Is Hi-Fi dead

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Discussion

toasty

7,441 posts

219 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
Vandenberg said:
Hi-Fi is dead to me, disruptive technology has changed the way I listen to music.
First big change in my music listening behaviour was the iPod and now its Sonus.

I have just sold my arcam separates system, mainly as it sat in its boxes in the garage for the past three years, which is odd as it always the first thing to be unpacked and setup whenever I moved house. It was never going to be used or upgraded.
I used to rave about the quality of separates but technology has overtaken that, and any loss of audio quality hasn't been noticed.

All of my CDs and records are packed away in boxes and I haven't listened to a full CD or record in about 3 years now for me its all about playlists and have around 2,500 of them for every mood an occasion.

I really should get shut of my record and CD collection, as they have been replaced by 3 hard drives of tunes. (with a couple of backups) and they are just taking up space.

Looking back a few years i never thought I would adopt such a position, but hey disruptive technology has changed my model.
This pretty much sums it up for me.

I spent 000's in the '90s building up my system only to find I was listening to the hifi rather than the music.

I sold the lot to get a deposit on a house and never bothered replacing it.

I just like a bit of peace and quiet these days with maybe a hint of classical in the background.

I still yearn for a Linn LP12 but just know it'd see 1% usage compared to the ipod/car stereo.

toon10

6,140 posts

156 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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I've only just got back into it! I have an extensive record and CD collection and used to have a hi-fi setup back in the day. Over the years, I turned to iPhone and a B&W Zep air for a quick and convenient music fix. I still use this but after finding my old tannoy speakers in the loft, I went out and got a Marantz 6010OSE amp and Marantz CD4000 player on the cheap. It's nice to be able to play my CD's again and the sound quality is pretty good for a budget setup. I need to add a turntable but I'm getting the bug again and can see me upgrading the whole system piece by piece in time.


kingston12

5,473 posts

156 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
toasty said:
his pretty much sums it up for me.

I spent 000's in the '90s building up my system only to find I was listening to the hifi rather than the music.

I sold the lot to get a deposit on a house and never bothered replacing it.

I just like a bit of peace and quiet these days with maybe a hint of classical in the background.

I still yearn for a Linn LP12 but just know it'd see 1% usage compared to the ipod/car stereo.
It is the 'replacing it' part that is hard for a lot of people. I have a Michell Gyro TT, big B&W floorstanding speakers and a couple of thousand records. I love everything about it, but it is expensive, quite a lot of hassle and takes up a lot of room.

If I had to sell it for any reason, I'd still have my Mac with it's massive collection of lossless tracks and my Sonos dotted around the house. I think I'd struggle to re-invest the many thousands it would take for me to get my physical collection and hifi back, however much I love it now.

Most people aren't even in that position in the first place, having never had anything like that to compare it to. I love the fact that a lot of younger people seem to be getting into vinyl, but I can also understand why most of them would never go near it. I don't think I would at 20 years old. £20 an album with all of the associated storage and hassle, or £10 a month on Spotify for all of the music I can listen to? Not a tough choice for most.

I am not sure most people even listen to much music at home anymore anyway. The highest percentage is in the car or on headphones on the move for most people, and in reality Spotify at 320 is plenty of quality for that type of usage.

Marvindodgers

734 posts

215 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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I like to think that I have the best of both worlds going on. I still have my separates system - Pioneer A400, Marantz CD6005 with KEF Q15 speakers and a Rega P3 turntable, but I also have a Sonos Connect to stream from Spotify, NAS etc. If I want background music or check out someone new, then on goes the Sonos/Spotify. However, if I want to sit down and listen to a specific album then out comes the LP or CD.

Brian Trizers

66 posts

108 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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That's pretty much my situation too, Marvin. I can make listening as much (best chair, door and curtains closed, favourite or new LP or CD, quiet please, Dad's listening) or as little (iPhone in kitchen dock) of an event as I like, or have time for. In between I have Sonos and Deezer Elite for satisfying curiosity or just doing it the easy way. There's a decent system in the car too - within the limits of what's possible in a noisy box - so I have most of the listening options covered.

Generally speaking, I reckon I've never had it so good, with the resurgence of vinyl putting the (black) icing on the cake. But then, for me, it always was about the music; my equipment purchases have been infrequent and carefully considered, so I've never got trapped in the upgrade spiral. I wouldn't, in other words, call myself a 'hifi enthusiast'; nothing wrong if that's what you are, but it may be that those are the people who are feeling the change more acutely than me. I'm loving it!

Caffiend

7 posts

105 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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red997 said:
IMHO the problem is that we live in a 'want it now' disposable world - and spending time to listen, chose, install, and setup a relatively complex set of kit for real hi fi reproduction is just too much for most - and the easy (and cheaper!) alternatives are now so much better that say 10-15 years ago, that this becomes the default option for most.
Amen! Its the 'give it to me right now' attitude that gives us tinny laptop speakers and poorly produced albums.

Hi fi takes time to set up, especially listening to vinyl, it's labour intensive... but that's also why there's a bit of a revival, people are rediscovering the activity of listening to music as a pass time, so for many people music is becoming more than just background noise - some for the first time.

Mermaid

21,492 posts

170 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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Size & efficiency prevails.

In a few more years a 1 litre turbocharged engine will probably power most cars (auto of course), and we will think of the days of the properly built "muscle" cars & such with three pedals.

nitrodave

1,262 posts

137 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
I've always had a good separates system and floorstanders, but now live with the other half who wants a bit more of a minimalist setup.

I was in Currys just yesterday sampling their soundbars and was horrified at the lack of clarity and punch they have - and the cost they charge for such naff equipment. Subwoofers are just so lame and it seems joe bloggs is accepting of that.

The perception of power and quality is distorted compared to the quality of equipment that used to be on offer.

Even stuff in Richersounds and the like are over priced tat which sell themselves with connectivity and display functions rather the quality of sound they produce.

Almost all mainstream setups are tinny crap and have seriously gone backwards in quality and punch.




ATG

20,485 posts

271 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
There's been an absolute revolution in access to music and sound quality at the budget end of the market over the last twenty or thirty years. There's still no substitute for really good speakers of course, but what a mobile phone and little portable speaker will do compared to an equivalently sized Walkman or tranny radio from the mid 80s is just astonishing.

I'm ambivalent about playlists. Same problem as "greatest hits" albums, or the cringingly awful "essential" classical butchery. Most studio albums and live recordings make sense as a whole; they were written and produced to be listened to from start to end, and you lose a great deal by dipping in and out of them. It's like just watching movie trailers or getting your art from biscuit tin lids.

Brian Trizers

66 posts

108 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
But hasn't mass-market kit always been rubbish, back through the Matsui midi-system, the glass-fronted stacker, all the way to the Dansette? Cheap manufacturing has made power affordable, but that's quantity, not quality. Not fair to compare that with 'proper' hifi, for which nobody ever went to Currys.

sparkyhx

4,143 posts

203 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
Can't say I've noticed a reduction in 'Hifi' shops, shops that sell stereo equipment yes.

The latter are probably nearly dead with the advent of digital music and portable devices with docking stations replacing all the 'source' equipment.

There is a fairly modest Vinyl revival and more turntables have been sold than CD players for a number of years, although that is more of a reflection on the collapse of CD player sales than a massive increase in Turntable sales. Vinyl is now reaching a point where industry capacity is becoming an issue. the machines used to press the copies are old, and nobody makes new ones, whether that will change is anybodies guess, as nobody is willing to invest just in case this is a short lived blip.

a lot of music these days is very poor quality recorded/produced, coupled with poor quality compressed source, trough poor quality reproduction equipment thru poor quality delivery equipment (earphones).

yet many people are quite happy with the huge compromise and would be quite astounded hearing a decent recording, reproduced uncompressed on decent equipment.





toon10

6,140 posts

156 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
ATG said:
I'm ambivalent about playlists. Same problem as "greatest hits" albums, or the cringingly awful "essential" classical butchery. Most studio albums and live recordings make sense as a whole; they were written and produced to be listened to from start to end, and you lose a great deal by dipping in and out of them. It's like just watching movie trailers or getting your art from biscuit tin lids.
I agree that this is true for some albums. War of the Worlds, Lifeforms by Future Sound of London, etc. but I've always preferred my own mix tapes / home made compillation CD/MP3 CD's and now playlists. There are too many artists out there who put out 3 or 4 really strong tracks and the turn to fillers to get it finished and out there. Saying that, I love it when I buy an album and absolutely love the whole thing from start to finish. It doesn't happen very often though.

jas xjr

11,309 posts

238 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
I am having a new kitchen ,but for me the priority is the music.money is going to be tight for a while but I am putting the cables in whilst I have the chance.
I have quite a bit of old HiFi gear which I will be using too.

sparkyhx

4,143 posts

203 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
varsas said:
Vandenberg said:
Hi-Fi is dead to me, disruptive technology has changed the way I listen to music.
First big change in my music listening behaviour was the iPod and now its Sonus.

I have just sold my arcam separates system, mainly as it sat in its boxes in the garage for the past three years, which is odd as it always the first thing to be unpacked and setup whenever I moved house. It was never going to be used or upgraded.
I used to rave about the quality of separates but technology has overtaken that, and any loss of audio quality hasn't been noticed.

All of my CDs and records are packed away in boxes and I haven't listened to a full CD or record in about 3 years now for me its all about playlists and have around 2,500 of them for every mood an occasion.

I really should get shut of my record and CD collection, as they have been replaced by 3 hard drives of tunes. (with a couple of backups) and they are just taking up space.

Looking back a few years i never thought I would adopt such a position, but hey disruptive technology has changed my model.
Oddly this hasn't happened to me yet. Of course I have music on my phone and a portable .mp3 player but if I want to really listen to something I'll either use the CD or a .wav rip of it. This might be something to do with my narrow focus on music, I rarely have music on as background noise as I find it very distracting if it's something I like. I can't listen to music while I run, for example. If I have to set aside time to listen anyway, pulling the CD out doesn't take a lot more time or effort.
Sort of agree and sort of disagree.

I recently sold my Turntable, amp and speakers which were all 20+ years old, and replaced them with more up to date amp (remote controlled) and better speakers (and Sonos). I still have my Arcam CD player in a box, but only cos the display has gone and i can't sell it.

I actually made money on the deal. So i now have 3 Play 5's around the house and the Connect linked to my 'Hifi'. Next job is to Rip all my CD's to my Synology NAS, or sign up for music streaming service, although I sometimes doubt my taste is catered for (feeling rather than fact)

nitrodave

1,262 posts

137 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
Brian Trizers said:
But hasn't mass-market kit always been rubbish, back through the Matsui midi-system, the glass-fronted stacker, all the way to the Dansette? Cheap manufacturing has made power affordable, but that's quantity, not quality. Not fair to compare that with 'proper' hifi, for which nobody ever went to Currys.
True, I shouldn't have raised my hopes after reading online about how compact and great soundbars are. Disappointing to see £300+ price tags for such dire quality kit.

Perhaps it's the online reviewers whose standards have dropped and don't have true good quality equipment on their radar.


Mermaid

21,492 posts

170 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
jas xjr said:
I am having a new kitchen ,but for me the priority is the music.money is going to be tight for a while but I am putting the cables in whilst I have the chance.
I have quite a bit of old HiFi gear which I will be using too.
Amongst them cat6, dab aerial, 2 lots of speaker cables, sub input,tv aerial, dedicated power supply cable, additional phonos.... wink

sparkyhx

4,143 posts

203 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
When I'm "listening" I like a whole album, when its background or onmy headphones going to and from work then its permanently on shuffle. However Pink Floyd really doesn't really work on shuffle, and always feel a bit disappointed when the next track doesn't appear. I do have the same Pink Floyd recordings as one long single track, but not for my phone.

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

197 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
The irony is that by the time you can afford to buy the stuff where the audio quality improvements are manifold, you can no longer physiologically appreciate it.

Crackie

6,386 posts

241 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
red997 said:
I have now gone fully digital from source through the RTA, crossovers, only back to analogue on the input to the amps.
Hi red997................what equipment do you use for the RTA and crossover ?

Crackie

6,386 posts

241 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
caffiend said:
Brands like Linn are doing incredible things with speakers that can read a room and produce the sound in the optimum way for the size and shape of the listening space,
Room correction DSP, like Linn are using there, has been around since the early 1990s. By Jan 2007 it was built into Windows Vista & Windows 7 in 2009.

The algorithms used in best DSP/DRC systems today ( Lyngdorf / Dirac / DEQX / Audyssey / Trinnov ) have been responsible for the first real jump in home sound quality for decades.






Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 9th June 12:24