Do you still play fun (NOT audiophile) music on your high end stereo?

I suspect most would agree that the best music is mostly not super well recorded. What I don't listen to is crappy music that has been given lavish attention to the recording. Thing is, when great music is getting recorded, the musicians and the "recording engineer" often have no idea how great it is going to be. There are obvious exceptions, and they get lots of attention, but they are the few.

 

Oh, you live at an audio show?

 

I think this is a fair question. I’ve read a number of posts by forum members (not necessarily from here as I read several forums) where the person will talk about how great his system is in revealing tiny details in the music, but then go on to also lament that he can’t now enjoy some of his music due to the poor mastering of the music.

I’ve also read numerous equipment reviews where the reviewer will say something along the lines of “the [speakers, amp, etc] are so revealing that they demand other high-quality components.” Well a system built to reveal as much detail as possible can’t compensate for a poorly mastered album. It seems for those cases the best bet is a system that is “warm”, “forgiving”, “rolls off the treble a bit”, etc.

Being a neophyte getting into this hobby, I gravitated to descriptions of “musical” over “detailed” for this reason. Seems to be working for me, as I love listening to music for 6-10 hours a day, depending on work. However, I’m sure there are some great detailed systems that can do the same. I just wanted to do my best not to end up only being able to enjoy a subset of music, so this was the route I took.

 

This….

I love 80’s Soul, much of which is not well recorded… I’d never not listen to it due to that fact.

 

I think this one is really gonna cut it.. My only request is play Doctor Love's theme....

 

Advice I give to any friend who auditions speakers is to bring their own music and don't let the dealer use their demo material. The idea being of course that Keith Don't Go never sounds bad, so it's a trap.

 

I play whatever I enjoy. Silly question!

 

I always try to find the best mastering/pressing I can of an album, but I’m completely at peace with the fact that lots of brilliant music is sonically bad. It doesn’t lessen the enjoyment imo, and I don’t shy away from those recordings (it’s better now after switching to British speakers that have a bit more midrange focus, some speakers are less forgiving).

 

Take it easy he's a nubee.

 

I gotta say I love seeing Tracey Ullman on the OP list. I love that song and play it loud. I get way more enjoyment listening to my favorite pop songs than audiophile recordings. If it makes me wanna sing along, dance or play air drums, it's good. Why would I want to listen to my favorite songs on a low end stereo instead?

 

And "Gloria" always gets me going

 

+1,000

In my case, most of it probably isn't well-recorded, I'm guessing. Or, in the case of many recent pop records, very decently recorded but marred in the mastering suite -- victims of the 'loudness war'.

At any rate, I'm mainly listening to the performance, not the recording. Doesn't mean I'm immune to a great-sounding recording -- stuff on the ECM label (for example) often strikes me as gorgeous-sounding.

 

I don't think I own any audiophile music. Half of what I listen to sounds like it was recorded with a single, duct-taped mic onto tape being used for the fifth time. As such, most of my system is built to be kind to be bad recordings, rather than to reveal every last wart and blemish.

Is this the first question you've seen posed on this forum? "Audiophile music" is a known quantity/classification - it's the well-recorded (but often boring stuff) that gets trotted out at every audio show and "high end" shop to demo equipment. Also the demense of many an "audiophile" who is seen as listening more to their system than to music they actually like.

 

Number nine......Number Nine.......Number nine........

 

I play what I feel like listening to whether it's a cd or vinyl, I like both. It could be smooth jazz, metal, hard rock, blues, Steely Dan, etc. If none of that qualifies as audiophilish enough for my decent system...I'm not the one with the problem. Whatever I listen to I want it to sound the best that it can. I've never gone along with the snobbery and elitism that seems to be associated with Audiophilia and never will. I can enjoy a good tune on a cheap boombox if that's what's available. I really love to read the snobbish comments about not listening to music in a car. My car system ROCKS!

 

I was being kind of facetious and cranky with that post. Having been a member here since 2005 or thereabouts, I obviously know what audiophile masterings are, but audiophile music? Are there artists/bands out there who would actually say, "We make audiophile music"? If that is a known classification, and if there are people out there who only listen to so-called "audiophile music" on their systems, then - .

 

Me, I have a pretty diverse Record Collection, all bases basically covered.

But I got a lot of "cool ones" too, as an example, all the Cheech and Chong Records, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Pasquale Caputo, etc etc.

And yeah, these records are cared for and in as mint condition as my very best Records.

It's a hoot spinning these LP's once in a blue moon. I LMAO when I hear "Ashley Roachclip" (Tommy Chong) saying in the Acapulco Golds Commercial for instance.....

"Hey Man, Whaddaya What, Good Grammar, or Good Taste"? LOL

 

I exclusively listen to Steely Dan on my high fidelity stereo

 

When the mood strikes, I'll play anything, good or bad.

 

I've always liked Alice Cooper's Love It To Death but the recording is low-fi like Born To Run and purposely so. Every time my system gets better it sounds worse on either CD or LP and audiophile reissues. I don't care. The music to me transcends the medium and that to me is the real accomplishment. I like Napoleon Dynamite too so I might have issues.

 

Like many audiophiles I have expansive musical taste. Almost none of my music is chosen on sound quality, but there are plenty excellent sound quality albums in my collection.

I don't find that any music "sounds bad" on my system. I expect there to be large variations in the sound of different tracks and albums, and I enjoy those variations as much as I do anything else.

 

I play whatever music moves me. If my HiFi limited my music choices it would be up for sale.

 

The "still" in this thread title worries me a lot