DR ratings: vinyl era vs modern era

[Lindsayt]

This bloke is talking absolute

https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile ... dness-war/

He's holding up Billie Eilish tracks as examples of dynamic, non-compressed releases. When the reality is that everything I've listened to of hers on my system has sounded noticeably compressed. Especially when played back to back with a relatively non compressed album or single from the 70's or 80's.

Streaming has done nothing - so far - to alleviate us of the torture that music biz executives subject us to in the form of universally over-compressed music releases. 2020 and 2021 have continued the trend of wall to wall red dR rating releases with the odd yellow here and there.
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year/desc

[SteveTheShadow]

TBH, compression or whatever they like to call it is something we are just going to have to come to terms with, and adjust our systems to deal with.
It’s nothing new anyway. My Tamla Motown singles for example have no dynamics whatsoever. It’s flat out, on the fours stomping rhythm, with lead vocals eq ‘d for upper mid emphasis. Relentless stuff, on a hi-fi, but exciting (in small doses) at the same time, and like Phil Spectors productions, was specifically engineered to cut through on the radio. The success of Berry Gordy’s record company is undeniable. None of this music was ever meant to be played on a hi-fi system and I would argue that little has changed.
Once we accept that the 70s classic rock and prog, big production stuff that borrowed much of its widescreen bombast from the classical world is an aberration (IMHO) as was the 80s sheeny cleany electro pop stuff, we begin to realise that record companies only gave a stuff for audiophiles for a very short golden age.
However, don’t get me started on autotune. I can pick it up at 1000 yards and it’s godawful, all pervading sound just ruins everything.
I’ve become less and less interested in new music and am moving increasingly towards an exclusively jazz, classic singer/songwriter and classical chamber repertoire. It doesn’t tax the system too much and you can sit back and enjoy the music, rather than get mad about faults and useless record companies.

[SteveTheShadow]

This bloke is talking absolute

https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile ... dness-war/

He's holding up Billie Eilish tracks as examples of dynamic, non-compressed releases. When the reality is that everything I've listened to of hers on my system has sounded noticeably compressed. Especially when played back to back with a relatively non compressed album or single from the 70's or 80's.

Streaming has done nothing - so far - to alleviate us of the torture that music biz executives subject us to in the form of universally over-compressed music releases. 2020 and 2021 have continued the trend of wall to wall red dR rating releases with the odd yellow here and there.
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year/desc

I completely agree. To the extent that I now use streaming to check for this problem before I spend money on any 'new release' LP. Sadly, most are dreadful , in this respect.

[karatestu]

I find myself increasingly looking to Blue Note for my new to me music. The other day I played Shell Crow -Wildflower. I used to love this album with my old less resolving system. Can't bear to listen to it now

What have I done wrong ? It seems my system is now choosing the music I play . I think I need less resolution and lots of it. One of the reasons I am less inclined to go back to the separate psu for the power amp front ends and banish toroidal transformers from my system

[Lindsayt]

Is there something that can be done to adjust our systems for ubiquitous over compression?

Has anyone tried using an expander in their systems?

Using such a device seems like a poor substitute for not compressing the music in the first place.

I think it's disgusting that we as consumers are not even given the choice of buying non compressed downmix or declipped versions of mainstream new releases.
In this modern IT driven day and age. When music is in digital formats and it would be minimal cost to the Music Industry to offer uncompressed versions.

It's also disappointing that it's an area where so much is written. For example by clowns saying that the Loudness Wars are over and citing Billie bloody stupidly compressed Eilish as an example of this.

The daft thing is: music sales have been declining. It's impossible to say how much the decline has been driven by over compression.

You'd think the Music Executives would be thinking "We've got to do something to try to reverse this trend. What can we do? I know, how about offering a better quality product? How about offering the consumer more choice? Instead of us only selling what we think they should have."
But oh no, they've got their heads stuck so far up their own arses that they don't have a clue what to do. They just carry on doing things the same as everyone else. Complete and utter fucking morons.

[SteveTheShadow]

I find myself increasingly looking to Blue Note for my new to me music. The other day I played Shell Crow -Wildflower. I used to love this album with my old less resolving system. Can't bear to listen to it now

What have I done wrong ? It seems my system is now choosing the music I play . I think I need less resolution and lots of it. One of the reasons I am less inclined to go back to the separate psu for the power amp front ends and banish toroidal transformers from my system

We need to engineer a BBC dip into our speakers Stu.
The sound we think is correct these days is anything but. I’m as guilty as anyone else of engineering a three humps response curve into my speakers. Trouble is, if you play anything, recorded with emphasised upper mids to give ‘projection’ on a three humps speaker, which a lot are and were, horns anyone? it will be unlistenable. It’s not so bad with instrumental music, like classical and jazz, but anything with loud vocals becomes tiring. Even Noel Keywood has been moaning about this speaker engineering trend in HFW, although he took his time about it, as it has been going on since the flat earth days, as Richard was always keen to point out whenever the opportunity arose.

I’m currently re-evaluating my whole design ethos when it comes to speakers. It may not be a resolution issue, It may in fact be an age thing, where you lose HF and your hearing becomes unbalanced, making mid forward stuff worse to listen to the older you get. Three hump speakers exacerbate the effect for older ears. A BBC dip speaker, would probably be much more amenable.
You could use DSP of course, but that’s another can of worms entirely..

[valvesRus]

I read a review (some years ago) by a respected reviewer (can't remember his name) of a "top notch" vinyl replay system and the comment that I remember most was " recordings that were previously unplayable now sound rather good".

I can also remember a few forum members (not this forum) coming to a similar conclusion after "upgrading" their vinyl system.

[savvypaul]

A compressed recording will always sound compressed. You can't paint a turd, although, you can EQ it...

[SteveTheShadow]

I read a review (some years ago) by a respected reviewer (can't remember his name) of a "top notch" vinyl replay system and the comment that I remember most was " recordings that were previously unplayable now sound rather good".

I can also remember a few forum members (not this forum) coming to a similar conclusion after "upgrading" their vinyl system.

Trouble is Phil, that top notch vinyl replay costs top notch money. It’s a damned sight cheaper to work from the speaker end backwards and get a decent frequency balance that way, which is what they used to do before Ivor and his source first bullshit arrived on the scene. The argument is frequently made, that what you lose at the source can never be recovered, but who gives a fecking shite anyway, except those with money to burn.

[karatestu]

I find myself increasingly looking to Blue Note for my new to me music. The other day I played Shell Crow -Wildflower. I used to love this album with my old less resolving system. Can't bear to listen to it now

What have I done wrong ? It seems my system is now choosing the music I play . I think I need less resolution and lots of it. One of the reasons I am less inclined to go back to the separate psu for the power amp front ends and banish toroidal transformers from my system

We need to engineer a BBC dip into our speakers Stu.
The sound we think is correct these days is anything but. I’m as guilty as anyone else of engineering a three humps response curve into my speakers. Trouble is, if you play anything, recorded with emphasised upper mids to give ‘projection’ on a three humps speaker, which a lot are and were, horns anyone? it will be unlistenable. It’s not so bad with instrumental music, like classical and jazz, but anything with loud vocals becomes tiring. Even Noel Keywood has been moaning about this speaker engineering trend in HFW, although he took his time about it, as it has been going on since the flat earth days, as Richard was always keen to point out whenever the opportunity arose.

I’m currently re-evaluating my whole design ethos when it comes to speakers. It may not be a resolution issue, It may in fact be an age thing, where you lose HF and your hearing becomes unbalanced, making mid forward stuff worse to listen to the older you get. Three hump speakers exacerbate the effect for older ears.
You could use DSP of course, but that’s another can of worms entirely..

Interesting observations Steve, thanks for sharing. I agree with all you say.

What frequency range was the BBC dip covering ?
I didn't realise one could engineer a three hump speaker with only one driver in it. Where are the humps and what choices did you make to produce them?

I am not sure how I can achieve the BBC dip with my speakers. Adding more dope seems to calm things a little but probably not targeted at the right frequency range. Similarly moving the high pass filter knee higher has helped. I don't know what else to do. I don't want to jntroduce any more components and electrical filters.

Dsp ? Don't swear at me