The death of hi fidelity
- Thread starter Dude111
- Start date
As much as I want to agree with you about this I just can't. As a musician, giving away your music in hopes of gaining exposure has killed any chances for most bands to ever rise above the rest. In the industry, if you don't know someone or cater to the radio friendly stuff, your hard work is basically given away. Bands can't afford to play anymore, these days the band has to sell a certain number of tickets before they can even play
People need to go out and see bands live, not sit at a computer and download a digital album
Pio1980
AK Member
Analogue had about reached its potential, digital possessing offered unique solutions to old problems along with new problems to deal with.
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andy
Super Member
Laserdisk originally had only analog audio in the form of two discrete FM carriers. Later on they added a PCM digital audio track, and near the end they sometimes had Dolby Digital, or dts 5.1. I read that Philips considered an analog optical disc, but they weren't happy with the results (too many dropouts), so they went with digital for the CD.
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
That was not my point, I am afraid I was not clear enough.
In today's world digital media, primarily CD, is the most cost effective way for small regional artists to distribute their work. The cost of creating say 1000 discs is far more favorable than paying for a pressing run of a 1000 pieces of vinyl. These are people who have limited financial resources, but still need the ability to distribute their music, and earn a profit from it. CD's allow that to happen in a way vinyl does not in today's market.
I don't believe I mentioned anything about digital downloads or the free distribution of music.
Regards
Mister Pig
Seppo
Super Member
Exactly. Now at the age of 40+ I can finally afford to get the higher-end gear I aspired to have 20-30 years ago. :thmbsp:
racca
Active Member
Do you live anywhere near a college town? Plenty of people are still going out to see amateur live acts.
Seppo
Super Member
20 years too late. The Loudness War was over in the mid 90's when DR measures reached the single digits, at least for many "popular" ("non-audiophile") music releases.
Starting in the 2000's even much new Jazz (or remastered old albums) was compromised, as well as other more traditionally "audiophile" genres like Blues, Folk, World Music, Fusion, etc. I'm just waiting for the Classical genre to produce albums with a DR of under 10; so far they have been largely immune.
Handy site for purchasing between versions of an album:
http://dr.loudness-war.info/
EDIT: As for the "today's kids' systems/listening devices suck" or "no one sits and listens to music anymore", the first has always been true (the average kids' system was crap since the advent of consumer stereo systems) and the latter is of course patently false. The perceptual distortions of ludditism/ageism/nostalgiaism aside.
Excellent resource, thank you!
So, when it comes to buying modern music, it looks like that the way to go is to buy the LP (target audience is audiophiles so the mastering has not been screwed up), and then (for the sake of convenience) perhaps do a lossless rip to a hard drive and listen from there.
Looking at the data in that DR database finally made it clear to me why so many audiophiles love LPs - the mastering has not been intentionally messed up by the industry. Whether LPs have other beneficial (technology related) attributes compared to e.g. CDs, is secondary, since for seemingly most of the modern recordings, the modern CD recording has lost before the race even started.
Again thanks, happy to learn more (trivial basics for many of you I am sure, but new to me) every day here on AK :thmbsp:
I just told my wife that I need to get a turntable
Edit PS: Great to see also that most CDs from or before early 1990s still have great DR. I.e. the music that I like to listen to most in the first place
RamblinE
(╯°□°)╯彡┻━┻
Just picked up the two newest Black Keys LPs from Princeton Record Exchange across the street from Princeton University. The place is always packed with locals and students. They sell all sorts of media but you have to have been there to understand how hard it is to browse the LPs sometimes with the amount of people looking.
Great sounding LPs from great sounding new bands? Store staffed and packed by folks my age and younger?
HiFidelity is dead my testicles.
Great sounding LPs from great sounding new bands? Store staffed and packed by folks my age and younger?
HiFidelity is dead my testicles.
Yeah, I can see UCONN's lights from my house at night. Again, bands need to sell a predetermined amount of tickets before they can play. The music scene is not what it used to be like in the 80s
Mister Pig, most of the new stuff bands are releasing is mp3 dowmloads now. Some small bands do offer a CD and some do offer vinyl but most only offer digital downloads
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
I don't think we are talking the same genre of artists.....which I suppose can lead to different conclusions.
Regards
Mister Pig
cwcollins06
New Member
The aspiration here is key. As a definite product of the MP3 generation, I can say that had I not gotten a job in college selling audio gear at Best Buy, I probably wouldn't know better and would never have developed my enjoyment of quality sound. Most young consumers of music don't know what they don't know, and music vendors/gear manufacturers/musicians themselves aren't creating awareness that there's a difference to be heard. When millenials hit their 40s and 50s when they can really afford great gear, they may not realize they want it.
Not realizing you want something means you don't want it.
Seppo
Super Member
I started this hobby again for real less than year ago, and once I had the latest set up running (Infinity RS-IIIa + Onkyo A-9070), I sat my wife on the sweet spot and played her some of her favorites...she was all smiles and amazed on the sound quality. So I have the WAF now, and we are both nowadays buying CDs and listening to music all the time.
I did the same to my mother-in-law, and she started spontaneously dancing in the middle of the floor (to Blondie, The Tide is High), all smiles. So yes, both of them just did not even know earlier how good their favorite music really could sound and be.
I have three young kids and I am already constantly exposing them to music at home, so that hopefully they will expect something a bit better audio quality wise when they grow up... :thmbsp:
One component does not the whole make.
I think the Death Of HI-FI came about because of "critical mass". Servicemen coming home from Viet Nam often bought receivers at the PX or Japan at bargain prices. The more people that visited and experienced the sound quality that was possible the more converts were produced. From the late sixties to mid seventies it would be difficult to visit a house with residents under thirty that did not have a really nice amp or receiver.
Sadly there are few common opportunities out there for people to experience what quality audio is about.
Sadly there are few common opportunities out there for people to experience what quality audio is about.
Pio1980
AK Member
Not quite the point, but the cynicism regarding the means has been around a while. The maligned consoles brought pretty good sound to a lot of households in spite of the more elitist audiophiles of yore, and the quality of the components in a well compiled unit is overall pretty good if not the best ever.
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chef free
Super Member
Hi-Fi is better than ever! The new albums and remasters from the past ten years sound so much better to my ears. I was never "impressed" with the sound of CDs, as compared to records until the 2000's. Even old music, digitally remastered, sounds so much better; more separation between instruments being what really stands out for me. Have you heard the new Led Zeppelin remasters? There's so much more music audible, Jimmy Page's layered acoustic guitars, John Bonham's individual tom toms, all the subtle details come through like never before.
