Music

The Hugh Opportunity in High Quality Sound

MP3s suck.  Yes, they’re awfully convenient, but they sound like shit.  Just compare any MP3 to the sound coming off a CD or a 180-gram piece of vinyl.

For the longest time, though, experts have been saying that the convienice of digital tracks will always trump high fidelity.  “Kids these days,” they say, “don’t give a crap about what we would called ‘good sound.’ They’re perfectly happy listening to the tinny shit coming out of laptop speakers or bad ear buds.”

That’s true.  But is that new preference destined to last forever?  Maybe not.  From the BBC:

Eighteen months ago, I made a playlist for my son’s sixth birthday party. He chose the music: Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers, Tinie Tempah’s Pass Out, some Jessie J and One Direction, and Michael Jackson’s Bad. I downloaded the tracks I didn’t have and at the party, after an hour’s football, followed by snacks and one of those mass pile-ons that small boys love (why?), I put my phone into the dock and pressed play.

The sound that emerged was OK. But it couldn’t really compete with the screeching of 20 children fuelled on sugar and additives, so I turned the volume up. The noise was horrible, like a badly tuned radio being put through a final rinse and spin. “Darn it,” I thought (or a stronger equivalent), “the speakers have blown.”

Then the Michael Jackson track came on. It sounded fine. Great, even. I turned it up, and up. No distortion, no fuzz, no problem.

What was going on with my music? Well, if you’re at all interested in sound, you’ll already know the answer. The Jackson track had been uploaded from a CD; the rest, bought online, were in MP3 format, the ‘lossy’ version that doesn’t have the depth and scope of a full recording. MP3s sound acceptable at lower volumes, but cat-scaringly awful when you pump up the jam.

This is sad, because many of us listen to our music, consciously or unconsciously, in MP3 format. 

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Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38022 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “The Hugh Opportunity in High Quality Sound

  • There's no doubt that there are lots of terrible quality MP3s out there, but I can't honestly tell the difference between a high-spec LAME-encoded MP3 and the source. I feel like I'm missing something when I read these posts.

    I listen with an Audioengine D1 DAC and Sennheiser HD-595s. It's hit transparency for me at least.

    Reply

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