Does well recorded music steer you away from listening to other?

I've been playing well recorded discs a lot more too, just because it sounds so much better now, and my electronics are very revealing.

On the other hand, bad recordings can still be played, but now it shows even more how bad they are.

In short - yes.  Sad but true.

Yes, but this does not have to be a bad thing.  I have many recordings that I find boring if played in a cheap system (like my car stereo), but they come alive on my home hifi.  The quality of my system has allowed me to appreciate a much wider range of music genres. 

In fact, I think that contributes to certain types of music being more popular, they sound good on cheap equipment.

 

I absolutely find myself doing this, but as a result hve broadened my horizons by listening to stuff that I've not heard of because people have recommended I for sound quality or it being well mastered

Yes and no

My choice of what to buy and play is influenced by both the quality of the recording and the quality of the music in equal proportions, but luckily most of the music I like is well recorded too .

Sometimes a piece of music that I love is badly recorded and it actually makes me quite angry   but I still listen to it and curse the recording or mastering engineers at the same time .

I have been that angry in the past about a very bad recording that I have thrown it away in disgust     I see it as an insult to the artist playing the music , but I am a little eccentric

Like you finding good recordings opened up a much larger range of different  types of music that I probably would not have looked at if sound quality was not a factor , also recommendations from other forum users on sound quality grounds have widened my musical horizons too.

 

Certainly not.

It affects where and how I listen, but not what I listen to.  Hell is for Heroes album the Neon Handshake, or Rival School's album United by fate sounds awful on my stereo, but its not sitting still music so I wouldn't listen to it on the sofa anyway.  Its good walking music, so I listen to it on headphones a lot, but United by Fate is an amazing driving album, its a favourite in the car.  I find its mostly rock that is poorly produced, and I don't really listen to this at home.

The sort of music I listen to at home is either quite intimate and relaxing  female vocals, or absolutely filthy breaks that take advantage of floor standers and a sub

What do you mean by a bad recording?

Simply recorded? No 'whizz-bang' effects from 24 track desks (like the drum kit appearing to orbit around the room?)

Old recordings? (Especially pre 1950s) where the 'faults' are an inescapable result of the technology available at the time.

Cheap/home-made recordings? Like a lot of original Reggae/Ska etc.

Over messed around with recordings?  The result of bands and engineers (or more usually mates/hangers-on who thought they were engineers) - under the influence of various substances - multi-tracking an album to death.

Accidently 'archived' recordings? (Probably from a cassette.) Previously thought to no longer exist but uncovered - in a skip - when the studio is demolished or found amongst the estate/effects of an engineer who has recently died.

'Loudness Wars' style recordings/re-masters?

Added 'retro' effects? "Hey let's put some artistic groove noise and pops and clicks over this digital recording to make it a bit more hip".

Various permutations of the above and other factors.

Anyway, whatever the reason - if I like the music - i'll play it and make the necessary allowances for it's quirks or deficiencies.

Just listen to the music, whether good, bad or indifferent. Too many people get too hung up on SQ of a recording (I've been guilty of this in the past) that it becomes less than enjoyable. Enjoy the music. That's what it's all about. The music. And not how it was recorded 

Hey Rodd, well this is something most audiophiles, myself included have to go through at some point. Its not a crime wanting to hear your system at its best, we've spent our time, money, effort and have had to make many compromises to own it after all. However, as you know its music we love that got us into hifi in the first place and surely they will hold a place in your heart whenever you play them. Its always worth having a dig around your old records and giving them a play every now and again...last night I got goose bumps from listening to 1 2 3 4 by the Plain White T's because I have a nice memory with my gf with it. Here's the thing, I listened over macbook speakers so surely hi-fi is not all that matters.

Any of Arcade Fire's albums - great music, but all sound as if they were recorded on the top deck of an old Routemaster using a portable '70s cassette player, and then mastered with max' 'loudness war' compression.

Completely disagree with you here. I'll admit it's a matter of hifi taste though. I have Arcade Fire's debut and I never ever thought 'hmmm I wish they'd recorded it better'. I just focussed on the music because my system - at the time a compact Panasonic DVD all-comer - let me do so enjoyably.

I'm going to drag Chebby in here and play devil's advocate - the truth is more often than not you don't know what a bad recording is especially if the artist/producer meant to record it in a certain way, even if there is this perceived loudness compression. I'm not saying that it's not a problem - the last Interpol album for example - but it's the great music that grabs me everytime.

No.

I still enjoy listening to badly mastered music from bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Although I do now appreciate well recorded and well mastered music more than I used to.

So some of those early Ska records/1930s Benny Goodman recordings/1920s Louis Armstrong/1930s Quintette du Hot Club De France Django/Grapelli stuff could have sounded really good if only their producers weren't trying to fake an 'old' sound?