"sound quality is overrated"

It's a very listenable sound. I find it relaxing to listen too late at night while not annoying the neighbours!

 

Good sound quality is a delicious pleasure. But you must know how to do it and have developed the sense to appreciate it.

 

I don't understand the analog at all costs obsession..

I feel the music itself gets on a secondary level for these analog obsessives

 

I have no cassette player anymore.
I'd play my cassettes just for sentimental nostalgic reasons

 

Yes, I believe that may be the case with some folk, but with other audiophiles it's most likely the lack of incongruities to the sound that enables them to become more immersed in the music.

 

The format I never understood was 8-track. I played a few of my parents' 8-tracks when I was growing up, and they always sounded like crap. But maybe they were just worn out...

 

I love playing 78s on my wind up HMV. It sounds fantastic.

 

I've never seen this format in stores and I never owned a copy

 

I'm curious. Those not that interested in sound quality, do you buy the cheapest television or go for a more expensive, larger HD one?

 

Sounds like someone too young to remember walking into a high end audio store and relishing in the glory of audio bliss in the sound room. Now with earbuds and dinky "smart" speakers sitting on table tops, it's no wonder that they are not impressed. Neither am I. Still listening on my '70s ad '80s legacy systems.

 

It matters to me and that is all that matters.

 

Beat me to it.

"Who cares about visual quality, I watch on my little black and white TV, and I enjoy the programs just as much."

 

Depends on the person and the situation.

I used to get out of my way to get THE best sounding this or that.
Since a basement flooding unfortunately took care of things last year I’ve adjusted my priorities on that.

 

I do wonder when I listen to spotify or something whether I'm hearing the music they way I would have when I was listening to LPs. Probably not. So what does that mean? It's depressing.

 

Or a vinyl vs. digital thread because we know this type of topic reliably brings out the vinyl fans.

 

The general public has spoken loudly and clearly on this topic: They heavily prioritize convenience and cost over quality. That's how we got to a point where it's totally normal to listen music on YouTube via laptop speakers. Take a look at Best Buy ads from 1999 to see how far normal home stereo equipment has fallen in just the last 20 years in terms of sound quality.

 

I have to confess (no, I don't have to) that I like to listen to my music on my laptop using Foobar that is EQ'ed to sound like a transistor radio or the portable mono cassette player I had when I was a kid. But, I only play 60s and early 70s music on it for that nostalgic feel.

 

Hate to break it to you but this isnt just a streaming users thing. It was the majority of record buyers decades back as well as cd's.

Most people didn't care back then and they don't care now.

 

It depends.

If I'm at home doing some dedicated listening, and it's the music I know and love, sound quality definitely matters. If I'm out and about, doing casual/background listening, not so much.

 

I first encountered people like that when I entered the blue-collar working world. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it until I learned of a condition called amusia. I'm guessing that a lot of people have it. Also, my older sister had a stroke and this was the one whose music collection solidified my love of soul music as a small child. She had a great singing voice and loved music just as much as anyone in my family. After her stroke, she didn't care for music anymore. It was heartbreaking to me.

But, for the topic, she never much cared about sound quality except that the music had to have lots of bass and the treble turned down. It used to piss me off.

 

considering I grew up listening to music on a small one speaker transistor radio I think today's sound quality is just fine.

 

I'm not an audiophile, but I want my music to sound good.

I do the vast majority of my listening on my computer or DAP, with 320kb mp3's and nice-sounding headphones.

It's not as good as listening to vinyl on a high-quality stereo system, of course....but it's infinitely more mobile and much less expensive...and the sound really can be quite good.


My father and two brothers have audiophile stereo systems. When those things are blasting, they sound incredible. It would be my preferred way of listening to music if it were feasible for me. It's not.

 

Sound quality is like the taste of food. When I visited Europe the dedication to cheese quality blew my mind. Same with sound, if it matters to you then you make it better. If not, then it's overrated.

 

It's even worse when 24bit/96K releases are brick walled. I'm like who is going to buy a high res releases and want that brick walled?

Lately I've seen the majority of high res releases also be brick walled. Makes no sense

 

While I understand and agree in principle with the point you’re making, it’s a relativist argument that contributes little to a discussion of sound quality merit.

For instance, it would be reasonable to assume that sound quality would always be considered overrated by a deaf person. However, applying this as a standard for the vast majority of music aficionados who aren’t hearing impaired would be not only unfair, but ridiculous. Allowing bare minimums to dictate what’s acceptable for mass acceptance lowers the bar and moves this discussion in the wrong direction.

My 2 cents.

This is a good point. It doesn’t require a super-high end system to appreciate the sound quality of good music. That said, incremental improvement can be heard through better gear. The two variables to be taken into account are individual hearing preferences and the cost/value of associated gear which retrieve music to convey a nuanced appreciation of it. Of course, everyone’s mileage will vary on this.


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