The Top 10 Reasons Why Quality Sound Matters

The CEA and NARAS are collaborating on an effort to bring better quality audio to consumers. I’m participating in that effort within both organizations. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was in New York City last week for a meeting of the audio board of the CEA. One of the topics was how to get the message out that improving the quality of the sound improves the quality of your music experience. There is a website dedicated to this idea and it’s called, “Quality Sound Matters”. It is a joint effort by both organizations. You can check it out here: http://www.grammy.com/news/quality-sound-matters

There are a number of nice images, informative articles and interviews accessible from the site. However, I didn’t find the answer to the most fundamental question…why does quality sound matter? So I thought I would spend today’s post by explaining why I believe that quality sound matters. Let’s do this David Letterman style…

Reason Number 10: Quality sound matters because there are critically important elements of the sound that directly affect the impact of a track if they are diminished or removed entirely by poor production techniques and playback equipment.

Reason Number 9: Spatial accuracy. Music is wide and its reproduction should reflect the spatial distribution that the band and engineer/producer deem most appropriate. The panning of the music is an important component to a quality music experience and a quality playback system can reproduce that original panning better than compromised equipment that is incorrectly setup.

Reason Number 8: Music depends on dynamics…different level of volume within the track. The entire process of recording and playback needs to preserve and maximize the real world dynamics of a piece of music. A quality sound system can more accurately reproduce the required levels…from quiet to very loud. Compression can be a creative tool but is far too overused in commercial recordings.

Reason Number 7: Noise. Quality sound has more of the signals that matter and less noise than lower quality systems. Listening to music played back through formats that have excessive levels of noise vs. the music is distracting and lessens the enjoyment of the listening.

Reason Number 6: Depth or distance is a critical part of musical enjoyment. Humans have two ears so that we can hear depth or how far something is away from us. Quality sound includes this sense of depth while ear buds or heavily processed compressed files do not.

Reason Number 5: Timbral or harmonic integrity is also closely tied to better music listening. If there’s too much bass or artificially enhanced treble on a track, the result is a type of distortion that detracts from the actual sound of a real life instrument. If a drum or synthesizer is booming then it should boom on the reproduction. If a cymbal or wind chime is sparkling, it should sparkle during playback, not be harsh or hyped.

Reason Number 4: Distortion is not your friend. Equipment designers have done amazing things in electronics over the past 50 years to reduce the amount of distortion (there are lots of different kinds). A quality experience benefits from this improvement. Why then is most of the music that is streamed from Spotify or Pandora or delivered through digital radio working in the opposite direction. The amount of noise that results from the low bitrates of these platforms is unacceptable.

Reason Number 3: Digital conversion matters in the fidelity of the analog signal that is presented to your ears. Most of use live in a digital music world and the bits and bytes that travel through you cables will ultimately have to be converted back to analog electrical signals, amplified and routed to a set of speakers. The $2 chip inside your portable player is not enough to get reasonable quality conversion. It’s time for an upgrade to the standard issue smart phone audio signal path.

Reason Number 2: Music is a communal activity. There are lots of soloists making some amazing music but in general, music making is a team effort. Music takes a group or ensemble to play the original music, a team of technical experts to capture and process that incoming music and even more people to enjoy the results of that process. Quality sound matters because the better the individual experience, the better the group experience.

Reason Number 1: The number 1 reason quality sound matters is because music is the single most important form or expression that human kind has ever imagined. Music is transformative, abstract, emotional and intellectual experience in a direct way. There is no requirement for analysis, cognition or explanation. Music is a direct connection between sound and stimulation. Music is life itself…and why would you ever want to diminish the quality of that experience!