A likely unpopular confession: I do not like the old recording of the "greats." They don't sound good to me, and I struggle to understand why so many people fawn over them and declare all modern singers inferior.

Very often when those recordings are linked, I listen to them and am immediately aware of how pitchy they sound without overtones and acoustics to smooth everything out (per esempio: [https://youtu.be/AEcRrb\_GOeg?is=DPnje8u1p-pGpuHR](https://youtu.be/AEcRrb_GOeg?is=DPnje8u1p-pGpuHR) ). The voices are so distorted by the technology of the time that it would seem impossible to me to actually determine their vocal quality with any surety, yet the die-hard fans are absolutely adamant that their voices are brilliant and perfect.

How so? The recordings sound terrible. I've heard that they're improved by being played on trumpet-style record players, but I still don't see how they could rival modern singers' recordings in the slightest. The top modern singers sound orders of magnitude better than recordings of, say, Caruso. How would one actually judge Caruso's actual sound when it's so distorted by the technology, aside from by assuming that his fame was indicitive of its quality?

Those of you getting high and mighty about people's "ears" are not helping your cases, trust me.