For the last two years, most music fans have found themselves restricted to listening to music at home on their home setups or streaming through computers and other audio devices.
Now though, things are starting to open up again, and events such as Steelhouse Festival are announcing their first bands for 2022. This is exciting stuff for any metal or rock fan, but with some time to wait for festivals to arrive, there will be plenty of listening to music in the car and at home before then.
While rock and metal are two of the biggest musical genres in the world, there are some audiophiles who might look down at them. Many people feel that a quality sound system is wasted on metal music, but is it true?
Is it a myth that it doesn’t matter what speakers you run Metallica through, or will you find more pleasure if you do splash out on new components?
Why does your sound system matter if you only like metal or rock?
No matter what music style you prefer listening to, the sound system you employ will make a difference.
Cheap USB computer speakers will never sound as good as top-end custom-made units. This is true no matter what music you are playing through them. Except maybe 8-bit music from 1980s computer games. But then again chiptune wouldn’t probably appeal to a fan of Napalm Death.
Looking at a list of the biggest selling albums ever would show Metallica, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin, all high up with tens of millions of record sales. These bands have all enjoyed high production values, and have had some records remastered to improve the quality.
There are many parts of a sound system that can influence the quality of what you hear. The music you play will certainly play a part, but it may be the input source and recording that matter more.
How much do the source and recording matter?
While a remastered Mothership might sound fantastic coming out of your home system, a poor-quality metal album from the eighties won’t. Production values have improved with music in general, and in metal very much.
Metal music has always suffered from low budgets for recording artists, and fans have had to put up with poor production values. This is partly why some audiophiles believe that sound systems don’t matter for this genre, and rock too to some extent.
However, vinyl is making a big comeback. In 2020, 27.5 million vinyl records were sold in the US according to Statista. This represented a 46 percent rise in sales from the previous year.
Clearly, the pandemic had something to do with increased record sales, as people spent more time at home. But, this revival has been coming for a long time, and it is partly due to the higher quality of reissues and remasters.
Which component matters the most?
Now it should be clear that part of the myth of metal fans not needing sound systems is down to poor quality recordings. To get the best out of any system requires a good input source. Compressed MP3s won’t sound good on any system, but they might even sound worse on a high-end stereo.
Once you are satisfied that your digital files or vinyl recordings are top-notch, it won’t matter whether you are listening to vinyl or classic music. But the components you choose will.
The first component you should consider for your system is the speakers. You will find that many audiophiles believe that you should allocate up to half your budget to this area alone. However, there are plenty of options for getting the most for your cash.
If you look at the different options for speakers online at SoundImports, for example, you will see that you can buy DIY kits as well as branded units. Another option is to build custom speakers from start to finish.
How important are speakers to a metal or rock fan?
This sounds like a question that doesn’t need to be asked. Not too many metal fans will say that music should be enjoyed at a sensible level. There is more to speakers than playing music loudly though.
When choosing off-the-shelf speakers for metal music, ignore bookshelf speakers, and look for floor standing, or add a subwoofer to an existing bookshelf setup.
You may find that to get the best speaker setup will be through either DIY or custom-made units. How suitable this is for you will depend on your skills in this area, and your desire to get more involved.
How do DIY speakers and custom-made units work?
With off-the-shelf speakers, you can visit a music shop and ask them to give you a demonstration. You can judge them for yourself, and you can read reviews online.
With DIY units and specially custom-made ones, there is no way to tell what you are getting, except through your own experience, knowledge, and intuition.
DIY speakers will no doubt have online reviews, and they have some benefits. You will have the enjoyment of building your own speakers, and you will also likely get better components for your money than if you buy ready-made ones.
Custom-made speakers are the holy grail, and for metal fans, they could be exactly what is needed.
By building speakers from scratch you can choose what components will handle your music collection the best. You can put in a Hypex amplifier module if you want active speakers, or you can choose to build ive units.
Want more bass? A bigger tweeter? Custom speakers will let you decide what you need.
What else can help make your music system sound better?
If you are streaming then make sure that your WiFi is fast and stable enough to deliver constantly. While dropouts in your WiFi might not affect sound quality, they will dampen your enjoyment.
Another area you might want to look at is using an external DAC. A DAC is a digital to analogue converter. To be able to listen to music from any device, a DAC is necessary.
Digital files, which as you know are common for music now, are made up of ones and zeros. This code is useless to amplifiers, headphones, and speakers. Unless the digital code is converted into analogue signals, you won’t be able to listen to Pantera or anybody on your system.
Using an external DAC can help to enhance the existing sound, and it can be adjusted to suit your needs. So, if you are investing in the Dutch power death metal band Spartan’s new single, you might want to make sure you listen to it as it was intended. A DAC could help elevate your music system to new heights.
Summary
The short answer to the title is yes, it does matter what sound system you listen to metal on. A tinny speaker set up with poor quality digital files streaming to them will not sound satisfying to anyone. Especially a fan of heavy rock or metal.
Talking to music techs will help you to choose which speakers and other components you require. Many rock and metal albums have a lot of distortion, but some speakers can deal with this very effectively, and others can’t.
So, some care should be taken when setting up a music system. No matter what musical genre you are into.
