Re: [ARSCLIST] Fw: [ARSCLIST] Why new CDs sound worse

[Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 7/11/2007 10:43:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
dick@xxxxxxxx writes:

What a  good treatise!

I remember hearing that compressed pumping sound on a  DC-area country 
station in 1980;  even the anouncers sounded like  that.  It drove me nuts 
but my brother (who liked the station) said  he couldn't hear what I was 
talking about.   As music becomes  more industrialized it becomes less 
musical, but that's nothing  new.

Dick



**************************
 
The commercial market has to be aimed at the masses. They are  listening to 
music in their cars, outdoors in a suburb, in the house with the  dishwasher 
running while the neighbor is mowing the lawn. Their acoustic  signal-to-noise 
ratio is about 25 db for their usual background  listening. If the music they 
are listening to has a 50 db range, they can't  hear half of it.
 
They've become used to highly compressed sound and readily accept that they  
now hear, but wouldn't accept something that simply fades to nothing but the 
air  conditioner during soft passages. I don't think you should blame the 
producers  for providing something they can hear.
 
The problem with sales of physical media is that the alternatives are so  
much more convenient. With satellite radio and iPods why fiddle with  discs?  
With today's hyper life style, most people no longer have the time  or the space 
to sit down and quietly listen seriously to music.  One should  hope that 
there are enough affluent individuals with time and listening  environments to 
support a high quality sound market similar to the prerecorded  tape market of 
the '60s, but that has to compete with the home theater now. 
 
Times and technology have changed. It doesn't do much good to keep  
complaining about it.
 
Mike Csontos
 
 



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