Love lo-fi. Sparklehorse and Mercury Rev are two come to mind. And distortion drove guitar amp revolution, so it can't be all bad.Not familiar with them, but some bands that came to mind were Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse.
Is that what you meant?
Whether you prefer a bright or dark tilt a headphone with a smooth frequency response should go well with all but the most egregious of tracks regardless of how resolving or detailed it is.
Not familiar with them, but some bands that came to mind were Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse.
Haven't yet listened to Sufjan Stevens, tho I know I had been tempted to pull a trigger on a CD of his at least once. Illinoise, maybe?Carrie & Lowell is probably the best album of the year. It's phenomenal. I'd recommend it.
I've got their Just Like the Fambly Cat CD, but somehow it hadn't captured me.A rather lackluster album, really. Try The Software Slump or Sumday. Under the Western Freeway is great as well, but quite a bit more uneven.
I picked up just recently Jack White's 2 latest solo efforts, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto; one of the reasons being he insists on recording in analog. But neither of those have yet done it for me, either.Both of those are good, but not great. Try The White Stripes - Elephant or The White Stripes - De Stigjl. Both are better (as is the whole White Stripes catalog).
Are my expectations getting too unreasonable in me old age, you suppose?Nah, you've just picked up the later albums when they've ran out of creative juices.
Just pulled the trigger on Carrie & Lowell, so I'm now spun up about that... ;)Excellent. Enjoy! It's delicate and lovely and sad and understanding and all grown up.
A couple of months ago, I wanted to listen to the first recorded Mahler symphony (the 2d, conducted by Oskar Fried in 1928). The quality is abysmal--hiss like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't bear it on Paradox or HD600. But I could easily tolerate it on my lady's PM1 with the velour pads. Resolution, FR, X factor, all of the above? Dunno.
A couple of months ago, I wanted to listen to the first recorded Mahler symphony (the 2d, conducted by Oskar Fried in 1928). The quality is abysmal--hiss like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't bear it on Paradox or HD600. But I could easily tolerate it on my lady's PM1 with the velour pads. Resolution, FR, X factor, all of the above? Dunno.
I can see liking a forgiving smoothed-over ortho like the Oppo or Audeze with lo-fi. Definitely stay away from anything with spiky treble. I like the Stax Omegas (007/009) with lo-fi recordings, both have a revealing but slightly forgiving quality, with 009 for a slightly more neutral sound or the 007 for a more mello approach.
Good topic. Lo-fi probably includes streaming services like Pandora, or compressed, but convenient file formats like MP3.
Recording and mastering quality is a far bigger factor in SQ than any modern lossy codec at a half decent bitrate.I agree with this as well. Also when I mention lo-fi I meant from a recording perspective, not a format perspective. I assume that most of us are using flac or at least a transparent/nearly so lossy bit rate.
Recording and mastering quality is a far bigger factor in SQ than any modern lossy codec at a half decent bitrate.
I assume that most of us are using flac or at least a transparent/nearly so lossy bit rate.
The problem I'm having with those album releases is that those CDs (all but De Stigjl) are being held in "joint custody" by my daughter (comes from my having sent my CD purchases to her for ostensively forwarding to me while I was living in Canada - long story). Anyway, I'm kinda loathe to buy those particular CDs again, unless there's been a noteworthy remastering since then or I've really started missing hearing that album, so I tend to buy other releases by those groups subsequently, and it's been an admittedly hit or miss affair.I think you're hitting the problem you hit with any band, where the first few albums are stellar, but the follow-ons lose the drive, the purpose for why the band made music. Weezer, U2, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, REM, Coldplay, etc. have all lost it and are producing lack-luster music compared to their yesteryears. Perhaps one of the few bands somewhat avoiding this is Radiohead, where they've just chosen to be a different band each album (roughly).
Nothing quite like the HE-1K to soften that lo-fi sound :)
I hope that 'lo-fi is a genre' comment wasn't directed to me.Nope :)
Nothing quite like the HE-1K to soften that lo-fi sound :)I was just waiting for someone to say that.
All of the White Stripes which I have heard from good sources are surprisingly very hifi and have tons of resolution.
The problem, as always, comes down to the damn mastering. Fortunately, if you own a turntable, you can completely verify this. Elephant was released in the UK on vinyl and it was mastered very well and it came directly from the master. Icky Thump was released on vinyl here in the US and it was mastered very, very well and it also came from the master tapes. Both of these vinyl releases completely outclass the CD's in terms of spatial placement, resolution, dynamics, detail, and overall sound quality.
To me, it's extremely interesting how a genre like LoFi Rock can be so HiFi.
Nope :)
Good luck with the CDs, but yes. Old Grandaddy and all White Stripes are good things.
Get Sparklehorse's Distorted Ghost EP, if you don't already have it.Adding it to my list to try :)
I'm listening to the Sky Blue Sky album from Wilco and this topic came to mind.Such an underrated album. The sound is purposely noisy and distorted, it is not, however, shitty-sounding; Not offensively compressed (for my listening levels), nor eq'd overly hot, it's kinda smooth and rolled-off in a pleasant way, but not devoid of texture like the earlier Devendra Banhart albums. I think it's a well realized sound with a concrete idea behind. Sounds that way with all my headphones, too. I'll gladly take this over the plentiful 'higher-fi' albums with offensive EQ in parts and show-stopping sibilance.
Would this be more "musical rewarding" if it was super duper hi fi? (I doubt it)
When music sounds good, it is good and it is always personal. I have this thing for Kyuss and Gore, fuck it I enjoy their music.Before you go on another rant you might want to read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo-fi_music
Thingy-Fi this, Thingy-Fi that? If you want to Thingy-Fi everything stop listening to the music and give up on musical enjoyment or disgust. To perceive and feel is human and part of the musical experience. Not everything can be measured and the "Fi" for "fidelity" is sometimes nothing more than utter bullshit.
Call this thread "Sound-Fi Science" if you want to be honest.
Enough banter, rant over...
Have fun Thingy-Fiying your life...