Is music quality moving away from the "audiophile"

10-04-08: Nietzschelover writes:

Early CDs sucked. But, technology improves. . .

Not in my opinion. I buy mainly "first pressings" made in Japan and West Germany prior to about 1990.

Regards,

Per Synthfreek, just to clarify, I was referring to data compression.
Also, I'm in complete agreement with Bongofury.
And, maybe, Metralla is right about CDs. I dunno. I've never expected much from them to begin with and have always listened mainly to vinyl.
Still, the very first CDs really did suck! They were not even listenable. I mean, c'mon!

It's down to the artists at the end of the day.

Springsteen and Metallica should be shot for their productions on their last albums. But I guess it is a small % who have the type of systems to show up how poor these records sound. They probably sound OK to the vast majority of the people who bought the record. Lets face it as well these are two artists who will be well up on market research, they will not do their careers any damage with this.

Whilst things have changed, downloading , a turn to mini-systems with iPods etc. In another way they haven't-some bands took care in this aspect and others were more concerned with what sounded good in the arenas thay would mean commercial return.

In another sense there is the question Have Audiophiles Moved Away From Current Music?
And the answer of course is yes, it is a generalisation but Audiophiles musical tastes (outwith a handful who remain open to music)are quite narrow and specific. There is nothing wrong with that but there is plenty of good new music that has decent to great recording quality.
The bottom line is a large % of Audiophiles ain't gonna search it out..........

Ben

I agree with your last statement. I am always finding new and amazing bands. I have a daughter that is 27 and a son who is 23. We love making mix tapes to share and I find I listen to what is "new" more than the classics that audiophile's rave about. The Beatles are great, but I am totally bored with them, in a good way. I like what is fresh and modern.

Both my children live with Apple laptops and iPods and really don't share my love for high end audio. I however always respect their music tastes and I really don't think they know what they are missing sonically--they are still "getting" music, it is a soundtrack to their lifes, and their ongoing support of new bands is great for music and its artists.

I was turned on to this forum about two years ago and I like being part of this community. Most of the bands offered up in the "Music" chat are no longer active, and from time to time, you rediscover an album that is like a good classic book. But I totally agree with your statement that very few elders are searching out new music.

10-04-08: Nietzschelover writes:

Still, the very first CDs really did suck! They were not even listenable. I mean, c'mon!

CD players - completely agree. But not the discs.

Regards,