Being in a business with extremely high end audio products, I have noticed that there are few to no recent recordings that actually display high resolution, soundstaging, transparency etc.
While it appears that music quality is of the utmost these days, nothing is cleaner than digital they say, I have actually not seen a quality recording for ages.
In the old vinyl days, Chesky recordings were the tops. Nobody had ever recreated audio the way he and his team did. His high resolution recordings, 96kHz/24bit, have yet to be topped….that I have heard.
Have people just simply forgotten about real audio due to the low grade trollop we are force fed these days, or do people actually feel that today’s recordings offer a high enough standard to show off your system?
Is it perhaps that our ears are being desensitized and having lower expectations?
Are big box stores, blowing out Mexican made Polk speakers, now considered quality audio retailers?
Do people who buy a $4000.00 plasma TV and then spend $200.00 on “surround sound in a box” actually feel they are getting their money’s worth?
Maybe the younger generation has never heard quality audio and they feel that what is around now is suitable?
Why, with all of the technological advancements around today, is it harder to find an audiophile quality recording amongst the trash?
To this day, the best recordings I’ve heard include just about anything by Telarc, Chesky recordings (circa 1985)and the old B7W audiophile tracks (they did two pretty good jazz disks) and of course, Dire Straights Bros. In Arms, which is still one of my favorite demo disks, and one of the most dynamic too.
Perhaps THAT is the issue, most high res recordings are of Jazz or soloists singing acappella, not exactly the fodder of today’s mainstream. Then again, most of you know I am into heavy metal and have managed some pretty hard core bands, but I still appreciate quality audio when I am looking to have my ears sweetened.
Does anyone here know of high quality recordings anymroe, or is it a lost art even in a far more advanced audio world.
