Digital, Low Mass, ClassD, Less expensive, Let it happen!
Well here we are! Not that you can't go back and buy boat anchors, but now we know sound is better with low mass designs. Digital source? Yep, the tide has turned. ClassD amplification is also here to stay. Lower mass speakers, on their way back too. The audiophile hobby is getting less expensive and better sounding.
I guess we can debate this, but it's happening anyway. The hobby is simply growing up and becoming more aware of how to get great sound, and get it smart. There has been a lot of myths passed down when we only had paperback magazines, mostly for marketing, but the internet has finally caught up with audio reality. Instead of $20,000.00 components we have $20,000.00 whole systems (including all the trimming). Shoot, there are $5,000.00 systems that excel. The Trade Shows are changing, the market is changing and we are changing. Want to stay old school? No problem, there will always be old school and plenty of used gear (at least for our lifetimes). There will also be smaller niche companies that spring up to tempt us.
The hobby is entering a new era for the extreme listener. It will be a hobby of doing and exploring Electrical, Mechanical and Acoustical as equals. Components will be much smaller and more flexible, and more time will be spent on playing our whole music collection, and not just a few recordings. Many HEA debates will be making their way to the archives as the hobby grows closer to mainstream. Mainstream as in higher quality audiophile mainstream.
Are you ready? I sure am!
Michael Green
erik_squires"Trust me though when I say HEA is in free fall.
I believe you. I just got off the phone with a secret source who makes speakers, and his sources are saying the same thing." Also the sky is falling, the aliens are coming and the world is ending soon so now is the time to repent! |
Also the sky is falling, the aliens are coming and the world is ending soon so now is the time to repent! Trust ClearThink to misrepresent an entire thread. No one is saying this either. I think what we are saying is that we've been in a bubble, and it's time for a correction. Those of us who like music and the gear to reproduce it would like the market to suffer a gentle correction instead of a sudden implosion. Rather than saying it is the end of HEA, I'm saying it is time for HEA to address the median enthusiast more consistently. Best, E |
erik_squires"Trust ClearThink to misrepresent an entire thread." You had declared, pronounced, and stated you're agreement that "HEA" is in a "freefall" and now you say that I misrepresented "an entire thread" and you now change, alter, and revise you're position that it is not in a freefall but a "bubble" due for "correction" so it is not possible to understand what claim, assertion, or position you want us to accept from you as fact, truth, and reality. |
@erik_squires Then it would be a very good idea for audiophilia to aschew the snake oil reputation that it's earned by people making insanely exaggerated claims about the importance of cables, fuses, footers, platforms, and the value crazy-expensive gear represents. The culture has changed. People don't just sit and listen to music anymore and people don't expect much of audio gear. |
Actually Clearthink, I was the one who said HEA is in free fall. Erik's posts have been right on the money from what I have been seeing and also testing on my own. "Bubble" is a great word to describe what HEA has created. It's something that has alienated itself (themselves)from the audiophile listener. Erik has also pointed out another very important fact, there's a difference between the HEA person and the Audiophile. Projections about the state of the audiophile can be made all day and all night, but when talking to the industry insiders themselves and audiophile clients the HEA chapter of the hobby is not so hard to figure out. The trophy buyers are getting beyond the age of buying interest and most are moving to their final system choices. These are the guys, maybe 10,000 strong who have supported the HEA revolving door. The amp of the month club has become a hard sell as compared to even 15 years ago when the decline was well in motion. Anytime you see an industry in the US loose over 90% of it's demo store fronts there's a good chance that industry is put on the endangered species list. The other side of this is a very positive one. Your average techy can now place an order with people like "Parts Express", and others, and with a little effort build amplifier systems that out perform the extremely expensive. Pose this to the up and coming audiophile, or to the more practical one, and the over built over priced components hardly get a rise. And here's the real deal. This paradigm shift is happening with or without the opinions of the Agon poster. mg |
