Yeah, as
@BlindWillyMcHurt and I have talked about here, music making gear can also get kind of stupid like that. But being mostly deaf in an ear has really helped me save money on expensive home stereo stuff.
Mono rules, baby.
Binaural definitely rules more, but I can totally appreciate your perpsective.
Ear damage can really f*** up interpretation and spatial processing of what even the best-intending audio engineer tries to achieve. Find an copy of Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue/1961 (I think). Most of what is out there is binaural even if falsely advertised as stereo in one of the various remasters. Listening in binaural with careful attenuation of levels between left and right, you may dig it and find it immersive as f***. As always, headphones work best.
Easiest way I can clumsily explain it, binaural is less demanding than stereo as positioning is NOT critical. In theory, binaural should sound the same irresepctive as to where one is in a listening area (loudspeakers, not headphones). Not the case with stereo as it demands you be at a point of a triangle for it to resolve as intended. At least mono doesn't give a shit, but binaural is a substantially more interesting and "live" to listen to. But if your bad ear is like down 20db or more, above, say 2,500 hz, we could be f***ed in this exercise, higher freqs are key to imaging and soundstage. I swear, I haven't smoked very much at all tonight. Thanks for enduring my ramble.
