The Dumbing Down of Audio - page 2

Closing Thoughts

As music becomes more mainstreamed and bubblegum two-chord rock and mindless pop further encroaches upon our society, people will embrace compression playback devices and continually distance themselves from what real music is supposed to sound like. I fear we are breeding a generation of ignorance to music and fidelity playback. In fact, we may be instilling in our youth the inability to discern what sounds good! Hey, if you eat enough filet of hoof, eventually you'll think ribeye tastes bad. Next time your kid goes into isolation with his iPod and latest Green Day song, try persuading him to go to a local Jazz performance or have him sit down and listen to a quality recorded CD on your non-cubed, iPod-free high performance home theater system. Or buy them a couple of our higher rated albums . The multichannel music is sure to impress even the most jaded of children.

If you haven't heard an unamplified musical performance recently, do yourself a favor and attend one. Your ears will thank you for it. If your only exposure to music is via a compressed playback system and cubed speakers, consider one of our Recommended Systems . Don 't get dumbed down, do this to preserve the sanctity of your own musical intelligence.

Commentary from Dan Banquer

I got to grow up in a different family than most of you have. My father is now a semi retired classical musician. A good portion of my youth was spent in his studio where he rehearsed his woodwind ensembles, and attending some of his concerts with the New Haven Symphony. I played a few different instruments in high school and later decided to attend music school, where I was a performance major. My music career ended for medical reasons, but not my love for music.

Today I hear two things, the unceasing hyper compression, and the lowering of the musical standards of pop music to its lowest common denominator. The pop music that I hear played today makes Motown of the sixties sound like sophisticated jazz. (It isn't jazz by the way, as some idiots out there might have you believe. It's R & B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues!) In my youth, and I am dating myself here, I got to hear bands like Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Both of these bands could play their instruments well and were innovators. They used a blues based format to expand there ideas, and the blues is the basis for rock and jazz.

Today I hear young people talk their way through a song. Melody, harmony, arranging, and song form, have been pretty much dispensed with. I keep waiting for some of these artists to discover the wonderful heritage of American music, but I am starting to lose faith, as the lowest common denominator keeps looking for a new low.

As the musical standards go lower so are the audio standards as there is less and less reason for fidelity. Most manufacturers are very aware of this and will not improve the technology in many areas as there is so little demand.

Commentary from Mark Sanfilipo

Date: 3/12/06

Great article that squarely nails many a lossy-codec issue right on the head.

Whether or not XM radio, mp3s or what have you works for you depends on how your priorities are arranged where it comes to what's important in your listening experience. If maximum fidelity is key, you probably won't find XM radio or mp3s entirely satisfying.

However, if portability and convenience are tops on your list of listening priorities, then compressed files, such as mp3s are a good way to go.

My oldest daughter, Sarah, is a great case in point. Sarah would marry her iPod if it could cook. If it weren't for me she'd never hear anything that wasn't squashed & compressed and run through one sort of lossy codec wringer or another.

She can hear the qualitative differences, but in her mind convenience (and the fact she can store every tune in her collection in something small enough to fit in her purse) far outweighs intrinisc quality. Dr Earl Geddes pointed out in an AES Convention Paper, "Auditory Perception of Nonlinear Distortion" mp3s can have a measured THD upwards of 50% ! For someone like Sarah - who puts convenience & portability above all else - that is simply a non-issue.

If bandwidth or storage restrictions are issues for you, then once again compression is the way to go. Typical in this instance would be the case of someone listening to an Internet-based radio station on their office PC. Sonic wallpaper, if you will.

Of course, there's the couldn't care less crowd and my sons are a great example of that bunch: they really don't care, so long as its loud and annoying; compressed to the eyeteeth suits them just fine.

On the other hand, my youngest daughter, JB, recognizes the difference between compressed and not compressed and definitely prefers the latter. Out of all my kids she's also the one most exposed to live music on a consistent basis.

Some of the debates going on in various formats between pro- and anti-mp3 crowds in many ways echo the debates I used to hear between the pro- and anti-8 track folks back in the 70's.