They do this because they live in apartments or other communal living arrangements. They will perhaps move into some powered speakers, or maybe even an integrated amplifier driving conventional speakers.
I guess we have already seen these steps as this generation is for several years moving into their own houses. I might want to add wireless multiroom systems, voice-controlled smart speakers and soundbars as additional options to listen to music in case you have the room for that.
Funny thing that occurred to me when checking folks at recent trade fairs: typical can-listeners seem to get younger and younger. Traditional hi-fi folks tend to show some more shades of grey every year. The in-between generation I am talking about is underrepresented at the shows. But there is pretty strong evidence they are listening to music and buying not the cheapest gear. It is just not as visible in shops and at shows.
The in-between generation might want to build a home cinema. Much of the progress is in that area. Then they will hear about acoustics and so on and will start to appreciate good sound.
In my country most young people donât have the space for a home cinema nor for normal audio. They have to buy small speakers that will be put against the wall so that they will never hear good stereo. There arenât any good hifi shops left. The ones with good equipment to sell are in a warehouse in an industrial area and you have to make an appointment to listen to something.
Yeah, good stereo listening is dying with the younger generations in my country even now the equipment is getting so cheap and good, just because the homes are getting too small and shops donât want to spread the word anymore.
But I am close to Germany where hifi is still alive so I hold on to that and am glad I can read German too .
And the Naim series that have this option donât exactly target the demography thatâs concerned about ridiculous prices, either They do have offers in lower categories with not unreasonable pricesâŚ
That said, theyâll pry my 7 Naim boxes and PSes out of my cold, dead hands
So do manufacturers of multi-thousand dollars cables, magic fuses, etc. etc. Having loyal customers isnât really an indication of anything other than that it does not burst in flames (well, and Naims sound pretty well regardless of power supply).
HQPlayer definitely has merits, if anything you can offload running convolutions to another computer. Whether upsampling stuff to DSD1024 with some tweaked filters really makes any difference is another question.
Does going to DSD1024 make a difference? Donât know. Does changing filters and modulators make a difference, absolutely to my ears. Is that difference better or worse? And if better, is it worth the added investiture in time and money?
Each user has to answer for themselves by listening. Luckily, HQP gives a 30 minute trial that just requires you close the program and re-open it again to reset the clock. A perspective user can literally trial it for years across different equipment and with different filter and modulators.
Oh, you absolutely can add processing that will have very noticeable effect. Or, possibly, none whatsoever. Whether any of that is actually better and/or more accurate than what the DAC will do for free (in every sense of the word) is another question that I havenât seen definitively answered anywhere.
2 Likes
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
50
Sometimes companies have to do things because their customers expect it of them, particularly in the luxury goods lines. Fashion, fads, and snobbery know no bounds! Lots of things are fashion. Thereâs absolutely no need for a cabinet to be milled from a solid block of aircraft-grade aluminum! Nor for asymmetrical isolation feet! Or for medical-grade power supplies! Or VU meters! Or sustainable mahogany cabinets! Etc.
Have to admit, I am a complete âsuckerâ for most things made out of precisely milled aluminium, titanium etc. Itâs a weakness, I know, but its often a juxtaposition of two of my favourite things: Engineering & Art.
Thereâs absolutely some value in having a device thatâs pleasant to look at and use. If one likes machined aluminum, or a wood-paneled boxes, or whatever lovecraftian monstrosities Chord makes, thatâs a perfectly valid choice, as long as there are no claims made that it improves sound quality.
I have a set of Sonus Faber speakers that, in my opinion, are works of art. At least for me. Not so much for my wifeâŚ. They sound fantastic and they are beautiful. For me, speakers are visible and I want them to look beautiful.
I donât have any problem with a brand differentiating itself by creating a distinct look or a speaker having a beautiful finish. I also donât have problems with a brand charging a premium because it is a âpremiumâ brand. Buy it or donât.
Technology (or everything really) starts off as premium with a high price tag. Well heeled consumers consume these products and over time the technology eventually becomes commodity and available to everyone at lower prices.
I also donât care so much because, in the case of adult consumers, we should be able to and responsible enough to research the products that we purchase and spend money sensibly (for your own definition of sensibly). This is a fundamental part of being an adult.
Commodity state of the art right now is pretty good. IMO better than it was in the â80s when I was in college. Today, with some research and effort, you can put together a very high quality system that takes up less space, costs less money and generates less heat than the systems of the past. Donât pay attention to the boutique brands when operating within a more constrained budget. There is quality at every price level.
Yup, Sonus Fabers both look great and sound great. You probably could find something that sounds as well for less money, but unlikely it would look nearly as good.
A lot of tech (certainly DACs, to a large degree amplifiers) has been commoditized to the point where you can get completely state of the art performance for basically peanuts. Speakers, being mostly mechanical devices not so much but you can still get very good results for reasonable money.
Problem with many (not all though) boutique brands (or, more exactly, with people promoting them) is that they do not necessarily come with any actual benefits (let alone benefits proportionate to the price). There are many other hobbies where you can spoend pretty much unlimited amount of money. But if you were to say on a watch forum that a $200K A.Lange &Sohne watch tells time better than a $20 Casio youâd be laughed at. If you say that a $200K power cable lifts veils and creates night and day difference that wife hears from the kitchen on n audiophile forum, lots of people will actually agree, provide increasingly flowery descriptions of difference, and argue that âyour system is not resolving enoughâ if you canât hear itâŚ
I understand almost everything said and are even inclined to agree when it comes to high end or vintage gear being regarded to be art. But maybe we should really differentiate between two potential cases:
hi-fi gear has for you a value of its own as a piece of art, craftsmanship, luxury item, heritage, fine mechanical art, furniture, nostalgia, big boys´ toys, devotion to a certain brand or whatsoever - okay, that is a legitimate point of view but then be ready to a certain degree of price increase. I would not even call this inflation or ridiculous as even in all these cases increased quality might go hand in hand with higher prices.
hi-fi gear has a purpose and that is reproducing music in the best sound quality possible with a maximum of convenience. If you are willing to make at least decent compromises in terms of the aforementioned aspects you nowadays get a quality at a decent price point which past generations could only dream of.
If you are ready to rethink how a system has to look like you would be even more surprised which level of sound quality, ease-of-use, connectivity options and versatility is possible for a decent amount today. When it comes to sound quality people sometimes forget to imply the room acoustics. A decent pair of active speakers being capable of adopting to that will outperform the majority of even the most expensive conventional systems with ease. Some companies such as Sonos, KEF, Klipsch and alike have definitely nailed the problem to an extend I would not have thought would be possible in a system for little more than 1000 bucks.
Sonus Faber puts a lot of effort into its loudspeakers. The cabinet construction is top-notch artisan level and the finish is impeccable. The level of attention to detail dictates a certain cost. Building my own Poor Manâs Stradivari has taught me a lot about speaker construction.
My last âboxâ speaker took a couple of days to build. The current build is into weeks and still a long way from completion.
3 Likes
Gadnoz_Seek
(Running low on working days until retirement...)
59
I have the SF Olympica Nova III, and I enjoy them immensely. Admittedly, I bought them also based on their stunning looks. Do you know if SF speakers measure well?
.
They do have offers in lower categories with not unreasonable pricesâŚ
