Interesting topic, and I can't agree with you more.

I used to be a professional musician, so I appreciate good sound mixing and design, and to me, audio is one of the most important factors in a pinball machine. For me, it's games like White Water and Whirlwind that really underscore the brilliance of sound design in a game. They have punchy soundtracks with great audio hooks that keep up with gameplay and modulate with the action, and they have seamless transitions from the shooter groove, main tune(s), and ball drain jingles.

One of my biggest disappointments with the new JJP (and even to a lesser extent, Stern) games is that they don't have fun audio hooks or nearly enough punch. They sound more like slot machines, and just blend in with the drone of all the other arcade games. I'm sure a lot of effort goes into making them sound the way they do, and I'm sure there's a lot of considerations with keeping with the licenses, but... audio on games now just doesn't grab me like it does on older stuff. Personally, my greatest disappointment came from Dialed In. I really wanted to hear some sweet catchy original tunes from the game, but nothing in the audio really grabbed me.