SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

I wholly agree! Unfortunately, my hearing has deteriorated to the point where I can hear the music, but not the high or low notes.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Probably just the high frequencies. Either turn up the treble, or better, if your speakers have a variable tweeter level, turn it to max. I changed the crossovers in my listening speakers to compensate for my high frequency hearing loss (and left instructions for my son on how to dial it back if he inherits them before he’s in the same boat).

KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

I'm with you, Brother. I grew up listening to my Dad's Big Band & Swing records, & I do like the late 60s-70 Rock. However, Jazz is my personal favorite & I appreciate your tips, Mark.

I was discussing this with an old Navy friend of mine ... how the current music is mostly just ... terrible. But there is good music out there. I made a playlist and sent it with the music CD to him, included below, mostly post-2000 stuff.

If you haven't heard or know any of these, check them out. Worth a listen in my opinion.

RELAX

1. Relax
2. She’s Not You – The Amazing Rhythm Aces were a country-rock Memphis based band with Russel Smith as the lead singer and a killer rhythm section. Don’t know why they never made it big. Saw them years ago on The Midnight Special probably doing their biggest hit Third Rate Romance.
3. Payday – Boz Scaggs, a great vocalist still doing his thing.
4. Eyes For You – Daryl Hall on his own (sort of) accompanied by his band of five or six excellent musicians. These guys are tight! If you’ve never seen Live From Daryl’s House, check it out. If you have, then you know.
5. Blanket – Jeff Beck with Imogene Heep on vocals, LIVE. I’d never heard of her but it works well. What a great guitarist! Not so much fast, but well-chosen notes.
6. Leading Me Back To You – Joe Sample on keyboards (formerly with the Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders) with Michael Franks on vocals.
7. U Turn – Joe Sample again with Take 6 on vocals.
8. Diesel Smoke – Kind of a Jazz/Country/Western Swing sound, Nora Jones contributing on vocals.
9. Punish The Monkey – Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) from his fifth album on his own
10. Plenty Lovin’ - Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith) with Des’ree on vocals.
11. Good Times – Edie Brickell (former wife of Paul Simon) , first heard this when it was included on a multi-media sample from Microsoft’s Windows 95. Always liked it.
12. Sleep – Allen Stone, had never heard of him but I saw him on Live From Daryl’s House.
13. Billie Jean – Karen Souza is originally from Argentina, good Jazz.
14. Twist In My Sobriety – Tanita Tikaram, first heard this in 1988 listening to a program on NPR late at night, haunting tune.
15. Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby – Renee Olmstead, best known for her roles on CBS’s sitcom Still Standing, but quite the Jazz singer.
16. On My Way To Harlem – Gregory Porter, great baritone voice. I love this hard-driving, straight-ahead jazz tune. Listen to the interplay in the middle between sax & trumpet.
17. Almost Like The Blues – Leonard Cohen, from the Canadian’s 13th album.
18. Every Time I See A River – Van Morrison, still writing, still singing, still great!

John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

I like a wide range of music particular favourite Sinatra, Perry Como,
Nat Cole Matt Monroe was a particular favourite also Ronnie Hilton
Musicians such as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Littleton, Kent Ball, Archie Shaw, Gene Krupa, I also like Elton John, Jim Reeves, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand ,
Sara Vaughan Ella Fitzgerald and the Carpenters also the Berbers in my lifetimes we have been spoiled by many wonderful performers.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

The Stones, Grateful Dead, etc., used to be teenage music but that isn't true any longer. Their fans are collecting social security, and the teens of today are into a completely different music scene. But I can agree that classical and jazz are the pinnacle of sophistication and sheer artistry. I don't seek out a lot of it, though, owing mainly to character flaws and lack of a proper education :).

Is there good new popular music out there? What is "good" is relative, but I would say that there is a lot of good new stuff out there but you have to hunt for it. Most of it sounds different from what used to be rock and roll or pop music or whatever. And what I like other people might not care for and vice-versa.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

I thought I was the only one left that still remembered component stereo gear.
I have these old Infinity Quantum III's that I like to turn loose every now and then just to scare the heck out of someone who thinks they have the best little computer speakers ever.
Try this one if you do not have it. I have it in FLAC format ripped from my CD. Don't be afraid to turn it up and feel real music.
One of the early electronic music pioneers, Isao Tomita- Clair de Lune (Debussy).

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

Mark, I have said almost exactly those same words. Now they give Grammys to what I call junk. I love music, but most of what I hear today simply isn't music ---words with a heavy beat just isn't music and most of the words are not well written at all. I question myself, is it just because i'm old, then I saw a TV program about how the music business industry is in great trouble because the quality of music is so poor today. A great amount of what is called music today is simply audio pollution.You are right on, I couldn't agree more.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Thank you! I am considering buying a good quality external DAC since some of the streaming services (including Apple) are now streaming real High definition music and FLAC files. Up to now, my sources have been CDs. I do have a large vinyl library and a decent turntable and cartridge, but the many advantages of a digital source have caused me to leave them on the shelf for the last decade - if I liked the album, I bought the CD. I am a loudspeaker and tube amplifier designer and builder, but I don’t have the skill set to design a good DAC. Do you use an external DAC, and if so, whose do you use/suggest?

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

I have a friend who does and I will get the info for you.
My home is hard wired Ethernet with a CAT6e gigabit backbone.
TV in the front room is a full SONOS surround theater system. The den audio system is connected via a SONOS Port which has an internal DAC.
This allows me to play anything in my digital library using my phone or iPad.
The master library SW I use is JRiver. I point the SONOS app to it

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Cool setup and thank you!

Joe71 Loc: Winter Garden, Central Florida

I suppose we tend to gravitate to the music of our teens, then branch out later to a few other styles as we experience other cultures. As a former music teacher, I would choose Classical if I had but one style to listen to for the rest of my life, because it's well constructed and there is such a large repertoire, but my playlist also includes the groups of the middle 60's up to the awful disco years. I wouldn't give you a nickel for pop music of the last twenty years.

Michael1079 Loc: Indiana

I rarely watch the parade, but yesterday I was at my son's house and the grand kids had it on. I thought the same thing as the various "artists" performed their songs. Disappointing, to say the least...

stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

In junior high and high school in the ‘60’s I found myself listening not so much to the rock of the day, but to a lot of older good music that I found on the AM band. Jazz, big band stuff, etc. I had an old Silvertone tube radio chassis by my desk with a big antenna attached, and at night could pick up stations from up and down the east coast from my home near Boston. The New York stations, of course, the milk man’s matinee, the Night Bird, etc. And even WBT from Charlotte NC. But one of my favorites was from right here in Boston, Jonathan Schwartz’s evening show on WNAC. Lots of great big band stuff, Sinatra, etc. I eventually found him again, playing the same flavor of music, on WNEW, and later doing drive time on WQEW, which I could pick up during my long commute home on 495.

Now we all can cruise the web and find any sort of music we want.

I think my opinion of a lot of current music is best summed up by a question I asked one of my kids a few years back: “What key is he cursing in?”

KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

I agree with most here. The current crop of "popular music" seems to be sadly lacking,with any one tune sounding much like the next. It is alarming to hear myself admit to and say that, (I remember my father saying the exact same thing about the music that I loved back in the day). Maybe it's simply a sign of getting old, and just should be accepted. I don't know, I'm just glad that I was around when music was good, with proper words you could understand, a melody you could sing along with, and tunes played by musicians with real instruments! (I'm willing to bet my parents had that discussion every year as soon as I began to like the music). So perhaps it is just the passage of time that causes this to happen. Sometimes I'm not too fond of getting old!

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

I think we are seeing a lot of compromise of the finer things in life for ease, familiarity, politics, political correctness, and etc. I am not on the the same par as you are for listeniing but I do like a good assortment of music but I HAD TO TURN THE CHANNEL this year with the Macy's Thankgiving Days parade. Too much nonesense and I wonder who they are trying to please. And to site another example, our local county fair has changed because they made the President someone who was worrie about his friends coming instead of the intent of the fair. I saw ir coming and wrote letters of protest to no avail. And even though I entered the most in the horticultural division my protest fell on deaf ears so I now refuse to go.