Poll, what styles of music genres do you very regularly listen to? You who vote for: Other, please tell us which genre it is. We are curious.

[Chr1]

WTF. Feel so old.
Just had to Google genres.
Just Googled "wandelweiser"...Like to think that I change wisely. Probably not tho.
Thought "onkyo" was a brand.
Know I am old, and therefore like "old music".

Generally a bit of a pirate of music myself these days, but just bought some Anthony Rother... Remixes of his first single "Destroy Him My Robots - hybrid edition"

(Genre : Techno/Electro)

 

[RexrothPigeon]

WTF. Feel so old.
Just had to Google genres.
Just Googled "wandelweiser"...Like to think that I change wisely. Probably not tho.
Thought "onkyo" was a brand.
Know I am old, and therefore like "old music".

Generally a bit of a pirate of music myself these days, but just bought some Anthony Rother... Remixes of his first single "Destroy Him My Robots - hybrid edition"

(Genre : Techno/Electro)

Richard Nixon was president of the United States when I was born.

I am far from young.

 

[xanalog]

Alt/Punk/Indie should be their own categories.

Recently, our cable provider (Charter/Spectrum) notified users that their Alt-rock music-channel (MC15/1950) was being permanently 'muted'.
It struck me funny that -of the 50 music channels- Alt-rock station was the only one being axed.

I had to do some digging as to the reasons why Alt-rock was targeted.
I guess I've been living in my own music bubble! I should have paid more attention to different genres that I never even heard of;
[Have you "shoegazed" lately? Yeah, me neither.]

*First two -somewhat- conflicting industry facts were:

Link#1 >> Global Recorded Music Revenues Reach $36.2 Billion in 2024 Amid Slower Growth
Link#2 >> Global recorded music revenues hit $29.6bn in 2024, up 4.8% YoY; users of paid music subscriptions reach 752m

Third was the 'GlobalMusicReport':

*As of 2024, the world’s Top 10 biggest recorded music markets are:
1. USA
2. Japan
3. UK
4. Germany
5. China
6. France
7. South Korea
8. Canada
9. Brazil
10. Mexico
[What? Chinese are too busy and Indians don't do music?? With ~25% of world' population?]

*One source states that there are over 300 music genres in the world.

*Music Genre Preferences by Age Group - (With 62% of US listeners, classic rock has the most loyal fan-base in the 45-54 age group.)

*I still hadn't dug deep enough for Alt-rock stats, within above categories.

Most Popular US Music Genres (Y-pulse data):

Headphonesaddicts website puts Alt-rock at the top of their most popular rock-music styles:
• Alternative rock
• Rock & roll
• Progressive rock
• Indie rock
• Punk rock
• Psychedelic rock
• Acid rock
• Glam rock
• Root rock
• Folk-rock
• Arena rock
• Soft rock
• Funk rock
• Garage rock
• Space rock
• Electronic rock
• Experimental rock
• Surf rock
• Brit-pop
• Art rock
• Stoner rock
• Instrumental rock
• Jazz-rock
• Sleaze rock
• Gothic rock
• Jam rock
• Industrial rock
• Geek rock
• Yacht rock
Before getting bored of digging deeper, I dropped my shovel, for the TL&DR summary:
The "3Ps" dominate the music scene: poP/hip-hoP/raP
But there is some hope that Alt-rock will survive.

 

[Soniclife]

Have you "shoegazed" lately?

Yes, regularly, and also a huge fan of how it's creept into other genres. Who doesn't love a wall of noise.

 

[Vacceo]

Death and Black Metal on a daily basis.

 

[EJ3]

Richard Nixon was president of the United States when I was born.

I am far from young.

I was 14, hitch-hiking my way around Europe when Richard Nixon resigned & what shilling (in Austria) I was getting for my $USD dropped like a rock over night.
I still participate in all kinds of stuff that there are few my age doing. My wife is 7 years younger & not quite as adventurous (but more so than most our age).

 

[xanalog]

I was 14, hitch-hiking my way around Europe...

You musta missed some of the good tunes of that era, in the States.

 

[EJ3]

You musta missed some of the good tunes of that era, in the States.

I was concieved in Charleston, SC but born in Salzburg, Austria. I caught the audio bug in Graz, Austria that same summer.
The only thing I missed out on was football practice, but I was done with that 4 years prior.
Europe, then (Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, mainly): Hanging out in clubs, partying, spending nights with girls (who were also traveling the concert scene) in Hostels. Seeing Chuck Berry & Rory Gallagher on a cruise boat on the Danube. At other places: Johnny Winter, John McLaughlin, and others.
I had a blast (it was one of nine trips that I made to my born continent by the time I was 27).
Yeah, I'm so sorry that I did not spend that summer hanging out in the U.S.A.
Damn, I would have missed out on a hedonistic education had I not traveled.
Yep, I'm miserable about it.

 

[Mart68]

You can always catch up with the music when you get back, it's not like it's going anywhere.

 

[ADU]

I voted all the above. Not included on the list is Asian, African, Balkan, and Middle Eastern, all of which I listen to.

Balkan pop-folk is one of the more interesting genres for me at the moment, because it is at the literal and figurative crossroads of the world, taking influences from all different directions.

 

[Arindal]

This seems like reasonable performance from a pair of 5 1/4" woofers in Revel's entry level floorstander, the F35. If one wants serious high level kick drum sound this little speaker will be stressed, but if high passed and supplemented by a subwoofer, things would be more satisfactory.

It might look like a reasonable compromise in terms of lower cutoff frequency and max. SP. Nevertheless it is supporting my claim that even medium-sized floorstanders are showing hints of the lower bass not being ideal in terms of dynamics and port frequency stability with electronic sounds (don't know how this particular models sounds, it was just an example of typical results which are commonly associated with such impression).

Otherwise, according to Amir's and Erin's data, this is a respectable speaker at the price. As always there are choices, and knowledge and data help make them.

The question is if it is a reasonable compromise for what common pop music lovers expect. It is a 3-way, 4 driver design, bigger than anything a common music listener would ever let into his or her living room. Explaining people why such a chunky speaker does not deliver a precise timing and ´kick´ with EDM (if that would be the case, we cannot be sure based on the measurements), or advising them to switch to something even bigger or a multi-subwoofer array, is IMHO not the best way to bring people to hi-fi in general or convince them that a science-based approach to hi-fi is leading to a maximum of personal listening enjoyment.

People are used to portable bluetooth speakers 1/10th the size of that floorstander and 1/5th of its prize to deliver satisfyingly precise, low-reaching, kicking EDM beat that makes you dance. At least the class-leading models are capable of that, if you don't take max SPL as a goal of its own into account. If a review based on measurements cannot tell which floorstander can deliver a similar amount of ´fun bass´ and which is just producing some bloated boomy bass blob, isn't it understandable they all completely ignore measurement-based reviews and fall for subjectivistic influencers dancing on TikTok to the sounds of some bluetooth cans?

 

[rdenney]

The question is if it is a reasonable compromise for what common pop music lovers expect. It is a 3-way, 4 driver design, bigger than anything a common music listener would ever let into his or her living room. Explaining people why such a chunky speaker does not deliver a precise timing and ´kick´ with EDM (if that would be the case, we cannot be sure based on the measurements), or advising them to switch to something even bigger or a multi-subwoofer array, is IMHO not the best way to bring people to hi-fi in general or convince them that a science-based approach to hi-fi is leading to a maximum of personal listening enjoyment.

People are used to portable bluetooth speakers 1/10th the size of that floorstander and 1/5th of its prize to deliver satisfyingly precise, low-reaching, kicking EDM beat that makes you dance. At least the class-leading models are capable of that, if you don't take max SPL as a goal of its own into account. If a review based on measurements cannot tell which floorstander can deliver a similar amount of ´fun bass´ and which is just producing some bloated boomy bass blob, isn't it understandable they all completely ignore measurement-based reviews and fall for subjectivistic influencers dancing on TikTok to the sounds of some bluetooth cans?

It's not the job of science to bring in new users. But if a person has decided to build a sound system using bigger boxes such as quite a few that are on display at their nearest Best Buy, the science will help them make a good choice.

If person is happy with a Bluetooth speaker the size of a water bottle, then reading Floyd Toole isn't going to make them an audio enthusiast. (Although, he did state within the last few of his posts that there are some excellent sound bars, at least excellent given the form factor.) But if they get to experience what larger speakers might provide for them and get hooked by it, they might well benefit from the science he has created over the years, whether or not they even know who he is.

But I disagree with your strawman in any case. Most people are perfectly happy to buy a sound system with bigger speakers for their home theater. There, the main alternative (beyond the speakers in the TV) is that soundbar. They may use the Bluetooth speaker in their office, or at the beach, but not when watching movies or playing video games.

And I think your conflation of EDM listeners with even the majority of sound-system users might not stand up to data.

Rick "who doesn't know a single person of any age who would identify as a music lover who is 'into' electronic dance music as their primary genre" Denney

 

[Chr1]

Erm. I do. And a good chunk of folks here under 60 do too, I'd wager.
Off topic, but interesting.

PS I am 60.

 

[kyuu]

Erm. I do. And a good chunk of folks here under 60 do too, I'd wager.
Off topic, but interesting.

PS I am 60.

I don't know if EDM is my "primary" genre, or even how much of what I listen to fits into a nebulous genre definition. I definitely do listen to a lot of electronic music though. And for certain, it sounds a helluva lot better on my primary Revel surround system (the W553Ls are somewhat comparable to the F35s in a lot of respects) than on any Bluetooth speaker in existence.

 

[Chr1]

Deriding modern music is doubtless (almost) as old as music itself methinks.

Could be wrong here though.

PS Possibly controversial : But I think that the majority of opera needs either a script and/or subtitles.
Completely unintelligible. Occasionally painfully so.
My 2c.

 

[MattHooper]

Rick "who doesn't know a single person of any age who would identify as a music lover who is 'into' electronic dance music as their primary genre" Denney

John Darko of Darko Audio reviews seemed primarily interested in Electronica (in fact, he seems to wear it as a badge of honour). I would certainly consider him a music lover.
Though perhaps you are zeroing in on EDM specifically for some reason? EDM is essentially an outgrowth of disco, and I don’t see why lovers of to disco or those who dance disco would not think of themselves as music lovers. (and it seems that would extend to EDM).

There’s an EDM Reddit where people discuss their love for EDM:

Why do you love EDM?

https://www.reddit.com/r/EDM/s/hCGkgnfG61

They seem like music lovers to me.

Personally, I’m a fan of EDM myself (as well as other electronic music - one of my favourite genres). And EDM usually forms part of my test tracks when I’m evaluating whether I like loudspeaker or not.

 

[krabapple]

Rick "who doesn't know a single person of any age who would identify as a music lover who is 'into' electronic dance music as their primary genre" Denney

yeah, this convo seems lopsided toward EDM fans.

(EDM is music I thought best experienced with large groups/venues/PAs/amounts of drugs but maybe that's just me. I do love blasting the ancestral track 'I Feel Love' at home though -- even better now with surround mixes)

 

[krabapple]

I don't know if EDM is my "primary" genre, or even how much of what I listen to fits into a nebulous genre definition. I definitely do listen to a lot of electronic music though. And for certain, it sounds a helluva lot better on my primary Revel surround system (the W553Ls are somewhat comparable to the F35s in a lot of respects) than on any Bluetooth speaker in existence.

'electronic music' is a pretty broad descriptor, a lot of it's not for dancing per se.

krab 'Subotnik is electronic as all heck' apple

 

[amirm]

Explaining people why such a chunky speaker does not deliver a precise timing and ´kick´ with EDM (if that would be the case, we cannot be sure based on the measurements),

EDM? I find just about any transducer does well on EDM. I used to have EDM tracks in my test library but no longer use them for that reason. They bass frequencies don't go very low to tax any woofer or headphone for that matter. And EDM being a lot of electronic music synthesis, who is to know what is right or wrong anyway. As such, you have no prayer of knowing the "precise timing" of said "kick."

 

[rdenney]

Deriding modern music is doubtless (almost) as old as music itself methinks.

Could be wrong here though.

PS Possibly controversial : But I think that the majority of opera needs either a script and/or subtitles.
Completely unintelligible. Occasionally painfully so.
My 2c.

Derision based on modernity? Huh?

Is EDM the primary genre of a particular generation? Didn't you say you were 60?

Most of the people in my circle listen to 1.) Bluegrass, 2.) Country, 3.) Classical, 4.) Jazz, 5.) Rock, but not the rock music that falls within EDM, and 6.) Hip-Hop.

And I listen to plenty of electronic music, but not the sort that would be easy to dance to. (Prog, etc.)

For the people I know, EDM is stuff they listen to (or used to listen to) in nightclubs, and the beat was the accepted accompaniment to drinking, socializing, and dancing. But if they went to a concert or played music in their car or home, that's not what they were listening to.

For the record, I was NOT "zeroing in" on EDM, but rather deflecting the person to whom I was responding, who was indeed "zeroing in" on EDM.

Rick "seeing real derision in the opera comment" Denney