MRC01
Major Contributor
I find LSO Live recordings sound anywhere from excellent to fantastic. I have a lot of large ensemble classical music recordings from 1940s Toscanini to modern, and the LSO Live are consistently among the best sonically. They have big unstrained dynamics, natural voicing with no boxiness, neutral tonal balance, just realistic and natural, a joy to listen to. I play music and I attend live events regularly, and subjectively I think these LSO Live recordings do sound closer to the real thing than most other recordings.
Yet reviewers don't seem to like them as much as I do. They frequently complain about the sonics being "average" while they laud albums that sound worse -- at least to me. When I listen on inferior equipment: in my car, on a clock radio, etc. the situation often reverses. LSO Live recordings sound at bit dead and some inferior recordings having compressed dynamics and bright voicing sound more clear. This makes me wonder whether reviewers really know what good sound quality is, or have audio equipment (whether speakers or headphones) of sufficient quality to hear the difference.
I'm curious what say you all?
Yet reviewers don't seem to like them as much as I do. They frequently complain about the sonics being "average" while they laud albums that sound worse -- at least to me. When I listen on inferior equipment: in my car, on a clock radio, etc. the situation often reverses. LSO Live recordings sound at bit dead and some inferior recordings having compressed dynamics and bright voicing sound more clear. This makes me wonder whether reviewers really know what good sound quality is, or have audio equipment (whether speakers or headphones) of sufficient quality to hear the difference.
I'm curious what say you all?