more bad news for audiophiles

[audioraptured]

Popularity of digital audio files stunt hi-fi sound
By RON HARRIS, Associated Press
© April 23, 2007
I wish things were better....

 

[DTB300]

For pure ease and convienence, I can listen to MP3 music in my car, and streaming audio at work. But when it comes down to serious listening, the home system is the place to be for me.

But if one never knows about the ability of great playback, does one ever know what they are missing? If all you eat are hamburgers, do you know what you are missing with a great prime cut steak? And on and on...

I think this is something which is hard for those of us here to swallow (sorry for the pun from above) as we are very spoiled with our great setups, and it would be hard to live without them.

Dan

 

[Dan Prorok]

From the article:
“Everybody has a certain amount of money to spend,” said James McQuivey, principle analyst for media technology at Forrester Research Inc. “It’s not that they’re choosing not to spend it on the old-style audio. It’s that something new came along.

...yup...and when the masses choose to dump their quality vintage gear for cheap on eBay, I'll be happy to take it off their hands so they can buy a dock for their ipod.

Frankly, I think the best thing to happen to high-end audio was the internet. It moved high-end out of the snooty specialty shops in large cities and made it more acccessible to the masses who were interested. The fact that I can read about an interesting vintage component and then find one used online, try it out, and then, if it isn't for me, sell it for what I paid, is a godsend. At worst, I'm out shipping in most cases and I can get a lot of experience with different equipment while meeting local audiophiles along the way.

High end audio used to be a status item. In the 1970's, right after someone "made it," he got his Corvette and moved into the fancy neighborhood, he got himself a hi-fi to show off to his friends. Now he gets a BMW Z3 and a home theater. This subset of the high-end audio market never cared about sound anyway; just one-upsmanship. The minority of hi-fi buyers that actually cared about sound still have tons of options today; it's just not the mass-appeal status item it used to be.

Every pursuit separates the high-end from the mass market. Just because there's a McDonald's in my town and it is popular, it doesn't take anything from the gourmet French restaurant down the street.

Consider this analogy: "most people" have never had a $100 bottle of wine and, even if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and a $10-$20 bottle...and "most people" can't tell the difference between their ipod on someone's sweet vinyl rig. I say "big deal" and "who cares?" There's nothing wrong with the people that don't care. As an example, many of my friends know far more than I ever care to about gourmet food and I know more about hi-fi sound than they care to know. Is one of us wrong?

Admittedly, we could get in trouble if studios stopped producing decent-quality recordings for us to listen to in the first place, but that really wasn't the point of the article and isn't something I have seen much evidence of to date. If that actually happens, then yes, the end is near for our dear hobby.

 

[lugano]

Admittedly, we could get in trouble if studios stopped producing decent-quality recordings for us to listen to in the first place, but that really wasn't the point of the article and isn't something I have seen much evidence of to date. If that actually happens, then yes, the end is near for our dear hobby.

Completely agree - with every step forward I did with my gear, another 50 or so CD's proved to be bad recordings. Fortunately I have enough good albums which tell me that I actually did a step forward, otherwise I'd be tempted to think that I'm going the wrong way....but more and more the quality control will be done on iPods And new good music is getting more and more rare every day.

 

[asindc]

From the article:
Frankly, I think the best thing to happen to high-end audio was the internet. It moved high-end out of the snooty specialty shops in large cities and made it more acccessible to the masses who were interested. The fact that I can read about an interesting vintage component and then find one used online, try it out, and then, if it isn't for me, sell it for what I paid, is a godsend. At worst, I'm out shipping in most cases and I can get a lot of experience with different equipment while meeting local audiophiles along the way...

...and "most people" can't tell the difference between their ipod on someone's sweet vinyl rig. I say "big deal" and "who cares?" There's nothing wrong with the people that don't care. As an example, many of my friends know far more than I ever care to about gourmet food and I know more about hi-fi sound than they care to know. Is one of us wrong?

Admittedly, we could get in trouble if studios stopped producing decent-quality recordings for us to listen to in the first place, but that really wasn't the point of the article and isn't something I have seen much evidence of to date. If that actually happens, then yes, the end is near for our dear hobby.

I agree with these assessments. The hand-wringing about high-end audio being a niche hobby is only of concern to me for two potential reasons: 1) the price of gear (always an issue, but might be helped if more people gravitate towards high-end audio); and 2) if the industry reacts as Dan speculates. Otherwise, >>shrugs<<

Anthony

 

[Gordon Gray]

I agree but am optimistic

Completely agree - with every step forward I did with my gear, another 50 or so CD's proved to be bad recordings. Fortunately I have enough good albums which tell me that I actually did a step forward, otherwise I'd be tempted to think that I'm going the wrong way....but more and more the quality control will be done on iPods And new good music is getting more and more rare every day.

Very interesting thread. Regarding "hardware" costs, my sense is that the "high end" manufacturers are quite aware of this issue and are marketing products that offer very good performance at, within the context of state of the art products, quite reasonable prices. I recently purchased a Cary CDP 1 CD player, which is part of their "mid line" products, and I am very happy with the sound. The upsampling option, which I assume is part of their "trickle down" technology from the 300 series, is quite useful for fine tuning the digital signature of a CD based system.

On the software side, I've recently purchased several CD's (Arcade Fire / Neon Bible, Mark Feldman / What Exit, Louis Andriessen / Writing to Vermeer) that reflects new, original, compelling music that is well recorded. You just have to know where to look and how to purchase.

I will admit I'm of the glass half full versus half empty school. Having said that, I'm cautiously optimisitic that hardware and software companies, which strive to produce products that acknowledge the importance of well produced / recorded music, will continue to exist and thrive well into the future.

GG

 

[aerius007]

Frankly, I think the best thing to happen to high-end audio was the internet. It moved high-end out of the snooty specialty shops in large cities and made it more acccessible to the masses who were interested.

Just try to remember where the high-end gear was first purchased, at one of those "snooty specialty shopls." Had they not sold the gear originally there wouldnt be any used stuff to buy on the internet and if nobody is selling new product, then there isnt any reason to make any of it. Martin Logans arent sold new over the internet. If people bought only used we would soon have nothing to buy. Why make advancements in technology if you cant sell it. Vintage stuff is nice, but do we want ML, Krell, Bat, Cary, CJ, Pass and all the others to go out of business?

 

[benleeys]

I can remember when CDs came along, most people forecast the certain death of vinyl. It almost did, until a growing number of serious listeners began to realise the flaws in CD technology. Now vinyl is king again with the support from serious audiophiles who are willing to pay tens of kilobucks for equipment to spin them.

 

[Dan Prorok]

Just try to remember where the high-end gear was first purchased, at one of those "snooty specialty shopls."

A fair point. And, trust me, I have spent many thousands of dollars on new equipment as well from my not-snooty-at-all laid-back music-loving dealer...it's a great shop! It is nice to have a choice, though, since only a dozen or so brands are available locally, but everything ever made is available on the internet.

I would maintain that buying used in many cases floats money into the dealer's pockets as well since many people are selling their $1000 gadgets to help fund the purchase of their new $2500 ones.

 

[David Matz]

From the article:

Frankly, I think the best thing to happen to high-end audio was the internet. It moved high-end out of the snooty specialty shops in large cities and made it more acccessible to the masses who were interested. The fact that I can read about an interesting vintage component and then find one used online, try it out, and then, if it isn't for me, sell it for what I paid, is a godsend. At worst, I'm out shipping in most cases and I can get a lot of experience with different equipment while meeting local audiophiles along the way.

Economically, the high end audio market works just like the textbook market. Some people will buy new textbooks and pay a premium for the latest date or a more recent event description. However the used textbook contains virtually the same theory as the new textbook. Once the book is sold, manufacturer loses control over the secondary market, as many students who choose not to collect textbooks will sell them to their bookstore. One way for the manufacturer to combat this is to sell the new textbook at a higher price. Ideally they would distribute the books themselves and lease it the students, but their costs would get too high; thus they sell through the bookstores.

This works exactly the same in audio. High quality equipment is sold at very high prices (and thus less of it sold) because it will be resold on the used market. Dealers take a huge cut as they are the ones who are selling the equipments to the end customers. The individuals who buy the used piece of equipment have indirectly paid the dealer and the manufacturer because the used price they paid is a percentage markdown of a ridiculously high price that the original purchaser has paid.

 

[Audiophiliac]

I have been doing much research and study on the idea of "computer-based audio" and its place in the hi-fi. Luckily, we live in an age where technology is advancing rapidly, and at the same time, people are clinging to "vintage" more than ever before....vinyl is still being produced and catered too....the tube gear industry is thriving....etc.

But most of all, there are some companies out there that are aware of the mass movement of music to digital media (i.e., computers, ipods, media servers, streaming devices, et al)....In my searching, I have come across Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio (www.empiricalaudio.com). He is determined and dedicated to advancing technology in this area of audio. Read some of his articles and white papers on computer based audio. I learned alot, and continue to learn.

I see the digital music age growing rapidly in the near future....and the audio industry will have to accomodate. But I dont think the offerings to high end clients will disappear. We have a niche market for sure, but there is always going to exist that niche. And it will all come full circle. In 30 or 40 years, people will be buying up vintage CD players and vintage Class A and A/B amps and there will be a revival of the redbook CD. It will be fabulous to watch our grandkids experience what we grew up with....much like some of our grandparents grin when they see us buying new turntables and spinning their old LPs....

 

[Pcar928fan]

High quality equipment is sold at very high prices (and thus less of it sold) because it will be resold on the used market. Dealers take a huge cut as they are the ones who are selling the equipments to the end customers. The individuals who buy the used piece of equipment have indirectly paid the dealer and the manufacturer because the used price they paid is a percentage markdown of a ridiculously high price that the original purchaser has paid.

Same is true for Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborgini, et. al. They sell so few cars and each dealership needs to be able to keep its doors open so they have to sell them at VERY HIGH prices... That is why almost EVERY high end dealership is actually OWNED by a guy that has a Ford or GM or Toyota or Honda dealership in his business portfolio somewhere. They LOVE the high end stuff, but it is not very profitable if at all, so they do that for kicks so they can own the latest and greatest and they use proceeds from the run of the mill car dealership to finance the high end stuff... Porsche seems be one of the few that can keep the doors open w/o needing extra dealerships in the mix...though most are still owned by mega dealers. Also the big marketing mistake a few years back that mentioned Porsche makes more money PER CAR than any other make IN THE WORLD helps those dealers, but it sure didn't do anything for their PR!