Reggie Watts Explains Why Records Sound Better | Joe Rogan

I don't know. I mean, I don't know. But I know that, you know, people like film. I think it just looks, it's the texture of it. But now people like DV. Well, it's like people like vinyl, right? Just people that are just diehard vinyl fans. They like that sound. Yeah. I mean, you know, I like, I like, I like anything, you know, but I'd like to, I'd like to make sure that it's the best quality of it or the most natural use case for it. You know, it's like when people used to mix, when people started listening more to music in their car, that they could like put a thing that they bought in their car with an eight track or whatever. Or they used to have record players for cars too. But you know, the way that music sounded, they were kind of, they also had to consider the mix of car speakers. What does it sound like on car speakers? So going back to the Oritones and the NS10s and then the standardized car speakers that people test audio in. Right. And it's a different parameter, right? Because you're stuck in this little contained metal box. Yeah. Yeah. So you got to figure out how to mix the music. But generally it's the sound system that has to be adjusted. The sound systems have to, but you mix two, they kind of meet each other in the middle, but great HiFi systems. My, actually it's a quick anecdote, but when I was in Seattle, I knew that I liked HiFi systems, but I didn't know why they were so expensive. And so I went into this place, this guy named Leland, who was working there. I was kind of friends with him because I'd come in and I just scope gear all the time. Just look at like, Oh, I love audio gear. It's just really sweet. And then one day it was towards the end when they were closing and he turns to me and says, Hey man, do you want to get your brain fried? And I was like, what, what do you mean? And he's like, stick around like, okay. And he closed shop. A couple of his friends came in close the shop. It's like maybe five of us went into the back room, smoked some marijuana, went into the showroom, the main room where they have all the speakers and all the different types of units. And he says, then he just kind of turns to us. We all sit down and couch and he says, okay, you're going to listen to a, this is a system in total. It costs about $150,000. Whoa. And then he just goes, proceeds and goes through and explains all of the stages that, you know, that the current is going through and what the music is going through and what it's being played on all the cables that are being used, all this stuff. And then I heard all of that crazy speakers like, okay, cool. He lowers the lights and he puts on a bill Evans trio record. I can't remember which one. And he just presses play and we sit down and like within probably 30 seconds people were crying. Wow. And because it felt holographic, it felt like you were in the room with those musicians that were playing right there for you. And then I had the realization that it's not the money. It's not about the money. It's about what does it take to engineer a machine that becomes invisible to the experience. And that was, that kind of blew my mind. So whenever you're designing anything, it's like you're designing the experience. The engineering should get the fuck out of the way. What was the medium? Was it vinyl? Vinyl. Yeah. What do you think like in your description, what is different about vinyl? Well, I mean, supposedly if you have a really nice quality piece of violence cut really well, you get as close to the original master recording experience like coming out of the studio if you're talking about older tape. So whatever that final mix is, when someone plays it and they're like, it's been mastered. Here's the stereo two track. We're playing the stereo two track. It's been mastered. Excuse me. I'm a little wheezy. And that's what you hear. You hear it in the best possible context on the speakers that it was mixed on. It's everything's optimal. So essentially when a record is pressed, if it can mimic the stereo two track, the master, which it does, then you have something that for at least the first, I don't know, vinyl people will say how many times, but a record starts to wear down. But if you have a fresh press, you can run it a bunch of times before it starts to degrade. But in that state, you're hearing it like analog, super analog. It's like as analog as you know. How many times you think you play it before it starts to degrade? I don't know. I guess it depends on the ears of the audio file, but there's probably an average, I don't know what it would be maybe 60 or 30, 40, 50 times. Now, is there a digital format that at least comes close? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Flack files. What is that? It's a file format. Flack files are good. Usually 128, 96 kilohertz. Like that's, there's like kind of a mastering, the digital mastering standard. And that standard is, is basically what that is, what a record is. So that's why you have like sites like HD tracks that I really dig. You can get all your favorite out. Well, not all it's not as big of a selection, but you can get full resolution from like stereo two track master from the studio level quality in a digital format that you can buy and then put into a high res player. So I have a high res player, a high five player, and it runs the has really nice circuitry and all that stuff. And then use a really great pair of headphones and you've got the closest thing to a record that's repeatable infinite times. And is the headphones the way to go or one of those crazy tower speaker jammies the way to go? Oh, well, it depends on your, your use case. Like if you, if you know, if you're in a house and you want like a cool living room system or whatever, I would always opt for speakers and not, not Sonos and not that kind of stuff. People, they dig it. But true. I mean, records are meant to be played off of two speakers with this. It's a 2.1 system, unless it's specifically engineer, which is very rare for like Atmos or whatever the fuck. But usually it's two speakers and a subwoofer. So why would I not want to hear the music the way it's supposed to sound? However, I understand the convenience of those speakers, so I'm not totally knocking it. But for me, if you're going to get a system for your living room, if I can get a 2.1 system. Yeah, you want it played out the way you want the sound to come at you the way it was recorded. Yeah. Otherwise it changes the experience. Yeah, completely. The Sonos and those types of things, they, they fake stereo. Henry Rollins was on the podcast and he has this most preposterous setup in his house. He is a gigantic audio file. Oh shit. A massive lover of music. Oh my God. And he collects all these albums and he even runs a radio show. I love his radio show. It's dope. It's on KCRW. Yeah. So these are the crazy fucking speakers he has in his house. What the fuck? And there's some, what are those? They're $200,000 is what they are. Oh, I forget. I have seen those. I've seen pictures of that. That's, who makes this? Alexandria. Alexandria XLF is what they're called. Okay. Wilson Alexandria. How dope they look. I mean, it's disgusting. Look at those things. You have to have their weapons. You know, like you, you, you have to have- Scroll back, pull back so we can see what you're- A big ass ring. Full size of those things. Like look at what a weird looking piece of equipment. I mean, it looks like- Future robot. It looks like an ATM machine, right? Yeah, totally. Or like a display screen robot. Yeah. Today we have here, swipe here for you. Thank you for your business. Goodbye. So is the one that we're looking at on the right hand side is at the back? At the back. Yeah. Wow. Look at all that shit in there. Shows the inputs. I don't even know what the fuck all that stuff is. They have discrete inputs for each of the, um, the frequency spectrums, the different speakers. Ooh. Damn. Some people go deep. It's like everything, right? Look at it. That's what it looks like. That's another one. Look at that goddamn- Crazy. ... ... thing. I mean, it's, it's beautiful. I mean, audio is- $200,000 for fucking speakers. Look at that guy. He's like, I have it all. No, I will vanquish my spirit. Look at the fringe on my curtains. I am Heinrich Orelunds. That's crazy, man. Yeah. Well, there you go. Good sound system in a car is amazing too, man, because right, you know, you get like a Mark Levinson, like I have a Lexus that has a Mark Levinson system in it. Yeah. That's just like the whole thing is engineered for the shape of the inside of the car. Yes. So it just rings out in all these perfect places. It's, it's tight. One of my favorite places to listen to music is a car. And I was stoked to get my Audi because I got the B&O system in there. And I've never heard better audio. I mean, I've heard some dope ass. I think I have a, I think the Tesla uses Levinson stuff. I'm not totally sure. People haven't been able to figure out, but they should have by now. But I remember like five years ago, trying to figure out like, what is the premium audio system? Like what is it besides a premium audience? And I couldn't get an answer. Someone figured out what the amp was, but they couldn't figure out the speakers or something. That's interesting. But, but the Audi, man, banging all of a sudden, and I have some 18s at home there. It's a 2.1 system and it just finally started. It kicked in. And now it sounds amazing. I was like really kind of disappointed for a while. Yeah. It's weird. There's almost, changed. Yeah. There's like a burn-in. What? I think there's a burn-in. I'm not sure. Maybe it's totally, maybe you got better. Maybe I did get better. We, I mean, what'd you think of this weed by the way? Fantastic. It's pretty groovy, right? Really good. Yeah. It's just, it's not weighing you down. No, it's just a nice friendly, like you're, you're fucking high, but like, uh, yeah, I feel good. Yeah, it's good stuff. It's not like, yeah, you're not freaking out. I like it a lot. What's it called again? Purple what? Uh, purple tundra. No, uh, purple, uh, Rain. Venom. Venom. Thank you. Jeez. What does he know? Jamie's got a great bond. I know the great brain. That's awesome. Purple venom. Purple venom. That's legit. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Oh, these speakers, you got. Yeah. You have the, the Browns. Yeah. And then there's like a subwoofer that looks like an egg. Yeah. And they're great because it's, I have my house kind of mid-sensh mod and mid-century modern. Oh, that's me trying to, I think it's the first time I think I've said it. So you sounded it yourself. Yeah. So just like mid-sensh mod.