Is class D/Active speakers/Streaming the future?

Adam N.

Trying to keep it simple.
I've been really impressed with my FX502 PRO TPA 3250 class D amp. I bought it for $85 all in from China, it's seriously a great amp. Recenely Bang and Olufesen released the Beolab 90, an 8200 watt self powered speaker with class D amps mounted to the back of every driver. No interconnects at all.

Our house is all chromecast and we love it. I'd never have an actual wire running to an amp. G5 is coming, the internet is getting faster and compression better all the time.

It all makes me think that the future is going to be class D active speakers that one just plugs in and calls music down from the cloud. It feels like the era of components is coming to an end. Class D and streaming is just getting better and better.
 
For the masses, I’m sure you’re correct. That being said, I feel that there will always be a small percentage of us “audiophiles” that will hang on to the old ways, at least for the near future.
 
I've been really impressed with my FX502 PRO TPA 3250 class D amp. I bought it for $85 all in from China, it's seriously a great amp. Recenely Bang and Olufesen released the Beolab 90, an 8200 watt self powered speaker with class D amps mounted to the back of every driver. No interconnects at all.

Our house is all chromecast and we love it. I'd never have an actual wire running to an amp. G5 is coming, the internet is getting faster and compression better all the time.

It all makes me think that the future is going to be class D active speakers that one just plugs in and calls music down from the cloud. It feels like the era of components is coming to an end. Class D and streaming is just getting better and better.

Meh. That is soo 2020. The hip people are getting neural implants to stream their music.
 
Meh. That is soo 2020. The hip people are getting neural implants to stream their music.
Neural implements to stream music is so 2040. The hip people are getting neural plugins to generate exactly the same emotional impact as hearing music, but without the distraction or interruption to productivity caused by listening to actual music. Now get back to work, Citizen -- the Googlemines need your labour to power the Googlengines that produce nourishing and life-sustaining Googlefood!
 
It all makes me think that the future is going to be class D active speakers that one just plugs in and calls music down from the cloud. It feels like the era of components is coming to an end. Class D and streaming is just getting better and better.
True. The quality gap, if any, between conventional music technology and Class D plus streaming is getting smaller and smaller, and there's no theoretical limit to prevent it soon exceeding any conventional stereo technology in quality.

The only downside is potentially not being able to possess your own copy of the music. If the streaming content provider chooses to withdraw content, it's gone.

Or, at least you won't be able to possess it in its original quality; there's nothing to stop you making digital recordings of analog playback. But that inevitably means some loss in quality compared to the original.

Of course, from the copyright holder's point of view, that's not a downside; that's a benefit that's long been desired but is only now becoming reasonably possible.
 
True. The quality gap, if any, between conventional music technology and Class D plus streaming is getting smaller and smaller, and there's no theoretical limit to prevent it soon exceeding any conventional stereo technology in quality.

It seems to me this is where the money is as far as R&D goes. It's going to get a lot better, but it's so amazingly good now. There are so many things going for it in terms if efficiency, size etc. I'll always own tubes because of the fireside quality of them but I cannot see a future where a $10 amp is wonderful.

I'll probably be listening to my Dynacos on my deathbed because they're beautiful. People will always have them in the same way people will always own horses.

only downside is potentially not being able to possess your own copy of the music. If the streaming content provider chooses to withdraw content, it's gone.

Or, at least you won't be able to possess it in its original quality; there's nothing to stop you making digital recordings of analog playback. But that inevitably means some loss in quality compared to the original.

I think at some point when interest in a piece of music peaks they'll sell it. They'll monetize "rental" or "access" and sale All the music that's out here now will remain out here. I am also not sure we'll ever see another Who, Stone,Taylor Swift of Beyonce. Music feels like it being atomized. Without radio to limit who we listen to everyone if free to climb ito their own cubby hole.

I am listening to way more new music now than old favites. So I care way less about owning than I did. The format we get our music in will change everything about how we listen to and value songs and artists. I love it now when things sound new and fresh to me, in the same way I did when I was 18.

course, from the copyright holder's point of view, that's not a downside; that's a benefit that's long been desired but is only now becoming reasonably possible.

I am sure that google is already using the music I listen to for profiling purposes. God only knows what they think of me.

The one piece device that is both speakers amp and interconnects just seems so logical and achievable. Integration seems inevitable to me.
 
Streaming is already much too here to call it the future. It is the now. I even saw an AKer admit in a recent post that despite preferring his vinyl, he spent, by far, more time streaming than listening to LPs as a matter of convenience.

Class D and active speakers are here, too, but have not supplanted A/B or passive, respectively.

I would not at all be surprised if audio enthusiasts of the future - hopefully right here on AK - debate the relative merits of the old A/B vs D, with the D-side descrying the poor measured performance of the older tech, while adherents to A/B counter with sound quality, similar to some folks' debates of sand vs glass today. I also think glass will stick around awhile, too. And A/B and A. Economies of scale will very likely dictate ever higher prices for them, though.

Me? I don't care how you issue orders to all those electrons as long as they do the job well.

I'm not as convinced that active speakers will outdistance passive models though. Audio enthusiasts love to mix and match amps and speakers, while the great unwashed don't really care where the amp is located, though that does appear to be changing... you may be right about that, too, on second thought.

Check out the big, heavy toroidal transformer on this early twenty-first century amp - they don't make them like this anymore.

Yeah, if you own a power company, that's fine, I guess. That huge footprint you're leaving will run your meter faster, Mr. Moneybags.
 
I have some class D, and do some streaming on occasion. When they make OTL tube-amp 'stats to give away to old geezers at shows, my life will be complete!

:music:
 
I am listening to way more new music now than old favites. So I care way less about owning than I did. The format we get our music in will change everything about how we listen to and value songs and artists. I love it now when things sound new and fresh to me, in the same way I did when I was 18.
Yes, exactly. Me too. All my old faves go unplayed, and I don't miss them. Every day of streaming is a day of discovery. It is like being a teenager again and discovering music for the first time.
 
I have some class D, and do some streaming on occasion. When they make OTL tube-amp 'stats to give away to old geezers at shows, my life will be complete!

:music:

Just find yourself a pair of Acoustat Monitor 3's. They are direct driven tube OTL amplifiers and electrostatic speakers. At least one poster here has a pair.
 
There will always be a demand for "separates", as consolidating everything into one "package" limits the ability to upgrade/change a single component/function, and just like with the last two decades of AVRs the entire unit becomes obsolete by the time you take it out of the box and set it up. Basically, it is just going to speed up the process of "planned obsolescence".
 
Streaming and class D is Right Now for most people, the TV, the phones, quite a large amount of consumer gear has switched to D class. The Sacrificial Sony 5-disc HTIB in the living roon that is getting kinda old now is D class, must be 10 years old or more.
 
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