April Showers

Welcome, Driving Sounds Club members. The weather has been a bit miserable, hasn’t it? Mind you, so was Beck when he wrote and recorded his album “Sea Change”. He wrote the whole thing in a week directly after splitting up with a long-term girlfriend; I am not sure what April’s weather is using as an excuse.


Anyway, this month’s not-so-hidden track is from Sea Change. The entire album has a melancholy feel but is recorded beautifully and definitely benefits from the Hi-Res treatment. We particularly like the super low acoustic guitar tuning on some tracks (bottom E dropped to C!). This can easily overwhelm OEM speakers, but when played through an upgraded system, it will make you smile despite the dark content. Give it a go in your car.


Read more about Hi-Res in our blog, as we unpick the Japan Audio Society’s definition.


Read on Macduff!


https://open.qobuz.com/track/754776

https://tidal.com/browse/track/77646179?u

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KjMK0F6b8

Your club exclusive first look this month is an article based on the C63 AMG pictured above. Have a read at how his Club DJ’s background was satisfied!

Magic Me To Mikey’s Merc

The Japan Audio Society’s Hi-Res audio logo is becoming ubiquitous. Find out what it means and how it benefits listeners of car audio upgrades.

Tell Me About Hi-Res and Forza Amplifiers

This month’s Top Five comes from the article featured in this newsletter. Ex-DJ Mikey still enjoys jumping on the decks and “getting ill with his wax” (Thanks, Carl - Ed.), but as you can see, his tastes have developed somewhat


Be The One - Dua Lipa


Leavemealone - Fred Again


Still Don’t Know My Name - Labrinth


Rise - Hans Zimmer


Life Worth Living - Laurel


Why not send us your current Top Five. Just five tracks you are currently enjoying listening to in your own car. Email me by hitting the button below.

My Top Five

I like to keep abreast of audio technology. Although I am not a scientist, I trained and worked extensively as an electronics technician in a previous life, I understand concepts, if not necessarily the science behind them.

While researching this month’s blog (see here), I naturally wanted to check some facts, and this took me off the beaten track to the wonderful world of forums. These can be amusing but are often confusing. They tend to begin with a simple question, and then by post five, the answers have morphed into heavy science with many supposedly learned people claiming and counter-claiming to know stuff that either damns the entire topic or, has no bearing on the original question in the first place.


In the conclusion of my blog, I discuss what to expect from High-Resolution listening. I have added advice and pointed out that audio beauty is in the ear of the beholder. I wish that the smart-ar** out there who are clearly more interested in arguing science rather than listening to music would pipe down rather than place doubt into the minds of those wishing to experience a new and wonderful listening experience.


For me, many Hi-Res recordings make for fantastic listening. Of course, there are companies out there wishing to hang their hats on a new technology that they have no idea how to utilise. Those who spend their time exploring the loopholes to exploit adopters of new technologies.


It is OK to buy into Hi-Res because you can hear a difference. The opposite is also OK.


Take care out there!


Carl

Editor