Why high end audio??

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

found this article via CYV forums!

If you work for the audio industry

[Bigpete123 1]

Very sad but true... I'm 25 yrs old and I cannot think of a single friend who will turn on his/her home system and just listen to the music. My roommates think I'm wierd... They always want to talk, sing along, turn on the TV on Mute, read, etc. Nowadays, music is considered something you listen too while working out, driving, or doing other boring/tedious things. When I get home with a new CD I'm excited about, the first thing I do is fire up my home stereo system, turn off the lights, and listen.

I agree that audiophiles are a shrinking breed, but I think they will always be around. The unfortunate thing is that the market for nice equipment will shrink to match the demand, which will probably force the price-to-quality ratio up for SQ equipment.

This trend is also noticeable in the quality of source recordings. Popular music nowadays is typically not recorded very well. A decent sound system will easily reveal the flaws... This is most likely because the record companies figure it will be listened to as a 128kbps MP3 on an ipod while the listener is vacuuming.

Times are changing!

[Tirefryr 1,742]

The digital age has been both a blessing and a disgrace. Compression is killing the music, but the recording industry has been putting out shit recordings for years.

If you go cheap, that's exactly what you get, but on the other end of the spectrum, I see NO reason why some pieces are priced the way there are. So they use an exotic metal that drives the price up thousands of dollars. Does it have a distinct advantage over a component costing 1/3? Most of the time no. There will ALWAYS be people who have the money to blow on something just because they can (brag), and that will help to keep the fire lit on the high-end gear.

[JimJ 11]

I think I mentioned this on CA.com...there's only one type of recording medium that actually increased sales over the last few years...and it ain't on a little shiny disc

The new trend in single ended amplifiers is really only ten years old or so, after the Japanese were crazy enough to experiment with "puny" 10 watt or lower amps. Who in their right mind would bother with three and a half watts from a 2A3? But...they're making a comeback I bet people would have told you in 1975 that triodes were dead. I wonder why Svetlana is now producing new designs for triodes specifically with audio in mind.

Things come in waves...the iPod might be pushing hi-fi out of the mainstream, but it really was never in it to begin with.

If only people didn't sell their record players for the latest and greatest

[Beat_Dominator 2]

Popular music nowadays is typically not recorded very well.

Under statement of the year

The odds are stacked against the High end so much it's not even funny. Had it not been for my love of music and technology I'd never even give a 2nd thought toward the quality of my gear. On top of this, had a local Hi-Fi shop (sadly closed now ) not had wonderful customer service and let me at about the age of 15 listen to a good $20k+ system consisting of both B&W and Martin Logan speakers I wouldn't have ever known what is possible in audio (and according to the magazines, just the tip of the iceberg).

Now that I am older and more into the high end than ever, I wanted to listen to some good gear, but alas, in my quite large city there are about 7 shops that carry the stuff and all but 2 are "by appointment" outfits. How that is a good business strategy for them I do not know. What I do know is if that one shop were still open I'd probably be buying stuff from them

[Renegadesrun 0]

No worries here!

[CBFryman 2]

Very, very VERY true.

People are amazed at the sond quality of both my truck and my stereo in my room. the sad thing is the stereo in my room is just a mid level JBL bookshelf system with attention to proper imageing and a good subwoofer.

there are others who listen to music only on cheap computer speakers and their ipod and stock systems...when they ride in my truck their eyes brighten up when the 18 unleashes new lows with crisp accuracy that either where un detailed on their ear buds or didnt exist at all.

last time i bought a CD it was remasers of Back in Black...i listening to hit in my truck, at the time on a stock head unit, speed home, put it in the CD player, cranked it to just below distortion level sat down on the floor by my bed where imageing is the best, and waited for the details to come out...i got chills on hells bells. that is what makes all the work and time worth it, when you get a good track on a good system with no intruptions you get chills and goose bumps.

the average joe around town has a cookie cutter box, no sound deadening, and what we could consider either low-mid level or SPL speakers for bass and co-axils that dont cost over $150 even after the local audio shop inflation. that is reguarded as sounding "good". it is sad and i see it all the time.

luckely for DIY audiophiles, as the knowledge dies and we live on we will be in demand... all we have to do is open eyes that have long been closed or never opened at all. In that instance it will mean more profit for us who charge a little for on the side installs.

[Renegadesrun 0]

Very, very VERY true.

People are amazed at the sond quality of both my truck and my stereo in my room. the sad thing is the stereo in my room is just a mid level JBL bookshelf system with attention to proper imageing and a good subwoofer.

there are others who listen to music only on cheap computer speakers and their ipod and stock systems...when they ride in my truck their eyes brighten up when the 18 unleashes new lows with crisp accuracy that either where un detailed on their ear buds or didnt exist at all.

last time i bought a CD it was remasers of Back in Black...i listening to hit in my truck, at the time on a stock head unit, speed home, put it in the CD player, cranked it to just below distortion level sat down on the floor by my bed where imageing is the best, and waited for the details to come out...i got chills on hells bells. that is what makes all the work and time worth it, when you get a good track on a good system with no intruptions you get chills and goose bumps.

the average joe around town has a cookie cutter box, no sound deadening, and what we could consider either low-mid level or SPL speakers for bass and co-axils that dont cost over $150 even after the local audio shop inflation. that is reguarded as sounding "good". it is sad and i see it all the time.

luckely for DIY audiophiles, as the knowledge dies and we live on we will be in demand... all we have to do is open eyes that have long been closed or never opened at all. In that instance it will mean more profit for us who charge a little for on the side installs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We DO still exist tho.

[PaulD 0]

yea, I have to admit that high quality stuff is dwindling - look at the latest offerings from Alpine for a headunit. And most of the MP3 stuff sounds BAD, I had NO idea a poor recording could make a good sounding stereo sound so bad. There seems to be painfully little real music nowadays, it just synthesized, sampled stuff.

Edited July 20, 2006 by PaulD

[Scarenius 0]

I've stopped using high end equipment. Maybe I'm just fitting into the "modern" crowd, but to me I just hit the point where I was listening to the stereo and not the music. With audiophilia comes the burden of learning how to gain audiophile quality music. I question the importance of having to learn about such things when a good pair of earbud headphones and a repaired (hack job) 1.5w / channel tube amp will handle it for me.

(RIckRolled I'm really really sorry I never got pics of it. I could now, but - it's ugly.)

[tejcurrent 13]

I don't know that I could go back if I wanted to. I strive to get better sound all the time, and even now am not satisfied with the sq of my car's audio system. I just bought a house, so I don't have the home audio that I want yet, but I'm working on that. It hurts me to listen to music on friends I-pods or even FM radio. I used to download MP3s, but at 360kbp the files were large enough to take up a lot of space, and still didn't have the clarity I wanted. People want Loud, clean means means there's no static. Imaging is something you do in photoshop, not with your stereo. Its sad but true.

I've always loved good quality music, and hearing it sound true to life is that much better, but thats not what people care about, so quantity will remain in the forefront.

[audio-neon 34]

Since I was introduced to playing music a decade ago, I have been to numerous concert halls and even to an acoustical design firm just to learn about proper imaging and staging. The affects of material densities, seating arrangements, ceiling and wall shapes, even colors and the number of people in a room vs empty chairs. I have spent time listening to music just to listen. I have sat in a room, turned off everything non-critical and just listened. I had the privilege just last week to be sitting in my brothers room with a cheap sony surround sound system. And while he was out picking up his girlfriend I re-positioned all of his speakers, and TV, re-set all of his settings on his eq and just played with it until it sounded right. When he came back into his room later that night he was baffled.

I got a call at work that night asking me what I had changed in his room (equipment wise) and I said nothing. He was amazed that a little placement could go a long way. (especially corner loading his woofer) which increased bass without needing increased volume. I was nice enough to have left the movie black hawk down in, cued to the scene Irene. He pushed play when he got home, and was just amazed at the crisp bass, that he was used to being washy (poor acoustical room shape).

I tell people all of the time, You don't need focal berylliums to sounds amazing. But you are committing a sin if you don't take the effort to make your current equipment live up to its fullest potential. Granted my car sounds awesome to most people (not as good as my last sq car yet), but people are often amazed when they get in my car (which has a few audio stickers on the back windshield) and are expecting boomy rap, and instead they are greeted by great imaging, staging and a relatively flat response. Bass isn't overwhelming especially considering they are sitting in an spl car. I have been blessed to have a great car audio mentor, and I am working on bringing that same philosophy into my house.

Edited May 29, 2007 by audio-neon