What's the most annoying fault you could ever hear when listening to music?

[aussievintage]

What is the most annoying?    Tape hiss, record scratches, record groove jumps, tape dropouts, radio static, CD scratches, CD jumping, MP3 compression artifacts, lack of bass, lack of highs, hum, ...  ???

 

Well I was listening to Radio Paradise today and after a hour or so of good music, for some reason, the network couldn't keep up and I heard it...  network stuttering.  That's it for me.  I simply can't stand it.  Horrible bursts of bits and pieces of the music.    I am sure, others will find different things more annoying, but for me, it's the biggie.     I play lots of records, and scratches, pops and clicks, are easy to ignore.  Even the very occasional stuck record is not as annoying as this mess.

 

OK, yeah, it's a slow day   

 

 

[Antipodean Brad]

People singing (on the music track, not just someone else in the room) when I just want to hear the music.  There is so much good (instrumental) music, but people keep singing to it and ruining it.  (I just want to shout "please shut up", but I know that would not help.)

Edited June 18, 2024 by Antipodean Brad

[sloper]

My children coming home.

Very happy with the performace of my system.

 

regards Bruce

[aussievintage]

24 minutes ago, Antipodean Brad said:

People singing (on the music track, not just someone else in the room) when I just want to hear the music.  There is so much good (instrumental) music, but people keep singing to it and ruining it.  (I just to shout "please shut up", but I know that would not help.)

 

I have an annoying Oscar Peterson record where someone is singing/mumbling.  Maybe it's Oscar, dunno, but very distracting.

[aussievintage]

24 minutes ago, sloper said:

My children coming home.

Very happy with the performace of my system.

 

regards Bruce

 

 

LOL, for me that would be disastrous.  They have moved out, but have had one lot return twice to live with us for a period.  No thanks.

[muon*]

Toni Watson.

[aussievintage]

1 minute ago, muon* said:

Toni Watson.

 

Happily never heard, nor heard of, her.

[Tone Malone]

My vote for the most irritating noise is not necessarily the one that sounds "worst", but the niggling one you can't fix with confidence (or significant expense). Current case in point: I'm sometimes getting a split second dropout every 6-10 seconds with one of my sources, from an optical out to my DAC. I believe it's due to jitter exceeding the tolerances of the DAC but I've reached the point where next step is using a "reclocker" or an alternative DAC, which *might* fix the problem. @$#?! ...

 

Another contender is where the irritating sound is compounded by a feeling of buyer's remorse. I once bought a Peachtree amp that (in my room at least) had a "metallic" quality to the bass. Fault, or just the quality of the amp? Luckily I was able to exchange it or I would've been gutted.

[aussievintage]

8 minutes ago, Tone Malone said:

My vote for the most irritating noise is not necessarily the one that sounds "worst", but the niggling one you can't fix with confidence (or significant expense).

 

That would annoy me too.  I would be forced to endlessly chase it down.

 

9 minutes ago, Tone Malone said:

I believe it's due to jitter exceeding the tolerances of the DAC but I've reached the point where next step is using a "reclocker" or an alternative DAC, which *might* fix the problem. @$#?! ...

 

I have found USB to be the best most reliable interface for audio.  I don't use optical anywhere anymore.  Even my TV uses HDMI ARC rather than the optical I used to have.

[sloper]

Funny l am the opposite found optical the most reliable.

 

Oh and l forgot the wife singing, shhhhhhhshe might be listening.

 

regards Bruce

[Guest]

4 hours ago, sloper said:

My children coming home.

Very happy with the performace of my system.

 

regards Bruce

 

Very similar to my pet peeve - just people wanting to talk after I put music on.

[wolster]

9 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

 

Very similar to my pet peeve - just people wanting to talk after I put music on.

In the shop or at home? 

Edited June 18, 2024 by wolster

[Frank Prowse Hi-Fi]

1 minute ago, wolster said:

In the shop or at home? 

 

Wwwweeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllll...................................

[Ars Paart]

11 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

 

Very similar to my pet peeve - just people wanting to talk after I put music on.

Mine too. 

 

I have discussed this at length with the people involved - some people can't understand how you could sit down and just listen to music. Same planet, different universes.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Ars Paart said:

Mine too. 

 

I have discussed this at length with the people involved - some people can't understand how you could sit down and just listen to music. Same planet, different universes.

Unfortunately this "phenomenon" happens also when I start watching some TV, YouTube, or even a Zoom call...

[zenikoy]

20 hours ago, aussievintage said:

What is the most annoying?    Tape hiss, record scratches, record groove jumps, tape dropouts, radio static, CD scratches, CD jumping, MP3 compression artifacts, lack of bass, lack of highs, hum, ...  ???

 

Well I was listening to Radio Paradise today and after a hour or so of good music, for some reason, the network couldn't keep up and I heard it...  network stuttering.  That's it for me.  I simply can't stand it.  Horrible bursts of bits and pieces of the music.    I am sure, others will find different things more annoying, but for me, it's the biggie.     I play lots of records, and scratches, pops and clicks, are easy to ignore.  Even the very occasional stuck record is not as annoying as this mess.

 

OK, yeah, it's a slow day   

 

 

 

Tempo variation. From any playback fault. It's just not music anymore but irritating noise. I'd rather listen to an AM transistor radio than a high end system with a glitching stream.

 

Oh, and my wife walking in and wanting to discuss some burning issue just as I drop the needle and sit back

[Satanica]

Uneven in room bass and lower mid-range frequencies that results in a sound that is overly thick in some frequencies and overly thin in other frequencies.

It results in a systems that sound "slow".

The norm.

[Redbook]

The sound of neighbours blasting their idiotboxes.

[aussievintage]

26 minutes ago, zenikoy said:

Tempo variation. From any playback fault. It's just not music anymore but irritating noise. I'd rather listen to an AM transistor radio than a high end system with a glitching stream.

 

A really bad thing to listen to is a record with eccentric grooves.

[aussievintage]

10 minutes ago, Satanica said:

Uneven in room bass and lower mid-range frequencies that results in a sound that is overly thick in some frequencies and overly thin in other frequencies.

It results in a systems that sound "slow".

The norm.

 

I tolerate that better than a lot of other things though

[aussievintage]

1 minute ago, fordute said:

The sound of neighbours blasting their idiotboxes.

 

 

Worse, when they carry them around and play them at full volume - like when I want to sit quietly on the jetty and fish.

[audiofeline]

Someone singling along to the music.

- if I'm at a concert, I've paid to hear the artist sing, not a drunk person beside me.

- at other places and the person is singing with a bad voice, it's totally offputting and selfish.

- at other places and the person is singing with a good voice, it's totally offputting and selfish.

[LogicprObe]

11 hours ago, Hydrology said:

 

Very similar to my pet peeve - just people wanting to talk after I put music on.

 

 

Especially on their phone!

[joeling]

Sibilance on some songs

[gbb]

One track on a compact disc sounding as if they're singing from behind a curtain and fatigued and restricted while the next track is the other extreme - all by the same artist.  Then retailers not wanting to know,.