The Verge's coverage of the WiiM amp release came up in my feed. I was surprised to read that it has "vintage audio hi-fi chops" since it just came out and streams over wi-fi.
Wow, okay, ignoring the assumption that there are basically no other streaming amps, this guy believes passive speakers are obviously outmoded. What pimply-faced zoomer teenager do they have writing this stuff?
Uh, hmm, it's Wes Davis, the Verge's weekend editor. He mostly covers tech and his LinkedIn resume goes back to 2007, so he is most likely within shouting distance of 40 years old. He's clearly quite aware of gadgetry in general, but also thinks passive speakers are simply old.
Is he right?
If you base it on sales numbers, a casual answer is "no" based on random (but convincing) quotes about industry sales figures:
So how can an otherwise savvy guy come away with the impression that passives / separates are old-fashioned? Well, maybe he IS right. I'm 38 and out of everyone I know, I can name 2 or 3 people with any interest in separates.
It seems to me that the progression of the tech in separates/passives is proceeding as well as it ever did. But it's been discussed on this forum a lot, it's almost axiomatic that "audiophiles" are almost all old white guys. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Davis here, I can see where he gets it. The optics of the speaker separates category are those of something very "over".
This bugs me because 1) the less interest in the category, the less healthy it will be, and 2) it gives people the impression that good speakers aren't worth bothering with.
What do you think, is Wes Davis way off base, or simply echoing what is intuitive to the average reader of The Verge?
Wow, okay, ignoring the assumption that there are basically no other streaming amps, this guy believes passive speakers are obviously outmoded. What pimply-faced zoomer teenager do they have writing this stuff?
Uh, hmm, it's Wes Davis, the Verge's weekend editor. He mostly covers tech and his LinkedIn resume goes back to 2007, so he is most likely within shouting distance of 40 years old. He's clearly quite aware of gadgetry in general, but also thinks passive speakers are simply old.
Is he right?
If you base it on sales numbers, a casual answer is "no" based on random (but convincing) quotes about industry sales figures:
So how can an otherwise savvy guy come away with the impression that passives / separates are old-fashioned? Well, maybe he IS right. I'm 38 and out of everyone I know, I can name 2 or 3 people with any interest in separates.
It seems to me that the progression of the tech in separates/passives is proceeding as well as it ever did. But it's been discussed on this forum a lot, it's almost axiomatic that "audiophiles" are almost all old white guys. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Davis here, I can see where he gets it. The optics of the speaker separates category are those of something very "over".
This bugs me because 1) the less interest in the category, the less healthy it will be, and 2) it gives people the impression that good speakers aren't worth bothering with.
What do you think, is Wes Davis way off base, or simply echoing what is intuitive to the average reader of The Verge?
