The silliness about "best" format for music, and some other thoughts.

[was_a]

Yeah...well, not inebriated enough to be incapable of taking pics (often very good ones, everything aglow), then uploading, resizing and posting them. 

 

How hard would it be to write two or three lines, describing the music, giving the reader a bit of context etc. 

 

Otherwise the whole exercise only benefits one person: the person who posts it! Because then they can drink to themselves and their hi-fi system!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by was_a

[Guest Y B]

I used to check Currently Spinning everyday. There were different people posting different kind of music, it felt like people recommending music they like and something special to them.

 

I frequent it less and less as I found now there are only a handful of the same guys just post whatever they play on the day regularly. I’m sure they are all good music to the person who posted those albums but if you have played 40 albums and you posted all of them, none of them feel very special and I just don’t have time, or can’t be bothered to check out all of them.

 

It’s the quality not the quantity but how do you pick one from so many, just a thought but everyone is free to do whatever they wish.

 

 

[Candyflip]

6 minutes ago, Slave2TheRhythm said:

It’s the quality not the quantity but how do you pick one from so many, just a thought but everyone is free to do whatever they wish.

 

One of the reasons *might be* that we now have at least 3 other 'Spinning' threads, and some threads by individuals who show us just their individual spins (with a few others chiming in). So this has diluted the entire music appreciation genre into splinters, which may be the reason you note the change?

 

Really, it's all music, and I've always argued one thread would be enough.

But it is a free country and posters are free to do as they wish in regards to topics.

[Luc]

I'm a bit like Scuzzi and also a bit like Shane, I've discovered some new music through the currently spinning thread and I like to read a commentary if there is one.

If there isn't and it's unknown to me it's then basically useless because I have to judge a book by it's cover.

 

I scroll though pretty quickly when there are all these shots of an album cover placed seductively in the foreground and in the background is the TT and system and no info about the artist and album. I think I even posted a couple of albums this way and then it got to be too much trouble.

Is this a show your system thread or is it a what are you listening too thread? It's the latter obviously and if someone takes the time to tell me a bit about the artist and the recording ect, then I'm grateful for their time and effort and sometimes I go chasing after that artist.

 

I like sharing discoveries too and that's a reason for me to post in the CST(currently spinning thread) and occasionally you'll post an artist no one's heard of and that's always a good thing.

 

So yeah, try writing a couple of words about the album your posting.(unless it's Pink F or Led Z or FMac ect  in which case a yawn emoti is the only proper response...)

[was_a]

Led Zeppelin II. 

The greatest album ever released.

Amen.

[keyse1]

On 22/11/2018 at 10:15 AM, candyflip said:

 and some threads by individuals who show us just their individual spins (with a few others chiming in). So this has diluted the entire music appreciation genre into splinters, which may be the reason you note the change?

 

Is that about me?

Well assuming it is 

Very few people here like country music but I could talk about it for weeks on end

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t like it would be interested in me waffling on about it

endlessly

Its also an attempt to explain what country music is and how it flows through rock and roll and that a lot of people listen to it but don’t realise what it is

As to the Bob Dylan thread that’s actuall a religious thread so I can talk about God

without starting a war or getting banned

Bob is also a gateway to a bottomless pit of great music from country blues rock n roll and folk music going back over hundreds of years not to mention more literature type   pursuits like poetry 

I’m also leaving a trail so to speak for my children to understand their confused parents obsessions (just yoking)

Sort of

 

[Bunno77]

56 minutes ago, keyse1 said:

Is that about me?

Well assuming it is 

Very few people here like country music but I could talk about it for weeks on end

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t like it would be interested in me waffling on about it

endlessly

Its also an attempt to explain what country music is and how it flows through rock and roll and that a lot of people listen to it but don’t realise what it is

As to the Bob Dylan thread that’s actuall a religious thread so I can talk about God

without starting a war or getting banned

Bob is also a gateway to a bottomless pit of great music from country blues rock n roll and folk music going back over hundreds of years not to mention more literature type   pursuits like poetry 

I’m also leaving a trail so to speak for my children to understand their confused parents obsessions (just yoking)

Sort of

 

I love country/folk. It's not all Lee Kernaghan and Slim Dusty

[Candyflip]

2 hours ago, keyse1 said:

Is that about me?

Well assuming it is 

Very few people here like country music but I could talk about it for weeks on end

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t like it would be interested in me waffling on about it

endlessly

Its also an attempt to explain what country music is and how it flows through rock and roll and that a lot of people listen to it but don’t realise what it is

As to the Bob Dylan thread that’s actuall a religious thread so I can talk about God

without starting a war or getting banned

Bob is also a gateway to a bottomless pit of great music from country blues rock n roll and folk music going back over hundreds of years not to mention more literature type   pursuits like poetry 

I’m also leaving a trail so to speak for my children to understand their confused parents obsessions (just yoking)

Sort of

 

No mate, nothing to do with you or any individual.

I was simply making the point that we have a number of different genre threads and that has potentially splintered the enjoyment for Slave2TheRhythm, who points out he used to visit one music thread and found more enjoyment in it back then.

 

[Monk]

On 22/11/2018 at 9:08 AM, Slave2TheRhythm said:

I used to check Currently Spinning everyday. There were different people posting different kind of music, it felt like people recommending music they like and something special to them.

 

I frequent it less and less as I found now there are only a handful of the same guys just post whatever they play on the day regularly. I’m sure they are all good music to the person who posted those albums but if you have played 40 albums and you posted all of them, none of them feel very special and I just don’t have time, or can’t be bothered to check out all of them.

 

It’s the quality not the quantity but how do you pick one from so many, just a thought but everyone is free to do whatever they wish.

 

 

So which is better worse? 

 

The bloke who posts 40 albums they've played when they own 40 albums that they love.

 

The bloke who posts 40 albums they've played when they own 160 albums that they love.

 

How is the number an indicator of quantity over quality?

 

I guess someone could put a restriction on it so you can only post one album.  And only post that album once in the thread.  That might work.  Because you know, if it's posted more than once, or you listen to more than one album at a time, it's not special.

 

Plus sometimes you think you want to listen to something, but then realise you don't and it didn't fit.  Does that make it a bad album?  No, just means it didn't fit at the time.

[Soundscape]

On 29/10/2018 at 9:25 PM, Plattenspieler said:

I tried for a while and basically thought I am talking to myself. Went back to posting pictures only and meanwhile stopped doing that as well.

I hear you mate. My taste is so odd that I am coming to the conclusion that I am posting in the wrong forum, to the point that some who once showed their appreciation now no longer..... But then sometimes I wonder how many lurkers are around who enjoy my selections but never show their appreciation. The "like" system is so important, it feeds the (somewhat narcissistic) desire to continue posting. The flipside is that some folks "like" almost everything that is posted, so much so that it can seem a little hollow, even though it is well meaning. I dunno, the whole thing confuses me sometimes.

 

In any case, I've gotten too lazy and/or too busy to bother much any more. I have other priorities in life now. I still have a passion for discovering new music, but there is so much out there at my fingertips and I am so overloaded for choice that I find I don't need recommendations from friends so much any more. I know how that sounds, but that's the way it is for me at present.

[Guest Y B]

So which is better worse?    The bloke who posts 40 albums they've played when they own 40 albums that they love.  

The bloke who posts 40 albums they've played when they own 160 albums that they love.

 

How is the number an indicator of quantity over quality?

 

 

 

 Some like to post frequently some don’t like to post at all and just browse. Some do it obsessively. I have no problem with whatever people like to or wish to stop anyone doing what they like to. 

Whether you own 10 great albums or 10000 great albums. If you make 20-40 post a day then I feel you are just posting whatever you are playing rather than making effort to choose something truly special to recommend to us.

 

Perhaps this behaviour is more appropriate with a thread title ‘Currently spinning’, you post what you are spinning.

 

All I’m saying is I felt like people used to make effort to ‘recommend’ something special rather than just post ‘whatever I’m spinning this now’.

 

If you have made less posts with more substance, I can tell you have taken time and effort to write and recommend to us, instead of just mindless posting.

 

Why post something if you don’t have time to do so? This is just a hobby and meant for something you do at your leisure time. If it’s so important that you need to post about an album then why not leave it till when you have time to post? That’s what I meant quality over quantity.

 

Anyway, I just don’t have time to check out all 20-40 albums posted by the same person so I usually just flick through them unless there’s something I am familiar with.

 

Other people might be able to spend all day checking out all the music but not me.

 

And lately I noticed the music style is just not so diverse and probably it’s because they were subdivided into a few threads.

 

Currently spinning used to be about vinyl records spinning and now is whatever spinning?

 

 

 

[Linolad]

As Soundfan says in the first post, long live the music!

 

I like to read intelligent thoughts about this thing we call hifi and more especially music and mostly I think it all comes back to an enduring love and appreciation of music that for me is lifelong (and when you are old like me that is some time indeed!)

 

This particular thread has a high percentage of, in my opinion, intelligent thoughtful posts.

 

As someone who started with vinyl, dabbled in cassette, went to CD and now uses a music server with occasional bouts of streaming, I can say it is always the music that keeps me enthralled. 

 

Sometimes my system sounds sensational, sometimes just okay, but always the music content shines through.

 

I do not post very often, but I appreciate the threads on this forum about music that have something to say and then say it convincingly.

 

Cheers Mark  

[Luc]

1 hour ago, Linolad said:

Sometimes my system sounds sensational, sometimes just okay, but always the music content shines through.

I have the same experience.  I've learnt that when it's only 'OK' it is in fact an inferior recording or even that the original is actually crap but I like the song/band.

 

When you come across really really good recordings you have to let go of preconceived ideas of what your musical tastes are. 

 

 @evil c  has a very big collection of albums that represent top of the range recording and mastering and in vinyl's case, good pressings.( That's why we chase Japanese pressings )

But it all comes down to SQ in the end. I don't really like some of Evil's albums and never will but he's spot on when he points you towards the sonic quality. Not pi*sing in his pocket, far from it but putting aside the format argument, he'd be the first one to accept that your ears will tell you what is best recording/best format for you.

 

I leave out the argument about analogue and digital in all it's many forms.

 

It's always a relief here to just bung some vinyl on and enjoy it and remember to get out of this chair and lift the tonearm.

[Linolad]

1 minute ago, Luc said:

I have the same experience.  I've learnt that when it's only 'OK' it is in fact an inferior recording or even that the original is actually crap but I like the song/band.

 

When you come across really really good recordings you have to let go of preconceived ideas of what your musical tastes are. 

 

 @evil c  has a very big collection of albums that represent top of the range recording and mastering and in vinyl's case, good pressings.( That's why we chase Japanese pressings )

But it all comes down to SQ in the end. I don't really like some of Evil's albums and never will but he's spot on when he points you towards the sonic quality. Not pi*sing in his pocket, far from it but putting aside the format argument, he'd be the first one to accept that your ears will tell you what is best recording/best format for you.

 

I leave out the argument about analogue and digital in all it's many forms.

 

It's always a relief here to just bung some vinyl on and enjoy it and remember to get out of this chair and lift the tonearm.

Hi Luc,

 

I didn't elaborate my point properly.  I have had experience (a number of times) where the same recording and software can sound sensational one day and on another day ordinary and uninvolving through the same system!

 

I take your point however that the best recordings drag you into the music in way that poor recordings just cannot do.

 

My experience with Japanese pressings is mixed (from my last vinyl times in the 80's basically) with superlative results from a number of pressings, but sometimes, just occasionally, they came across as sterile and lifeless sounding (still without cracks and pops however!)  

 

However please continue to bung on the next record, raise a glass of something good and drift off into Nirvana.

 

Cheers Mark

[t_mike]

5 hours ago, Linolad said:

However please continue to bung on the next record, raise a glass of something good and drift off into Nirvana.

@Luc is more of a Mrs Mills sort of guy, don't think he gets into grunge.

[ThirdDrawerDown]

I played Nevermind last week. Now there's an album that has shifted its position in the rock pantheon. On first release it was hard to get beyond the grunge guitar fuzz and distortion, matched by Cobain's voice. Now the album sounds like Nirvana's greatest hits and Cobain's comments that he was heavily influenced by the Beatles, especially John Lennon, are plain to hear. Nevermind now plays as a mainstream rock album by a punk band doing Lennon with grunge fuzz and chord patterns.

[zippi]

On 21/11/2018 at 9:17 AM, davewantsmoore said:

It is like this 10 minute video, but instead of cameras, think about it for audio.    Listen to the video carefully, and think about it in the context of sound capture/reproduction. 

 

It seems counter intuitive to people .... because "new technology" often looks (or sounds) fantastic.

 

"High-res" sounds better to audiophiles .... so "high-res" must be better, right?!

 

The REALITY is that "24/192" (or whatever) tells you nothing about the quality of the audio inside the container.

 

 

  

There seems to be an almost 1:1 relationship with hype/marketing and focus on the irrelevant as discussed in this video re camera definition (beyond certain point) and the way the discussion often transpires (and is often framed) in relation to audio/stereo what have you.... especially in many audiophile circles.

 

I see another parallel - namely in TVs. I was lucky to get a pricey 4K TV (by the virtue of insurance replacing my deceased plasma with it) yet on many occasions I've noticed more noise in the picture compared to my other plasma TV, not to mention a less natural - less true to life looking picture.

[zippi]

On 21/11/2018 at 12:06 PM, was_a said:

Likewise. Currently spinning threads are often a bit of a w*** to show off expensive turntables or what have you. Often this strikes me as a little sad, like teenagers who post compulsively on social media sites... 

 

I agree with the OP that music can be enjoyed equally on a high-end domestic system, portable audio etc. Often I enjoy it most in my car! It's the emotional connection to the music, mood etc, that fuels the experience.  

 

I too am a music junkie. What's changed for me in recent years is my growing enthusiasm for live music, particularly classical concerts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

second that

[glenm64]

Some interesting comments. As a relative new comer here I enjoy the reading of various spinning threads, what better way to discover new artists and styles that you either didnt know existed, or even better, didnt realise you liked.
I appreciate peoples thoughts and comments about their music, it helps to build bridges across the genres and artists for others.
I've never bought into the X is better than Y argument. I love sitting back listening to a record, reading the inserts, liners and covers. Sound engineers, session muso's, comments from artists about the circumstances of the album. Dont care if its a early pressing or new, as long it sounds good to me. Ive got tones of digital, but thats many for when Im away camping or touring. Theres some great albums not available on vinyl, so thats when I mainly listen to digital at home. My boys come over and educate me on they taste in music via streaming.
All played on my $1000 system that sounds great to me, and thats all I care about. Frees up money to keep building on my record collection.
But watch out if if my Lotto numbers come in, boy its gunna be a kick ass system. Tubes, Tannoys, horns, a rare wooden plinthed turntable beauty and what ever else gets in my way.[emoji16]