We need to get the consumer to think more about audio quality...

[iShad]

2 minutes ago, HappDrank said:

I learned early on to make sure you know your rights and how to read a contract. 

Sounds like your employers didn't, I see no reason to hire minors if I'd have to put up with all that crap.

[HappDrank]

Just now, iShad said:

Sounds like your employers didn't, I see no reason to hire minors if I'd have to put up with all that crap.

they knew. multi-billion dollar company isn't dumb lol. They also paid for college tuition. They liked the minors because we complained less. I mean we were happy as fuck to have our jobs. Plus it shows support for the community so more likely to get loyal business. 

[Volbet]

I guess you can keep preaching the gosple of the audiophile gods, but I don't know how far you'll get with it. 

The fact is that buying quality audio products, to listen to your media of choice, always has (and probably will continue to be) a niche hobby.

People today listen to 128kps AAC files on their iPhones with Apple Earpods, and when they get home they might listen plug it into a $50 iPhone speaker. 

People in yesteryears listen to music on they Sony Walkmans, and when they got home they plugged their cassette tape into a cheapo ghetto blaster. 

People back in the day even settled for very low quality audio sources. Sure, way back vinyl was the only option, but people pretty much jumped on cassette tapes when they became widely available.

You could (and can still) get high quality cassette tapes, but most tapes weren't of good quality and some tapes had even been dubbed over a billion times, so that no one could hear what the hell was on the tape. 

When I was young my dad was way into tape trading, and there was usually a 50/50 shot of you actually being able to identify what was on the tape, due to the many times that tape had been dubbed. And people just accepted that. 

This even applied to vinyl to some extend. You could always buy cheap knock-off pressing of vinly records, and usually they sounded terrible. But people didn't care. The knock-offs were cheap, so people accepted the poor quality of the audio. 

 

Audio is like any other niche hobby out there. The people in the know can only shake their heads at the people on the outside. 

Someone who knows fashion probably looks at me the same way I look at someone wearing SMS Audio headphones.

 

2 hours ago, Pomfinator said:

It's just so frustrating that Metallica releases Death Magnetic thinking that their audience wants literally 2dB of dynamic range in their songs, and then claim that it sounds better.

To this point and the point in OP's blog post: 

Metallica has always been on the forfront of the loudness wars. Even the original pressings of their vinyl records are mixed to be as loud as possible. 

The CD released just made it worse. 

And it's not just to pick on Metallica. Most of the thrash bands of the day were guilty of this. 

 

And people do generally perceive it as better when their music is loud as hell. It also helps getting your song noticed in loud enviroments like malls and clubs. 

Luckily, there seems to be a movement away from being loud for the sake of loudness. 

[Dackzy]

I would like to know where you can buy high bit rate music.

For a person in my situation sound quality is the only thing I think of when I get new headphones, some of the reason is because I have a better hearing than a human has (tested on a hospital) and I was born with tinnitus so good audio means alot to me because that is some thing that can help me through a day, but most people are more like okay I need something that looks cool and premium, so other people think I have money and then they go out and buy some shitty sounding headphones that cost 200-300$, they sound okay for them and they don't really go that much up in how good they are, if they can make sound without crackling noise or something like that then they will be happy about their new headphones or headset. Let them be happy about their headphones and don't be mean and show them headphones that sound better if they are really happy about their new headphones. Of cause if they are asking for help to find a good pair of headphones or a new headset then help them.

[BoredErica]

I have a friend that went to a Headfi meet with me and tried multiple headphones. In the end he told me he much prefers his Razer earphones. He's tried what's out there. By then, I don't have the energy, will, or wish to change their opinion. That doesn't bother me nearly as much as people who believe things that are objectively wrong and spread it to other people. I've tried the latest Beats, they sounded pretty good. I can think of many people who can drop the cash for them with no regrets knowing everything I know and then some. People have different priorities.

7 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

I would like to know where you can buy high bit rate music.

For a person in my situation sound quality is the only thing I think of when I get new headphones, some of the reason is because I have a better hearing than a human has (tested on a hospital) and I was born with tinnitus so good audio means alot to me because that is some thing that can help me through a day, but most people are more like okay I need something that looks cool and premium, so other people think I have money and then they go out and buy some shitty sounding headphones that cost 200-300$, they sound okay for them and they don't really go that much up in how good they are, if they can make sound without crackling noise or something like that then they will be happy about their new headphones or headset. Let them be happy about their headphones and don't be mean and show them headphones that sound better if they are really happy about their new headphones. Of cause if they are asking for help to find a good pair of headphones or a new headset then help them.

I try to buy tracks in flac format. Places include Bandcamp and 7digital.

Being able to hear sounds outside of 20hz-20khz doesn't mean you spot flaws in tracks better than other people. People overestimate their abilities basically as a rule.

[Dackzy]

5 minutes ago, Dark_wizzie said:

I try to buy tracks in flac format. Places include Bandcamp and 7digital.

Being able to hear sounds outside of 20hz-20khz doesn't mean you spot flaws in tracks better than other people. People overestimate their abilities basically as a rule.

I hear flaws really easily, and I am not saying that I spot flaws better than a normal person does I am just saying that I go up in high sound quality because then there isn't something that annoys me in the background. Yeah there is probaly alot of people that can spot flaws better than me. Thanks for helping me find the sites that sell good quality sound