Can your audio system be too transparent?

[Jimbob54]

Many recording studios in India have taken it one step further.
Several new albums are seemingly being mastered with a V-ish curve to begin with so that they come across as more "transparent" on BT boomboxes , sound bars and TWSs ( which comprise the bulk of audio hardware sales)

Albums that were released in the 80s sound far better than most current releases unfortunately.

TWS? True wireless something?

 

[superczar]

TWS? True wireless something?

Yeah , those ubiquitous wireless earphones that you see everywhere - True wireless stereo I believe.
Now I do love the convenience they offer - and the SQ from most decent ones is not too bad for when you are on the move.

But I could had never guessed that their popularity would lead to such an unintended consequences

 

[Jimbob54]

Yeah , those ubiquitous wireless earphones that you see everywhere - True wireless stereo I believe.
Now I do love the convenience they offer - and the SQ from most decent ones is not too bad for when you are on the move.

But I could had never guessed that their popularity would lead to such an unintended consequences

Ah. Possibly more popular where you are (India?) than not so sunny England. They are a thing here but possibly just the apple ones.

 

[Chrispy]

Can't waste time watching Guttenberg videos, could care less what he's babbling about now....or ever.

 

[Robin L]

The one that gets me is the jacked-up treble of all those Columbia [and related labels, like odyssey] in the 1970's. I remember somebody writing that the bookshelf speakers in the executive offices at Columbia had shag carpet over the speakers. The Japanese pressings I got in the 1970's were notable for even more treble. There ought to be presets for these things with vinyl playback, along with real time de-clicking.

 

[superczar]

Ah. Possibly more popular where you are (India?) than not so sunny England. They are a thing here but possibly just the apple ones.

Yup, Have seen quite a few people on the London tube sporting the Apple ones - and to be honest, the noise cancelling Pro variant does strike a rather fine balance between convenience and audio quality.
In India though, these things hit the market during a perfect storm-
mobile data rates were spiralling down to ridiculously low levels (2 quid for 45GB a month or so), spotify and Apple music undercutting each other to just over 100 INR (1 GBP) - not to mention the video streaming wars.
Android handsets had anyway democratized smartphones already.

A quick search on amazon.in would show you hundreds of these earbud makes ranging from 1000 INR to 30,000 INR and every kid (or grownup ) wants one (or more)

Again, as much as I love the fact that access to audio (and information) is cheaper and widespread than ever, all of this has had several unintended consequences - and the V curve on recordings is the probably the least of my associated concerns

 

[Jimbob54]

Yup, Have seen quite a few people on the London tube sporting the Apple ones - and to be honest, the noise cancelling Pro variant does strike a rather fine balance between convenience and audio quality.
In India though, these things hit the market during a perfect storm-
mobile data rates were spiralling down to ridiculously low levels (2 quid for 45GB a month or so), spotify and Apple music undercutting each other to just over 100 INR (1 GBP) - not to mention the video streaming wars.
Android handsets had anyway democratized smartphones already.

A quick search on amazon.in would show you hundreds of these earbud makes ranging from 1000 INR to 30,000 INR and every kid (or grownup ) wants one (or more)

Again, as much as I love the fact that access to audio (and information) is cheaper and widespread than ever, all of this has had several unintended consequences - and the V curve on recordings is the probably the least of my associated concerns

Agreed!

 

[sergeauckland]

Many recording studios in India have taken it one step further.
Several new albums are seemingly being mastered with a V-ish curve to begin with so that they come across as more "transparent" on BT boomboxes , sound bars and TWSs ( which comprise the bulk of audio hardware sales)

Albums that were released in the 80s sound far better than most current releases unfortunately.

Not so different to what happened in the 90s when albums were mastered with zero dynamic range and weird EQ to sound like FM radio which by then had gone so heavily processed that stations bragged about limiting DR to 1dB and being the loudest on the dial. Previously pop singles had been EQed to sound good on AM radio, so buggering up the sound to capture the kids' attention is nothing new.

Fortunately fewer kids are into Jazz or classical so there's some chance for the rest of us.

S

 

[BillG]

Often, around these parts when DSP is discussed

Yeah, I've been here since '18, and am familiar. While the more "exotic" uses of DSP on a consumer level aren't discussed here that often, they are on occasion. For example, I recall the following generating some buzz around here awhile back:

https://www.theoretica.us/bacch4mac/

And then we've got the science and engineering folks discussing all manner of DSP for their endeavors.