the best sound overall, was about what a near field situation tends to mimic the closest, but just scaled down.

Personally, with most of the mainstream offerings, I prefer studio over live. It does not matter to me if the outcome is completely genuine, as long as it is pleasing to listen to, and the unwanted distortions, low.

I still get to hear live performances from time to time and still have friends who play different instruments. If I was going to be a stickler for true to life sound, it would be something like a violin, acoustic guitar, or other instruments on a more point blank, unplugged front. Sitting in some random spot from that of an audience, not so much. The other instruments I care about, my systems have been able to resolve that for quite some time, that spans decades.

A well designed and set up studio performance can be a wonderful thing. It's when they take shortcuts in the beginning of something live, in studio or out, with the notion of "repairing" it afterwards, is where my ears start to lose interest. That, crowd noise and other interruptions.

The real issue, from my experience is, that "audiophiles" and purists, are such a tiny minority, that recorded music dedicated to them is actually quite rare, comparatively. What they end up doing is spending a lot of time instead, trying to repair recordings that were never designed to be under such listener/equipment scrutiny to begin with. Which is no more genuine to the "live" aspect than anything else.

People often question why I have multiple systems. I'm not a collector or hoarder. It's just that a lot of the music I listen to, was designed to be played on something other than so-called "audiophile" grade equipment. The lesser stuff (again with live exposure as a comparison) just resolves it better.

Some live concerts are too loud, hurting my ears so much, I just want to find an exit to escape the experience. My wife loves Country Music, I don't; but, nevertheless I go to these loud concerts at the YUM Center in Louisville, KY because my wife thinks it is fun. At any rate, I'd much prefer to listen to my stereo at home than to attend a live concert, the exception would of course be an opportunity to see the Rolling Stones live again.

 

[Bucknekked]

Some live concerts are too loud, hurting my ears so much, I just want to find an exit to escape the experience. My wife loves Country Music, I don't; but, nevertheless I go to these loud concerts at the YUM Center in Louisville, KY because my wife thinks it is fun. At any rate, I'd much prefer to listen to my stereo at home than to attend a live concert, the exception would of course be an opportunity to see the Rolling Stones live again.

Sterling
Interesting post. "Some concerts are too loud". For a long time, I always thought that was the point of the whole experience of live Rock n Roll : how loud it was. At some point however, the bands found a way to amp it up even more and it crossed over in to the pain zone. The first "pain zone" concert I can recall was AC/DC. If we hadn't had earplugs to stuff in, we would have had to leave. The irony isn't lost on me. Stuffing your ears with plugs so you can listen to a band seems self defeating. There are a lot of loud concerts but for me personally, I think AC/DC takes the cake. That was mind numbingly loud.

Other Rock n Rollers have figured it out: hitting a balance where its still plenty loud, but not crossing over in to the pain zone. We saw Aerosmith 2 years ago and they were plenty loud, but, not obnoxiously so. ZZ Top has that fine balance down: plenty of sound, but tolerable.

Now that I have a lot of experience with live shows, I crave them a lot less. Not necessarily because of the sound, but because of the hassle of crowds, seating, jostling and all the other crap you endure to get to and from the show. Then there's the list of warmup bands that may, or may not, be any good at all. Anytime I want great music now I can just mozey down to the music room and there it is: concert quality sound and a concert level I get to control. I am with you there.