Reproduction Perfection

I am not sure if our present technical achievement in mechanical reproduction is a blessing. Once upon a time, great singers, for example, are truly legends: most people never get an opportunity to hear them. People go hear the singers in their neighbourhood and enjoy it. Now, we listen to HDCD of great dead singers everyday. And when excellent living singers come to town, we are disappointed because they do not sound like the great dead one’s recording. It is certain that even the great dead one did not sound like the recording after the “touch-ups” so expertly done in the digital studio. And therein lies the problem: we are more and more unable to enjoy anything not processed and pre-packaged. We do not even listen to good vinyl because of the slightest of noise, much less a singer with jetlag. That is a pity; it not only takes away the enjoyment of listening to different people but takes away the greatness of the great ones too, for it renders the great ones to a few processed record.