Audiophile CDs, do we enjoy them or are we their slaves

[petetherock]

Friends, firstly let me say I have more than 300 plus of the same stuff. But the more I listened recently, I have been drawn to ask this, and want to see if anyone else feels the same.

 

I have been acumulating the same MIC sweet young pretty thing singing in a high pitch voice CD with minimal acoutic accompaniment stuff that many bros here have, but I have grown disatified with these. They are beginning to sound similar, and I am wondering if we are bound to listen to them because they make our systems sound good or are they the true staple of our listening diet?

 

Many hi fi shows use these CDs and they frown when I fish out my Emil Chau or Jenny Tseng or or 'regular' pop cds... but if we cannot enjoy our style of music, or the vendor says this stuff isn't meant for listening on their systems, it makes me wonder if I really want to spend that much more bettering my system.

 

For your comments, and its not directly at anyone.

 

In fact, I might get a few more when I am in Beijing end of this year ....

 

Cheers

 

[2100]

Those MIC CDs which you mentioned are usually sung too slowly also. I just get them for cheap thrills, when I have nothing else to buy. They also rarely test the dynamics of the system. Luckily I realised this after I bought only about 30 of such discs.    ;D  Mentioned before Cherry Ma and Lily Chen aren't exactly good singers in the loft but then got protests.

 

But then for 13 bucks or so, if you find the songs and disc ok, just buy lor. Too much of that is not ok. Nowadays I get more of those from Dallas if I have nothing better to buy, those are fun songs for minimal budget!

[Guest francis woo]

Frankly, I find those MIC discs quite entertaining especially listening to those sweet little things with the lights turned down low in the middle of the night.  Furthermore, the recording is very good for such low prices and certainly worth every cent invested, so sit back and relax and be entertained especially on a good audio set up....... :D

[petetherock]

Enjoying them is fine, I have a few I like too, but I know a friend who lives close to you in East Coast, who restricts his diet of music to the audiophile sorts, as he believes a regular CD sounds bad, so his music is curtailed, and the old stuff he enjoyed which were regular 'pop' became taboo....

[Guest francis woo]

Well, I used to recycle those MIC discs as I find them refreshing but ever since my floorstanders arrived, i began to dig out my old trusted red book cds and enjoying them which I never did before.....hmmm listening now to James Newton Howard and Four Play now......... ;)

[ckng]

Hi,

 

Many years ago, when I first started this hifi hobby, I bought a lot of audiophile stuff. I listen to a lot of classical, so I have a lot of Reference Recordings HDCDs as well. I also have some Chesky, and I sometimes buy HDCDs and other audiophile CDs e.g. by Golden String (I think they are now FIM) on impulse, just to try.

 

Gradually I lost interest in them. They do sound very good and very well recorded but as I explored more of the regular CDs, I found that many of them feature very good performances as well, many of which I find more enjoyable. I still buy the audiophile CDs but only occasionally. I buy many more regular CDs of artistes/performances I like, or discovered via the test stations or played over the store's hifi, or randomly picked based on the cover.

 

I think the reason why many of us (and the hifi stores) likes those female vocal type of CDs (China or otherwise) is that they make the system sound very good. I mean, unless you have a really crappy system, these music don't and won't sound terrible. And since they don't have a big frequency and dynamic range, they don't stress the system as well. Same goes to almost every audiophile's favourite Cai Qin, I find that it sounds reasonably good on almost any decent system. Try things like large scale classical, choral music, rock, etc and the hifi will probably reaveal its shortcomings (e.g. harsh, bright, lack of dynamics, etc).

 

On a related note, I am not sure when this practice of labelling CDs as "audiophile recording" started. I am starting to see more and more CDs labelled as "Digitally remastered 24-bit audiophile recording" or something to that effect. So has this audiophile labelling has become a marketing tool more than anything else?

 

I am also intrigued by many CD shop's practice of dedicating an area for "audiophile CDs", using it as a genre. E.g. SACDs by Deutsche Gramophone/Telarc is found in the audiophile section but not the classical section. Same goes to albums by "audiophile" singers like Susan Wong, Lily Chen, etc. In USA, these are in their respective genres. I am not sure if the same practice is prevalent in countries like Hong Kong as I've never been there.

 

 

 

Regards

CK

 

 

 

[carhorn]

Fancis,

 

Can u pm me how much you got for your Aurum? Local dealer I suppose?

[ckng]

Enjoying them is fine, I have a few I like too, but I know a friend who lives close to you in East Coast, who restricts his diet of music to the audiophile sorts, as he believes a regular CD sounds bad, so his music is curtailed, and the old stuff he enjoyed which were regular 'pop' became taboo....

 

Oh yes, many audiophiles fall into this trap and listen only to "audiophile CDs". In fact I've heard of people who have like < 10 CDs but own a hifi system costing tens of thousands of dollars. You're right that this seriously limits the audiophile's musical selection.

 

Regards

CK

[Wacom]

Interesting topics.  Too bad I got no such exp.  Cant comment much.  I buy cds that I like.  However i got preference, which is jazz.  I like them even before I start this hobby.  In summary,  50% of my cds are jazz, the rest of them is a mix (rock, pop, classical etc)

 

Cheers

[kelccm]

My idea of spending so much on a good sound system is to better enjoy the music that I love, and not to restrict myself to only "good quality" audiophile CD. I'm glad that I got as much kick from listening to pop/rock/trance as much as jazz/classical/vocals, audiophile or non audiophile. While I do appreciate a good CD recording, if I happen to like a certain album, why should I stop myself from enjoying that album just because it is not audiophile quality.

[limbang]

...I have more than 300 plus of the same stuff...

i also wish to have this collection, so i don't need listen to the few cd again and again, than switch to tuner, than back to same cd again.

enjoy mic sweet pretty young thing singing very much, give more kick.

anyone already sick of those cd & no longer want to keep them, inform me.

[normanwalker]

Peterhock, thanks for starting a topic to pierce the "MIC audiophile bubble". I was mulling over this subject recently (before reading your post), but still have not got out of the dream, ie no clear answers.

 

Anyway, here's my take. I like good recordings, so have some of these audiophile grades, which you guys have. In fact, I bought several MIC sweet voices over the past few days poisoned by some forumers' recommendation, eg tongli. They are soothing songs sung by sweet voices, but that's it. So if you like them for a good listening, they are great.

 

Fact is audiophile-grade CDs are great and if marry with songs/singers you like, this will be the best combi. So far, one of the CDs that I enjoy very much for its good quality and song/singer is Eva Cassidy's "songbird". Going to get the one highly recommended "live at blue alleys" but no luck so far. :)

[pigscanfly]

In my opinion, the market is too flooded with MIC discs. It is not necessary a bad thing. Some productions are nice, some are not. They are all singing the same songs over and over again. Of course, the difference will be the arrangement.

 

I'm not a person that buys lots of MIC discs. But I do have a fair bit of them. I must admit that some of the productions are good and some of the sucks big time. I dunno how I ended up with them.

 

There are also Korean, Indonesian, HK and Jap productions that pretty decent / good. Check out the following:

 

1. Misia (Jap)

2. Minamikaze (Jap)

3. Park Ji-Yoon (Korean)

4. Rosanne Liu (HK)

5. Anggun (Indonesian)

[ricky101]

I think it is simply stupid to restrict oneself to 'audiophile' grade music just for the sake of your excellent sound system.  ::)

 

The essence of music is how it makes you feel - good system or not... of coz the good sys can bring you closer to the essence.

I listen to almost everything - jazz, mic stuff, pop, rock, oldies, chinese, english, thai, vietnamese, french, latin etc etc... My disc collection is over 500 and still growing. Some discs I admit only get to see the light of day occasional. Example - you cannot keep on listening to test cd day in day out.  ;)

 

You only live once and in this journey, its good to have a taste of everything... after which, if there is something that you particularly prefer, good, if not, keep on exploring. Now, if someone develop a distinct pref for those mic audiophiles types, so be it. As long as you are happy with your choice, don't let others tell you how to live your life.  8)

 

If you start to find something missing,... bravely, go out and explore new experience to fill those gaps. Music is to complement my life - if I feel tired, wanted some relaxtion... in pop a nice jazz number with beer in hand. If I feel nostalgic, in pop something in the 80's to remind me of the good 'ol time. If I want a little bit of work out, put on some fast tempo piece and go with the flow..  ;D ;D ;D

 

 

 

[Quest88]

My personal opinion is that the overall aim of this hobby is to bring you closer to the emotion of the artiste.

Audiophile music just allows you to reach it easier with a good recording, letting you capture all the nuances of the artiste performing.

By going into this hobby, it actually allowed me to appreciate music like classical which I could not understand previously.

 

Unfortunately a lot of audiophile music belong to the genres discussed here.

Even if you love other types of music, a bad recording may leave you with a bad taste in your mouth when you know your system can perform better.

 

Personally? I still enjoy trance as my staple despite not having 'audiophile quality'.

Can you imagine shop attendant's expressions when I bring those CDs over? :)

[hifiluv]

won't call them audiophile but the MIC DSD (Direct Digital Stream) CDs that i hv so far are really music to my ears... ;D, yes some singers got high pitched voices and yes most are slow music but somehow it just fall inplace with my current setup, the strings and vocals are so alive, it just steam me up, once i start i find i do not want to stop,  ;D

 

also hv Japan, US mastered CDs also, but when i A/B with DSDs, they do not come close in terms of clarity, separation, emotions in the vocals, at least for now.

[carhorn]

The revered Deng Xiao Ping once said:

 

"Audiophile CD, Non-Audiophile CD, able to give good music is good CD." ;D

 

 

 

 

Let's enjoy our music.

 

 

[monstertruck]

it's heartening to read some of ya replies that you go hifi because of your love for music, and not being a slave to the 'audiophile' system that you possess that somewhat push you to buy audiophile cds, instead of enjoying the music that the artistes that you love, the music pieces that they compose and arranged.

 

how often have we forgotten how much effort is put into the recording production, instead of the cd production? how the music is being composed, the meaningful lyrics, the sweet interludes?

 

sometimes, increasingly, i thought that i had come to the wrong forum, because too much emphasis is put on how good a recording sounds, and how to make the system sounds perfect (and when you reach the perfect-ness, it's time for an upgrade. pretty ironic for me).

 

there are of course other fellow forumers who are authentic, who tell me that software (enjoying the genre that you like) is more important than constantly toying with your equipment (maybe except of DIY-ing, which can be real fun and meaningful, and works your brain really well), and a number of forumers who come to this forum because of their unwavering passion for good music, and a few forumers who scoffed at people who buy a hi-end system just to enjoy their 20-odd cds/buy 20-odd cds just to enjoy their hifi.

 

 

music is what made us to be. what we have been listening to since young. what had influenced us, be it in our habit and daily living.

 

 

what kind of music that you really love in the beginning?

[carhorn]

Let me re-count my amp hunting experience during my hifi hunt a couple of years ago.

 

I love rock, pop, jazz and classical (large and small scale kind). Occasionally, female vocals when my wife sits down with me to listen. Else it's neither here or there, very diverse music.

 

I decided to change to tube amps after years of solid state. Went to audition at Aldephi and boy, was i treated like a leper when I brought my CDs to audition.  ;D

 

All of them look at my Def Leppard, White Lion, Depeche Mode with disdain. They always 'volunteer' to play their red book CDs which is mostly vocals and returned my discs from their players. I think they are worried that their setup are not fine-tuned to such genres. Their hifi shone in vocals though. Guess the dynamic ranges are different. Until I called TS Lim direct and requested for an audition.

 

He is a nice and simple chap who allows anything you can throw to his Diva amps. So far, seems like his tubes can play rock like my solid state and I spend my moola in his products. He left a deep impression in me when he said tt anything tt sound good to our ears are audiophile materials. Not brands, Not how much we spend.

 

AFAIK, sometimes in our quest for sonic perfection, we have become blind to certain brands or started stereotyping different brands and music. Let us each enjoy what is nice to our ears. Peace!

 

Anyone for disco bangla?

 

 

[monstertruck]

Let me re-count my amp hunting experience during my hifi hunt a couple of years ago.

 

I love rock, pop, jazz and classical (large and small scale kind). Occasionally, female vocals when my wife sits down with me to listen. Else it's neither here or there, very diverse music.

 

I decided to change to tube amps after years of solid state. Went to audition at Aldephi and boy, was i treated like a leper when I brought my CDs to audition.  ;D

 

All of them look at my Def Leppard, White Lion, Depeche Mode with disdain. They always 'volunteer' to play their red book CDs which is mostly vocals and returned my discs from their players. I think they are worried that their setup are not fine-tuned to such genres. Their hifi shone in vocals though. Guess the dynamic ranges are different. Until I called TS Lim direct and requested for an audition.

 

He is a nice and simple chap who allows anything you can throw to his Diva amps. So far, seems like his tubes can play rock like my solid state and I spend my moola in his products. He left a deep impression in me when he said tt anything tt sound good to our ears are audiophile materials. Not brands, Not how much we spend.

 

AFAIK, sometimes in our quest for sonic perfection, we have become blind to certain brands or started stereotyping different brands and music. Let us each enjoy what is nice to our ears. Peace!

 

Anyone for disco bangla?

 

 

 

 

this is one of the best post ever. controversial this or mine may be, but it definitely hit the raw nerve.

 

i have always loved mellow rock (not those crappy ballad rock), and i buy the equipments for me to fully enjoy and appreciate the music pieces that my favourite artistes composed.

 

i could not reach those meaningful heights with my mini-compos previously, but now i begin to appreciate the music more than the equipments, though i'm buying better equipment for the music's sake.

 

i may have a drop too much, but i hope what i'm saying is making sense.

i still love my genre that i strongly protect and love and i don't think i'll edit this post anytime soon. ;D

[weibchen]

does bob marley have an audiophile version?

i'm kinda addicted to three little bird after watch i am legend.

 

[tsammyc]

I find that these Audiophile CDs sound good even on lousy systems like my car where I do 90% of my audio listening.

[petetherock]

I agree some of these CDs sound excellant, I liked some of my Chesky stuff, but most of these 'audiophile' cds don't do mainstream stuff...

 

I also enjoy the few gold 24 bit recordings of Sandy Lam, Emil Chau etc, but the majority are more ecletic.

 

I will try and find some in Beijing of the regular type

[Mr. Big]

I have been introduced to the world of these "Chinese Audiophile CDs" with these SYT from China on this forum.  I even bought my tube CDP and amp on the basis of comments/reviews from here.

 

They do so good, I must admit (for the price).  My listening fare was turned on its head; from easy listening jazz, new age overnight.  However, I do wonder whether it is just to make me feel good with my new set-up or am I really into this.

 

Same old songs by the few SYTs.  In the same vein, this applies for English ones done by the likes of Susan Wong, Jheena Lodwick, etc.

[SiriuslyCold]

no matter how good anything sounds, if the music doesn't work for me, its off the player