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Is Upgrading Degrading?

Is the search for the "perfect system" a kind of vulgarity?

We don't tend to say "I' had an old Bach recording, but I've upgraded to Schoenberg!" We appreciate the wildly diverse character of these two geniuses on their own terms.

ok--it may make sense to say "I've upgraded from the Spice Girls to Bartok" but once music reaches a certain level of seriousness, it seems to me the correct approach is to bask in the aesthetic differences and perhaps the same is true of music systems.

Are we really getting "better sound" along an imagined continuum that runs from ghastly cacophony to some auditory Valhalla or are we just experiencing different wonderful systems with personalities as varied and unique as human beings are?
marburg

Showing 1 response by david12

david12
1,454 posts
 
As your system and perhaps your ear, improves, I think you becom less tolerant of modern compressed recordings. That seems to be all you get in mainstream pop recordings these days.
Part of this hobby is spreading out your musical interests. As Kurk Tank says, meeting friends with a common interest, listening to new music at shows, picking up tips from the hifi press, all lead you into new areas. Currently, having discovered the ECM label, wonderful recordings and music, I am trying to find all I can
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