What Happened to Hi Fi?

[watchnerd]

"The Rantings of an Old Audiophile

I guess it’s time for me to retire. Not because I am old, or because I am tired of being in Audio Sales, I’m not; but maybe it’s time because the industry is just falling apart. Let me explain."

http://www.dagogo.com/what-happened-to-hifi

 

[DonH56]

I can relate to that article, though I was paid by the stores I worked for, usually... I miss when the names behind the brands came in to discuss their latest products and just pal around at late-night listening sessions. I actually went through all the volumes of the IHF Audio Consultant "encyclopedia" that was required reading to take the test to become a licensed audio consultant. The salespeople I have met in the past few years would struggle a bit... That said, I have met a few that do know some of the engineering, and some who left because they could not take the management directives to push this or that product and so forth.

I mentioned on another thread that the cost of the (so-called) SOTA these days is just crazy (or something like that). A couple of decades or so ago someone who made $100k+ had a shot at buying the very best available, if he thought it was worth it and was willing to save up a few years to get it. Now, my salary is twice what it was then, but assembling the very best price-wise means in excess of $1M on the system, so maybe a $10M/year salary? Unobtanium, an uncommon element...

 

[watchnerd]

I mentioned on another thread that the cost of the (so-called) SOTA these days is just crazy (or something like that). A couple of decades or so ago someone who made $110k+ had a shot at buying the very best available, if he thought it was worth it and was willing to save up a few years to get it. Now, my salary is twice what it was then, but assembling the very best price-wise means in excess of $1M on the system, so maybe a $10M/year salary? Unobtanium, an uncommon element...

I'm not sure you're necessarily getting SOTA when you spend max dollars. Sometimes you're just getting nicer cases.

 

[DonH56]

Oh, I agree, thus the snarky parenthetical disclaimer in my post; my point was that prices of high-end audio gear seems to have drastically outstripped inflation. I agree all too often today SOTA seems to be more closely aligned in the audio world with marketing than with engineering.

 

[watchnerd]

Oh, I agree, thus the snarky parenthetical disclaimer in my post; my point was that prices of high-end audio gear seems to have drastically outstripped inflation. I agree all too often today SOTA seems to be more closely aligned in the audio world with marketing than with engineering.

I'm 46 and I think my generation was the last to see hi fi as a (mostly male) rite of passage. We tried to have big honking stereos in our dorm rooms. We didn't have personal compute devices, smartphones, etc in our 20s.

Audio is now first and foremost, personal. If it is public, it needs to be shareable with friends so they can play their stuff over Bluetooth etc.

I don't audio isn't doomed, but the big Doom Stack of electronic gear? Most Millenials want nothing to do with it. Voice activated streaming speakers, $800 soundbars, KEF LS50 Wirelesss -- these will sell.

So, true that caring about cartridge compliance is going down, but the need to know about network audio streaming protocols is going up. It's just new tech.

 

[RayDunzl]

If they want to sell more hardware, it needs to suffer some sort of total and irredeemable molecular decomposition after a much shorter time period than occurs now (or even then, since I have stuff from that period that still operates).

The soft side is a different story, which can become obsolete at any moment, which I don't seem to care much about.

Example: I have a TomTom GPS with Lifetime Map Updates.

Unfortunately, the current maps have become too big for the installed memory. Even the regional versions are too big.

 

[watchnerd]

If they want to sell more hardware, it needs to suffer some sort of total and irredeemable molecular decomposition after a much shorter time period than occurs now (or even then, since I have stuff from that period that still operates).

You're an odd specimen to have avoided upgrade-itis.

 

[Sal1950]

You're an odd specimen to have avoided upgrade-itis.

I think it may be age related. The older we get the more we start to recognize that "upgrade-itis" can be very much in the main a hustle. Yes things like TV's or smartphones have progressed at a amazing rate. But (IMHO) HiFi reached a level maybe 25 years ago, that if you had a very good rig then, what very large amounts of money today will get you is only a very subtle upgrade in SQ. The diminishing return curve had very much leveled for all but the most delusional a long time ago.

 

[watchnerd]

I think it may be age related. The older we get the more we start to recognize that "upgrade-itis" can be very much in the main a hustle. Yes things like TV's or smartphones have progressed at a amazing rate. But (IMHO) HiFi reached a level maybe 25 years ago, that if you had a very good rig then, what very large amounts of money today will get you is only a very subtle upgrade in SQ. The diminishing return curve had very much leveled for all but the most delusional a long time ago.

That's probably true on the analog side.

But 25 years ago was 1992 and digital has definitely improved quite a bit since then.

 

[Sal1950]

That's probably true on the analog side.

But 25 years ago was 1992 and digital has definitely improved quite a bit since then.

That's debatable. Do you believe a Theta or Wadia DAC, or even something like my JVC XL-Z1050TN player from the day would be instantly and easily identifiable from a todays $500 DAC in a blind listening test?

 

[Thomas savage]

One thing that happened was after the 50's and going into the 60's and beyond there was a widening of the middle class, a social economic and cultural expansion. People had money and wanted to 'express' their new found freedoms and be recognised as cultured and civilised .. Buying Hifi was one of the things that helped them to express and establish themselves, bringing kudos etc.

This is still the case in some places where this capitalist ideal is in its early stages ( relatively) places like Romania and Poland in fact hifi is popular in many of the former eastern block countries.. Again it's a tool to show ones new found freedoms.

Alas for those of us who live in well developed capitalist democracies we've moved on and no longer buy hifi for the reasons we once did.. In turn the market has moved on, to the uber rich. No longer concerned with middle class folk who want 'the best sounding system'.. It's the wealthy who want ' the most impressive system' a very diffrent idea.

The middle class right now has mostly dept to pay off, they express their wealth by 'renting' the latest phone or iPad the rest of the money goes on endless new kitchens ,bathrooms and possibly holidays and a new car every 3-4 years... There's nothing left for hifi, no one cares about it. As floor Being cultured or being seen as such, well no one seems to care these days.

So that's what's happened to hifi more or less..

 

[Sal1950]

The middle class right now has mostly dept to pay off, they express their wealth buy 'renting' the latest phone or iPad the rest of the money goes on endless new kitchens ,bathroom and possibly holidays and a new car every 3-4 years... There's nothing left for hifi, no one cares about it.

Spot on Thomas, specially the "no one cares" part.
In the early days of Home Theater I really thought that HiFi might make a comeback. Everyone seemed excited again for a 5.1 rig even with the WAF issues.. The "family" oriented aspect of Mom, Pop, and the 2.3 kids watching a movie or 3 a week together had great selling power, of so I thought. But then a few magic dust minipulated sound bars came along and they were "good enough". Again, no one cared about quality.

 

[RayDunzl]

You're an odd specimen to have avoided upgrade-itis.

If you buy into New and Improved it won't be long until the same thing is New and Improved again, and you wish you'd waited, except when something really is New and Improved, and then you may not want to be an Early Adopter based on the results of your prior experiences with New and Improved.

---

The faster things change, the more they stay the same: Let's take 20 year gaps:

1900-1920 - Cars! Radio! Airplanes! Sky Scrapers! Stock Market!
1920 - 1940 - Air Conditioning! Refrigerators! Air Travel! Intercontinental Highways! Art Deco!
1940-1960 - Air conditioning in Cars! Jet travel! Satellites! Space Race! Nuclear Everything! Non-Stop Interstate Highways!
1960-1980 - Color TV! Imported Goods! Home Stereo! FM Stereo Radio! Able to buy stuff on Sunday even in Alabama! Direct Dial Telephone Network! Beer and Wine at the Grocery Store! Radial Tires! Cars that don't rust out in a year!
1980-2000 - Computers in everything! Internet! World Wide Web! Cell Phones! China becomes our Buddy!
2000 - 2020 - Nothing Really New, just New and Improved, China becomes our Enemy again.
2020 - 2040 - I'll likely be signing off someplace there, even if I'm not quite dead yet, good luck!

 

[watchnerd]

That's debatable. Do you believe a Theta or Wadia DAC, or even something like my JVC XL-Z1050TN player from the day would be instantly and easily identifiable from a todays $500 DAC in a blind listening test?
View attachment 4602

I think you're being too soft.

I think you wouldn't be able to distinguish a Theta or Wadia from a $150 DAC today. And that's progress.

Also modern lossy codecs are waaay better than what was available in 1992. And then you have the proliferation of delivery methods.

So, yeah, I think digital has come a long way since 1992.

 

[RayDunzl]

So, yeah, I think digital has come a long way since 1992.

New and Improved, yes.

 

[Thomas savage]

not sure how it is in the u.s but here hifi was a hobby that guys indulged in, the fixed up and made there own amps etc tbh my dads generation fixed up their own cars too. Everything got stripped down, it was part of ownership.

Guys still do that here but they are all well over 50... There is no, let's strip our phones iPads etc well not on the same scale anyhow.

I think money being earnt and spent more equally between the sexes plays a part too, woman have very diffrent criteria in this regard.

 

[Sal1950]

Yes it wasn't that long ago that just plain electronics was so new and exciting. Not only were people buying HiFi, but many were building it from kits, going as far as the monumental build of a Heathkit color TV. Guys were getting amateur radio licenses and talking to people all over the world from their living rooms. WOW!
The old man in me looks and thinks "the world just seems to have lost a lot of it's joy and wonderment".

 

[watchnerd]

I think money being earnt and spent more equally between the sexes plays a part too, woman have very diffrent criteria in this regard.

Is your new avatar Tony Montana + cocaine snowman?

 

[watchnerd]

Yes it wasn't that long ago that just plain electronics was so new and exciting. Not only were people buying HiFi, but many were building it from kits, going as far as the monumental build of a Heathkit color TV. Guys were getting amateur radio licenses and talking to people all over the world from their living rooms. WOW!
The old man in my looks and thinks "the world just seems to have lost a lot of it's joy and wonderment".

Not really...it just moved to other areas. Home robotics, 3D printing, etc.

You should go to a Maker Faire sometime.

 

[RayDunzl]

What Happened to Hi Fi?

It got commoditized for the most part.