[BC] Could our concept of audio be all wrong?

[Jim Tonne]

Jeff Johnson is right on!

I was so proud of my wife years ago when we were
listening to an FM station while traveling and she said
"Listen to that!" and I said something along the line of
"So?" and she said "Is it tuned in right?"

What I recognized was the result of pre-emphasizing
and then clipping the treble (remember the Top Level
or the RCA equivalent?).  That  was what she was
hearing.  It was not a weak signal, nor was it mistuned.

Now we have become accustomed to hearing a fairly
heavy level of audio "processing" - which, I admit,
makes for a "smooth" sound  - and other sounds seem
odd.

I remember a comment here by Bob Orban about how
he was involved with the music groups in San Francisco,
and how they sounded, and how he thought it a bad thing
to make sounds that detracted from those original
sounds.  (Paraphrasing, here, Bob!) 

If people get used to the sound of a cellphone maybe
that's what they will expect for audio   :-(

- Jim Tonne