Sound Quality Matters. Ask Neil Young
neil young… classic, timeless. what a testament to his talent that, without deviating from his roots, he’s remained prolific and relevant for so many years. it’s rare, something to revere.
his impact on music is significant in another important way. more on that in a moment…
with an eclectic taste in music mostly on the alternative rock side, i don’t actively tune into today’s pop music. yet you hear it everywhere. in recent years, it’s been debated about whether it’s “good” or not. taste in music is subjective and music is constantly changing, so how can anyone really say?
in the same way that i don’t actively listen to country music but appreciate how well the songs are crafted (referring more to older country music, as today’s country music is debated about in the same way as today’s pop music), i wanted to decide about the matter for myself. i listened to the music of ed sheeran, lizzo, dua lipa, harry styles, the weeknd, taylor swift, and the like, and found each to be engaging in their respective nuanced ways — in lyrical meaning, unique sound, the beat, star power, and so on — with an additional significant defining factor: production. it matters. because the quality of production leads to what i, personally, have more of an issue with music these days than whether music is good or not: sound quality.
i mostly listen to music on the go, so the sound quality is limited by the quality of my phone speakers, earbuds, and music source. for me, filling my ears with tinny, high-pitched, loudly forced, unnaturally distorted music is disappointing. noticing the difference between heavily compressed, diminished itunes mp3s vs less compressed and better sounding cd downloads on my phone for the first time was a crushing moment. music is all about sound — is only about sound. songs that don’t compress well and/or take into account standard listening elements diminish the richness and excitement of the listening experience, which can make it disappointing at a minimum or assaulting to our senses at the worst.
which brings us back to neil young…
hi-res streaming options and head phone options aside, you can quickly attune your ears to differentiate sound quality using neil young’s NYA app. read his book, “feeling the music,” for an account of his labor of love journey into developing the hi-res Pono player and accompanying online hi-res music store that, sadly, didn’t work out. an unfortunate happening, imo, because it had the potential for positively reshaping the trajectory of what has become today’s music. on the NYA app you can listen to the song-of-the-day in three modes: hi-res, cd, and 320. refer to the accompanying photos below for a quick visual understanding of the difference between each. basically, the higher the resolution, the more musical detail and richness that’s retained, resulting in the best possible sound quality and, hence, listening experience.
listening in hi-res mode is like a breath of fresh air. switching between modes on the NYA app you can hear and feel the difference (don’t cry) even with not so great ear buds, head phones or speakers. unless you have a nice audio setup at home on which you listen to vinyl or cds, most of what we hear elsewhere is not hi-res.
this is my beef about today’s music. though i can appreciate a good discussion on the merits of any music, for me, music is about expression and it reaching an audience who appreciates it. i see taste in form and genre as personal, so, whatever a person is drawn to.
in the meantime, i think we’re missing out on a lot with today’s music merely because of poor sound quality. i especially feel for younger people because most don’t have a point of reference to make a comparison and don’t know the difference. which is a shame, because many of them are very knowledgeable about music that precedes them. they’ll marvel playing a song for you on their phone or in their car, and you want to say, yeah… but. it’s hard to describe what they’re missing. sound quality is a crucial aspect of the music listening experience.
neil young, can you please restart your mission to bring back superior sounding music quality? let us know what we can do to help you this time.
