Hmm, well semantics aside, I find it sounds better and not great but good enough to be enjoyable on my good system with room for the "ambience" to breath than on headphones (Chord Mojo to Sony MDR-1AM2).
So I don’t agree with the assertion it sounds "worse" on a good system. In fact there is a lot more to potentially enjoy if you are into it.
I will agree it is not an "audiophile/reference" recording, but I don’t think anyone ever claimed it was. |
I gave it a listen on headphones last night. Very meh overall though the piano was still solid. Much better on the big system which gives the “wall of sound” production room to breath. |
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Do you choose music based on how many Grammy or MTV awards it’s gotten?
No.
Yes obviously better sounding recordings would be better but it is what it is and there is no shortage of recordings I enjoy both old and new. I like music, warts and all. Including BOTW.
If I could wave a magic wand I would but meanwhile I just do what I can to make all music more enjoyable. Does not have to be to my specifications.
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Wow now in hindsight they should definitely revoke those Grammies for BOTW. Clearly they had no idea what they were doing. There are a bunch of people here alone that seemingly could have done it better. They should have consulted with more audiophiles. They definitely missed out on the way more heralded audiophile seal of approval. |
The better your equipment gets, the worse that old, sub-par recordings sound.
I would say the worse they sound compared to the best recordings on same system for sure but any other comparison is highly subjective. |
Yup if a release sounds bad and your system is good and the track bothers you, its up to YOU to fix it. Break out the tone controls, DBX, DSP, equalizer what have you. This is war!!!!!! |
It is MORE than listenable on my rig. Anyone is welcome to come hear it.. |
It is so important to realize that we are listening to productions on our hifi. Every one is different! Like an art museum. Every work is different and done by different people with different techniques for different reasons. How boring if all art is done the same for the same goal of being “realistic “. The reason I can spend countless hours listening to music I might not even be familiar with is I never know what I might hear next. That’s a big part of the thrill of listening to music for me. Sure I have my favorite artists and my favorite recordings but it’s the variety and not knowing what you will hear next that keeps me going. I spend a lot of time using random play off my music server library. It is my library so all stuff I have some interest in. As long as it is not making my ears bleed when they should not be I am good with it. Some recordings will and some are even designed to do that. I want to hear it all! Just some more than others perhaps. |
From Wikipedia: “ Joe Osborn played two separate bass tracks, one high and the other low.” Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound approach was not intended to sound “natural”. |
I read BOTW was produced using Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” production techniques. Read up on that and explains a lot.
The first part with just vocal and piano is a much simpler production. It sounds like the piano was closely stereo miked which spreads the keys across the soundstage.
I used an original CD release of BOTW album streamed at CD resolution using flac format to listen to and assess BOTW the song/track.
For the hit pop release that it was intended to be the recording is pretty good actually overall. Just don’t compare it to a good quality classical recording. Apples/oranges. Though the piano/vocal only first part is not radically different from many. |
I’m on the side of the fence that says I enjoy hearing what old radio tunes really sound like on a good quality modern hifi rig.. It’s often nothing like what you remember....so many things happening that were obscured prior.
If it’s relative lo-fi like from a car radio 50 years ago one pines for, lots of inexpensive options still for that. |
Those two recordings are apples and oranges.
All recordings are produced differently. If that is what you are hearing it is probably an indicator that your hifi is delivering what is in the recording better than before.
Recordings are what they are not want the listener thinks they should be. Important to realize that and not fall into the endless trap of thinking a good hifi can make all recordings sound the way you think they should. Otherwise you end up on the hifi merry go round with no chance of ever getting off. |
