If I was a builder or inventor in HEA I would be concerned with two cultural preferences: 1) will streaming largely dominate the upcoming listening world and 2) which musical styles and file formats are likely to be the most popular.
If, consequently, I concluded that we will all be streamers soon and listening to, largely, Beck-type blendings of pop and hip-hop, then I would concentrate on RME-type computer DACs with headphone/IEM excellence, Lyngdorf-type all-in-ones that handle DAC, preamp, and amp functions, and monitor speakers that fit into small spaces and are designed to provide a step up from headphones.
OH, WAIT A MINUTE...
...that's exactly what's already happening.
So maybe HEA as we used to know it is, already, dead.
Pass Labs, with its XA25 and Magico, with its A3 are already "slumming" in order to broaden their customer base.
The continued success of separate components, large speakers, and specialty interconnects would be tied (in my HEA mind) to the continued success of distribution mediums such as LPs, CDs, and HD downloads.
Instead, the just-released CD "Volunteer" by the Old Crow Medicine Show (excellent, btw) shows a distressing trend in modern CD production. Yes, it's a CD at 16/44.1 but the signal is so heavily compressed that there is no real dynamic range -- all is simply pushed as close to 0 DB as possible. Very loud with a dulling sameness that shouts "You get the MP3 sound ideal no matter what the distribution medium."
If, consequently, I concluded that we will all be streamers soon and listening to, largely, Beck-type blendings of pop and hip-hop, then I would concentrate on RME-type computer DACs with headphone/IEM excellence, Lyngdorf-type all-in-ones that handle DAC, preamp, and amp functions, and monitor speakers that fit into small spaces and are designed to provide a step up from headphones.
OH, WAIT A MINUTE...
...that's exactly what's already happening.
So maybe HEA as we used to know it is, already, dead.
Pass Labs, with its XA25 and Magico, with its A3 are already "slumming" in order to broaden their customer base.
The continued success of separate components, large speakers, and specialty interconnects would be tied (in my HEA mind) to the continued success of distribution mediums such as LPs, CDs, and HD downloads.
Instead, the just-released CD "Volunteer" by the Old Crow Medicine Show (excellent, btw) shows a distressing trend in modern CD production. Yes, it's a CD at 16/44.1 but the signal is so heavily compressed that there is no real dynamic range -- all is simply pushed as close to 0 DB as possible. Very loud with a dulling sameness that shouts "You get the MP3 sound ideal no matter what the distribution medium."