Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Death of High Fidelity

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Michael James
<cavallino_rapante [at] yahoo.com>wrote:

> High fidelity is 'around', although I would claim that the pool of ears
> capable of appreciating the sounds generated by equipment that costs about
> as much as a new Mercedes is much, much smaller than ever.  Convenience
> rules, and lest we forget that the music that matters most to today's
> listeners was NOT generated or recorded on equipment that is as
> sophisticated as the modern Audiophile's setup - so what, exactly, is the
> need for ultra-fidelity audio reconstruction of a sound file that started
> life as a digitally preserved, low-fi recording?  You're throwing big-money
> away trying to create a soundstage or recover audio data that was never
> there to begin with.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetics of tube-powered amplifiers,
> especially the ones for ipod and digital sources, but most folks of my
> generation grew up on cassettes/CDs and cannot 'hear' the difference in
> sound reproduction that would justify the $$$$$$$$ investment for such
> equipment.  I'd like to, but my ears must be shot from the loud concerts and
> the constant headphone play cranked to 11.
>
> M


Mike James & Rick,

I get where you're coming from that newer music is not hi-fi (typically) in
the recording stage...however, some of it is. Timberlake, Aguilera, Robin
Thicke use real instrumentation in a good # of their songs.

Bottom line is that I listen to everything pretty much, and I have high end
home & car systems. When I put in some of the newer CDs in from Top 40
artists, I can never listen to them as loud as I could some of the older
"audiophile" stuff, especially in the car.  I tuned my car to really capture
the dynamics of great recordings and as such have sacrificed the ability to
enjoy the newer stuff to an extent. I've considered compromising that
recently, but it sucks to have to do that.

As a reference, if I listen to the good stuff in the car, a nice sweet spot
volume wise would be about 23-26 (out of 35). Most rap, newer pop will drop
this sweet spot to about 16-18 and not be as dynamic. All I ideally want is
for it to be about the same....use less compression please.

One piece of music makes the system come alive and justifies the great
expense. The other makes it feel like it's going to rip everything into
pieces.

BTW, synthesized bass *can* sound very nice if done right.

FG