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In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Accuracy vs. Musicality (and YMMV)
Post Subject: There is definitely truth to thatPosted by Gargoyle on: 8/17/2024
Music is heavily influenced by the technology in which is listened to and produced on.
The tubed amplifiers started to compete with "live" instruments, eventually horns just did sound great over radio and solid state appliances (Typically)
Accessible amplification almost completely took over live music.
Some of the "best" Micheal Jackson songs were mixed by sitting in the back of a sedan listening to the rear 6x9" speakers, not in a studio.
Some more modern music is primarily made on and listened to on computers, often just headphones, for example Skrillex et al. To listen to some of that contemporary computer music stuff with a ported woofer isn't the crime of the century provided the bass hits that pass band. The computer IS the instrument and can sound pretty much as intended with just headphones.
In these cases the music is mixed for the lowest common denominator. Very interesting.
Personally I could not stand any kind of music with horns in it until I built my first tube amplifier. I also fell in love with Brubeck.
Conversely to listen to "Moog" style synthesized music, say deadmau5 on a "accurate" tubed system is absolutely jaw dropping, I'm getting goosebumps on my arms right now just thinking of a particular example.
There is a version of "I remember" from 2009 that starts off with that typical annoying dance drum beat, a long bare intro almost makes you switch the track, but then when the music starts to quietly build, the beat sounds completely different. This song eventually opens up to almost orchestra levels, if I may be hyperbolic. The richness, the complexity, the width of these tones are very welcomed by my ears.
Designing music for a specific limited reproduction devices does not exclude it from sounding good on a well rounded system.
I don't even know where one would begin to try and make any of this more subjectively more "musical", without compromising the rest of it.
The types of music that became enjoyable to me is tied to how "HiFi" my system is, even if it is not completely broadband. I would have never got into Brubeck or Deadmau5 without it. Accuracy is more important than absolute freq response IMO.
(On a side note, I'm a little perplexed because I don't hate these temporary class D amps that I am using. It's going to be a real unexpected debate when it comes time to build DSETs.)
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