The “WOW!”: What’s a track, album, or artist you never appreciated until you heard it on quality gear?
The “YECH”: What‘s a track, album, or artist you thought sounded fine or even good until you heard it on a revealing, high-end system?
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Still, Dre. Incredible on studio monitors. And Limit to your Love by James Blake. On a good system suddenly there’s a massive wobbly sub bass!
For some weird reason, most of Zeppelins’ albums sound thin and shittiy on my system…its really weird.
I found the only way to hear Zeppelin at its best is on a very good vinyl rig playing the Classic Records pressings. They sound great.
Tried many others pressings and CDs, but if Jimmy Page has had anything to do with the remastering you can be guaranteed it will sound too bright and have very little bass.
Listen to the remasters.
The remastered versions of Zeppelin albums found on Tidal sounds absolutely amazing on my system. Interesting to hear this from y’all…
Agree, the remastered zeppelin sounds amazing, just a lowered level so you have to turn it up more. I use Since I’ve Been Loving You on III as a demo track. Also the remastered Beatles is incredible, Come Together another great reference track.
Modern recordings can use much lower frequency levels that older recordings simply don’t have. Too much bass on a record would make the stylus jump out of the groove.
Totally bass shy, yes. And not very dynamic. Zeppelin is the best example.
Physical Graffiti and Coda are alright but those early albums are rough!
PJ Harvey - 1995 album To Bring You My Love.
Got it in 1995 on CD when it came out and liked it. But was not until I got the 2001 reissued record and played it on a very good system did I fully appreciate this album. Monster dynamics, earthy, raw, deep, emotional and dramatic.
PJ Harvey - 2000 album Stories From The City…
Fantastic songs but utterly ruined by the very compressed dynamic range. Flogged this to death on my car CD player and sounded nice, but playing the CD or record on a good system reveals just how awfully flat it sounds. Dead, no impact. Killed by DR compression.
It hurts to say because they are gods for me but: The Beatles till “Help“.
They mixed weird stereo sound and used absolutely aweful microphones. Even for those days standards their records sound terrible on good equipment.
I have always thought Help had a lower sq than their other LPs. Interesting.
Most of their catalogue has been remastered brilliantly. Especially the Deluxe versions.
I think listening to anything of this era in stereo is a mistake.
Pretty much every overcompressed dynamically EDM track from 2000+. I just hear that digital distortion from bad limiting almost everywhere, on my ATH-M50x
On cheap Bluetooth speakers it’s ok tho.
EDM seems comes in two forms. Mixed for shitty car stereos, or club sound systems. You’re basically fighting an uphill struggle listening to it in other situations. Though if you have a good subs the stuff mixed for actual clubs can be good.
Is the reason because they had to mix for AM use? I read a long time ago that the studio monitors had tape put over the tweeters to emulate sound from a tranny radio.
Honest to god some of Bowie’s iconic albums don’t sound great on my system. It’s a real disappointment and I’m kinda in disbelief.
Low, Heroes, and Lodger sound thin and weirdly mixed. They don’t sound robust, rather muddy and flat… missing impact. Such a shame, as I adore that music and it sounds “fun” and full on my Bose SoundLink Mini.
It’s a weird one.
I have heard musical scholars say Adele is poorly recorded but I am not sure why. I have not noticed it myself.
Rumors was never a favorite album of mine until I heard it on a real system.
I never realized how strong the BASS is on “Dreams” until now!
I have the 45rpm hoffman Vinyl of Rumours and it one of the best sounding records I own.
Standout production on Rumors. Also Tango in the Night though to a slightly lesser degree.
Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and Thriller sound amazing.
Guns and roses sound bad recorded unfortunately.
Lorde’s album Pure Herione is a bit of a departure from my musical taste. In fact, I really didn’t like the main single (Royals) so my expectations of the album were very low. The album is so well recorded that it drew me in. I have listened to it many times cover to cover and just been blown away by the enveloping sound, especially the second half of the album. Truly a masterclass in recording, revealed only to us that care to assemble a great system. Love it.
David Guetta, Nothing but the beat
On any decent system it is a boomy, overly loud but still pinched, mess. Which is a shame because there are some fun songs on there.
Any song involving Mark Ronson.
A Raw Understanding by The Flashbulb is my go to when I really want to hear what headphones or speakers are capable of. I’ve heard it so many times through so many different setups that it gives me a great measure of what they can do with the kind of music I’m into.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=eQMpbgRcIJ0&si=l9j6k6tYL9GeS_1x
Also a big fan of using Daft Punk - One More Time, Alannah Miles - Black Velvet and a full long listen to Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta.
I never liked any Deftones music after Around The Fur. Their music became more complicated starting with White Pony and it sounded like a cacophony of competing noises. I recently gave them a listen with some good headphones and I feel like I can parse out the nuances of their music and it finally started to click for me.