Bad Recording Best Listened to On Good System or Car Stereo

[Ron Resnick]

There is a piece of music you love, but you think the sound quality of the recording is poor or irritating. Would you rather listen to this track on a great high-end system, or on a very modest system like a car stereo or a small mid-fi bedroom system?

What is the reason for your preference?

Please give us examples.

 

[treitz3]

Oh, Ron.....this is a subject to where I could type for hours.

The QUICK -

Adele. Listen while driving the the truck with the windows rolled down next to an 18 wheeler at 85 MPH.
Billie Eilish. Through the NAP, so the recording calms down a stint and isn't so excited with a mid bass suck out.
"Ascent" from the Don Dorsey off of the Telarc album "Time Warp", performed by one of my favorites. Erich Kunzel and the Cincinatti Pops Orchestra? Oh yeah baby....the reference rig fo'sho'!

Different tracks have different listening preferences and it all depends on the system, the room, the atmosphere, the noise floor, the synergy within a system along with a plethora of other aspects. This is a good question but is somewhat of an open ended question.

It completely depends.

Tom

 

[Holli82]

Journey....great in the car terrible in the house

 

[Ron Resnick]

Journey....great in the car terrible in the house

This is how I voted! Sadly, to my ears, so much of my favorite 1980s rock and pop sounds like aluminum foil dragged on asphalt on a big, high-end system. I think such a system highlights the bad recording and multi-track sonic mess of those songs.

I much rather listen to those poorly recorded 1980s rock and pop songs on the car stereo!

 

[XV-1]

I can enjoy both

 

[Daverich4]

Sadly, to my ears, so much of my favorite 1980s rock and pop sounds like aluminum foil dragged on asphalt on a big, high-end system.

This. Still love it in the car though.

 

[wbass]

It's not a terrible recording, but one of my best listening experiences ever was "Adam Raised a Cain" blasted out of the blown-out speakers of an early-90s Toyota Tercel. On a cassette dug out from under the driver's seat.

 

[rando]

This is how I voted! Sadly, to my ears, so much of my favorite 1980s rock and pop sounds like aluminum foil dragged on asphalt on a big, high-end system. I think such a system highlights the bad recording and multi-track sonic mess of those songs.

I much rather listen to those poorly recorded 1980s rock and pop songs on the car stereo!

One could seek out versions not mastered for radio if so disposed.

Or bid on the rights instead of constructing a new shed. Do what you want with the property.

 

[stehno]

There is a piece of music you love, but you think the sound quality of the recording is poor or irritating. Would you rather listen to this track on a great high-end system, or on a very modest system like a car stereo or a small mid-fi bedroom system?

What is the reason for your preference?

Please give us examples.

Good question, Ron. However, as things stand your question is a bit perplexing. You mention the questionable sound quality of a given recording. But then you associate that same recoridng sounding seemingly poor or irritating with a great high-end system.

If this scenario you (and others) paint is not a perplexing paradox, then at the very least it's an oxymoron. Why? Because every recording is less than perfect and therefore inferior sounding though some are obviously more inferior than others. The same can be said about every last playback system. Since a truly great but still inferior (less than perfect) playback system can make some recordings sound rather musical, then it stands to reason that an even greater playback system should cause even more inferior recordings to also sound more musical.

IOW, if a playback system is truly great, then fewer and fewer recordings should sound poor or irritating as you put it.

What perplexes me is that so many continue to blame the poor sound quality of inferior recordings when in reality it should be clear the real message is the system may not be as "great" as previously thought.

So to answer your question, if I thought a recording sounded poor or irritating, I'd continue to listen to it on my obviously less-than-great playback system with the newfound realization / understanding that I've more work to do on my system. Which happens to be true of every last playback system anyway since no system has "arrived". And then I'd get to work on my system.

Examples? Here's a definitely inferior recording and dispite its numerous shortcomings, I still have a blast listening to its level of musicality above 100db. In fact, I'd venture to say there's not too many recordings much more inferior than this.