Audio is very important. That’s one of the biggest things you can pick up from this article, that’s because it is. Half of “AV” is audio. So many people are distracted by buying a PS4 and a 4K TV that they forget to consider that gaming headsets and built-in TV speakers sound terrible thanks to them either having bad build quality or being too quiet and lacking in dynamic range. Turtle Beach are a company I love to point fingers at for having gimmicky features and a passable microphone as a sad attempt to justify the stupid prices for their products. In its prime; the Turtle Beach EarForce P11s cost £50. To be fair, it was fairly loud and had a volume and microphone mixer that meant I could happily enjoy the immersive multiplayer gameplay without the interruptions of other human beings. However, it broke really easily. I dropped it once, not even from a sizeable height and the left cup separated from the headband, leaving me with an awkward listening experience. Additionally, the sound was flat and uninspiring and when it came to movies and music, the headphones failed at what they were meant to do.
Turtle Beach EarForce P11 gaming headset — source: turtlebeach.com
Enough about the Turtle Beach; people are so happy with either Dr Dre Beats or Apple Earpods that the general population have seemingly forgotten what good audio sounds like. For cheaper, or a higher premium, you can get better noise isolation, bass, treble and mids as well as more accurate sound. Another thing is that if you combine good headphones with a decent amplifier, the sound you get will be amazing. It will cost quite a bit, but you can literally hear what you paid for. You will probably never listen to music in the same way again, and you’ll become more conscious about sound quality. After all, that’s why I put the money into the vinyl hobby – to get the best possible quality sound while experiencing music the old-fashioned way. Even a good quality CD player will sound amazing, if you’d rather go for a musical experience with less maintenance.
What I will say is that we aren’t entirely safe from bad audio, even with good equipment simply due to our own negligences. A lot of people only think about the brand when they think about audio products, not giving much consideration to the actual specifications of the product because the logos speak for themselves. Because of this, record companies have been able to put out badly mastered digital, CD and vinyl versions of albums to accomodate cheap systems. They do this because it’s harder to notice poor quality remastering on cheaper hardware, so effortless and cheaply made reproductions have swarmed record shops and HMVs everywhere. Metallica’s repressings of their albums have been widely criticised for having too much treble, and their last release “Death Magnetic” earned some negative attention for having a loud and very compressed mastering; the kind that would only be acceptable on cheaper stereo systems on which those kinds of problems wouldn’t be noticed. Many people reported having their speakers blown by the thrash legends’ most recent album, and not because it was so kick-ass that they impulsively felt as if they should play it very loudly but because of Rick Rubin’s botched job.
recordinghacks.com compares two versions of a song from Death Magnetic – the CD (top) and Guitar Hero (bottom) versions – source: recordinghacks.com
At this point, it just sounds like I’m making a case for bad audio products. What I’m really saying is that good audio products are self-rewarding and make music all the more enjoyable. It is true that modern CDs and vinyl records don’t sound as good as older ones, but that’s because we’ve allowed record companies and manufacturers walk on the consumer for too long. Put your research into your audio products – throw out your Crosley Cruiser and put your money towards a Pro-Ject or Marantz turntable and an amplifier. Don’t buy a gaming headset – buy a good pair of headphones and a microphone seperately in order to get the best quality and a decent microphone to match. Like I said; audio will never be the same again when you do your research and put your money towards better quality products…
joshdoestech.wordpress.com 