Gen X amature electronics fixer

Hi Everyone,

I'm a GenXer who used to be an AV guy in high school, and all through college. These days, as a grown up, I like to dabble in old tech. I've been getting back into sound and looking to explore if our older sound is better than the new sounds of today (technicaly speaking, not style).

My BMW came with no CD player. So, I use Carplay. But... is it enough? I bought an external CD player, which lead me to get excited about all my old tech from the 1980s, and now I found this forum!

I have some older tech that I'm going to try and repair if I can. I hope to get some tips and guidance here.
Warm regards
Ethan-

 

Older music was better in terms of "loudness wars". Google that term if you are not familiar. A lot of the new music (though the trend is reversing and getting back to sanity some say...) is so poorly mastered with compression right up to the top levels with no headroom left and audio fidelity is crap etc,. so it sounds flat and dead / lifeless. There is always that aspect.

(So sometimes a new generation will hear old music on an old machine, it sounds full of dynamic range with the percussion smashing through to the listener, so much information, highs and lows, then they say "wow, maybe old machines sound better" but it's just the old piece of music they never heard before that was competently mastered that knocks their socks off. I experienced that myself a few times. Giorgio Moroder "Midnight Express" (1978) which was the Art Bell bumper music for many many years is one possible example. I have that one and others on my own tapes for testing / playing on the old boomboxes. Make a superb recording from the .wav file through a good DAC etc., and that track can "knock yer socks off". )

 

And I spent some time reading a lot of comments below that video over on youtube. Good important video, priceless comments, well worth a study.