Sound quality - have I learned a lesson?

In watching org threads, I have seen comments that Prince CD's in the past were either mixed poorly, or that the LP version was far superior to CD. I was using cd player / headphones or iPod / headphones or car - and never knew what the hell you were talking about. Everything sounded fine to me.

Last week I FINALLY bought a "good" system. Tube amp (Cayin 50T) and quality speakers (Dali IKON 6). Some CD's and appleTV (Apple Lossless encoding) sound amazing.

Many Prince CD's sound muddy. Is this a problem with my setup, or am I learning a lesson about Prince CD's?

I am thinking about a good turntable as well - will this help?

I REALLY want Prince to sound amazing on this setup - advice?

thanks!

I really think it's the CD'S. I've upgraded my music systems thinking things would get better, they didn't.

Many of the CD's need to be remastered. Would love to hear a remastered version of "Sign 'O' The Times" with "Housequake". Or a remastered version of the "1999" CD. But yeah, the mix of a lot of the older CD's sound very poor these days, compared to what technology could do for them today.

- Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow -

Once u get past Diamonds and Pearls, Prince's CDs start 2 sound a little louder overall. 3121 and Planet Earth are loud 2 the point of becoming compressed, and I personally think it sounds like crap. I've also noticed that with The Gold Experience.

It's a shame - when u have that much good music with so much crispness 2 its sound and it gets ruined by compression and other technical tactics 2 make it sound louder, it makes u wonder what's next.

I would highly suggest that u add a BBE442 sonic maximizer 2 your system.

paisley2002 said:

When I read threads like this I'm so glad I'm not an Audiophile.

Romeoblu said:

Romeoblu said:

moonshine said:

Romeoblu said:

When I read threads like this I'm so glad I'm not an Audiophile.

me too , I've got a common-or-garden stereo system and never noticed any of Prince's CDs sounding muddy or overcompressed or whatever , they all sound fine to me . Makes me think I should never upgrade as well just in case I end up getting some fancy-pants "recommended" system that maks Prince's CDs sound like shite

Don't worry guys, there are some people out there with black and white tvs that leave radiation burns on the carpet, radiograms and such like.

A person doesn't have to be anal about something to be happy with what they hear. In fact I reckon that some people can't notice the difference sometimes between high end and low equipment. Lots of people are happy with a mid-spec piece of kit, be it car, house, hifi or even a pair of shoes.

For me, like most I guess, I prioritise. I have to as I can only afford so much. Kitchen knives have to be the best as do the pans I cook with. I think nothing of spending £50-£100 on a kitchen knife. It'll last me a life time and serve me well. Plus I cook a lot. Patch leads for my guitar have to be high quality as I notice the difference. My playing's still shit but that's another matter altogether.

But back to cds. I think most cds have poor production values. Vinyl is nice as it's warm, but even that's artificial. Perhaps it's just the material that matters perhaps it's both. I'd guess that Prince, like the majority of musicians, is very demanding of the sound quality that he hears. The O2 was a joke but Indigo was very clear. A four-track gets the material down when your playing in your mates garage but a studio is where it starts to get complicated. Best amp, leads, rack effects and guitar will always sound shit if the mic placement is poor or the eq or compression wrong. Hell even being on the wrong side of a good room can make something sound shit. Waffling again.

I guess the problem we are talking about here though is final production. Get the wrong guy on the mixing desk and everything will sound poor. But on a cheap system from Dixons who the fuck will ever know

Well, to be more precise, playing Prince on a nice system does sound great - much better than the normal consumer level stuff you get at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. However, you can tell a real difference when you put something on that is recorded really well - and then you *wish* you could hear Prince like that.

moonshine said:

Romeoblu said:

When I read threads like this I'm so glad I'm not an Audiophile.

me too , I've got a common-or-garden stereo system and never noticed any of Prince's CDs sounding muddy or overcompressed or whatever , they all sound fine to me . Makes me think I should never upgrade as well just in case I end up getting some fancy-pants "recommended" system that maks Prince's CDs sound like shite

I can understand Dirty Mind - 1999 sounding muddy even sparse. But that's the way they sounded on vinyl! The 80's was the era of little or no bass on many recordings. Unless U were into classical and got stuff from DECCA or Deutche Grammafon.
The problem with High End equipment is unless U're used 2 it, it takes a lot of tweaking until U get it right. Which is why U need 2 have a good equalizer 2 fine tune your gear 2 suit your ears, and the accoustics of the room. U R basically going from a family sedan 2 a Formula 1 car.

If Rrince lets WB/Rhino remaster his CDs, it'll all be better. Look at the great job they did with Elvis Costello, also Fleetwood Mac, The Pretenders, ZZ Top, The Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris,etc.

But for whatever reason, he prefers to have inferior versions of his greatest works available to the public , and we're the losers in all of this

jjhunsecker said: