Confessions of a Fanboy

I’ve forever heard movie critics opine that some films are best experienced on the big screen, typically the sprawling epics or effects-driven pieces. I’m starting to wonder if some albums aren’t best experienced on the “big stereo.”

For the sake of portability and convenience, I’ve done most of my music listening over the past several years on my iPod or in the car. Obviously, lossy formats are not the best way to experience music but I think it goes deeper than lossy, compressed files versus lossless.

While making dinner, I listened to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ duet album Raising Sand on my home system. It’s by no means an audiophile’s dream, my system, but there was more substance to the record hearing it played through a larger system with more range.

Additionally, I enjoyed hearing the album in space. With my iPod serving as my chief means of hearing music, I hear these songs through earbuds. I no longer use the set that came with my iPod, having upgraded to a set of Shure buds. These noise-isolating buds block out distractions and allow me to hear everything better, but I wonder if there isn’t a little distortion that comes from hearing it in such a confined way. I’m sure it sounds better that way, but how good is the experience?

I’m not knocking iPods, earbuds, or portability. They allow me to listen to more music every day and that can’t be a bad thing. Tonight, I got to listen to music in a different environment and I really enjoyed it.

Now I’ve just got to find time to write a thorough review of Raising Sand.

Filed under: Musical Musings and Random Ramblings