Hi Fi company in financial trouble

[kemmler3D]

I just think "hi-fi" is something that people get automatically and very easily these days. The stuff that comes out of your smartphone with $100 bluetooth headphones most certainly would qualify as amazing HiFi what, less than 20 years ago? So you could say you get HiFi pretty much for free these days.

The bigger problem for "traditional HiFi" (separates and speakers) is probably space and mobility these days. Younger generations grew up listening to stuff in their rooms while laying down in bed and such. The concept of sitting between two speakers while remote controlling stuff is a bit weird to them. And the attention spans have greatly diminished.

And then there's also the fact the current HiFi culture has become quite adversarial, and we have lost our innocence. It used to be when I was 19 that you got a Technics deck-tuner-amp and some Sennheiser cans (remember the black plastic and yellow foam cups?) and your friends would all go "oh sweeeeeeet setup duuudeee!", now it's more like half of them going "dude this stuff got a very negative from xyz, have you compared with zyx?".

The increasing accessibility of good sound is not to be underestimated. Does anyone remember when Shure IEMs first hit the scene? They were the ultra hi-fi earphones for those in the know. They cost something like $200+ when that was real money, like expensive domestic plane ticket money.

Now you can get your Truthear Zeros for $25 - expensive hamburger money now - and they probably perform better than those old Shure IEMs.

It's not that people aren't interested in Hi Fi, I think they are as much as they ever were. It's just way easier to get now.

A Sonos Play 5 (two in stereo if you're really into it) probably sounds better than 90%+ of the speakers the membership here was listening to (with greater care and attention, granted) in the 1970s. Should we lament that things are too easy now, or declare victory over lo-fi and pop the champagne?

 

[Emlin]

The increasing accessibility of good sound is not to be underestimated. Does anyone remember when Shure IEMs first hit the scene? They were the ultra hi-fi earphones for those in the know. They cost something like $200+ when that was real money, like expensive domestic plane ticket money.

Now you can get your Truthear Zeros for $25 - expensive hamburger money now - and they probably perform better than those old Shure IEMs.

It's not that people aren't interested in Hi Fi, I think they are as much as they ever were. It's just way easier to get now.

A Sonos Play 5 (two in stereo if you're really into it) probably sounds better than 90%+ of the speakers the membership here was listening to (with greater care and attention, granted) in the 1970s. Should we lament that things are too easy now, or declare victory over lo-fi and pop the champagne?

The trouble is that there now seems to be an inverse correlation between quality of reproduction and what is newly being recorded!

 

[pablolie]

The increasing accessibility of good sound is not to be underestimated. Does anyone remember when Shure IEMs first hit the scene? They were the ultra hi-fi earphones for those in the know. They cost something like $200+ when that was real money, like expensive domestic plane ticket money.

Now you can get your Truthear Zeros for $25 - expensive hamburger money now - and they probably perform better than those old Shure IEMs.

It's not that people aren't interested in Hi Fi, I think they are as much as they ever were. It's just way easier to get now.

A Sonos Play 5 (two in stereo if you're really into it) probably sounds better than 90%+ of the speakers the membership here was listening to (with greater care and attention, granted) in the 1970s. Should we lament that things are too easy now, or declare victory over lo-fi and pop the champagne?

Totally true.

I find the bigger differentiator for my "hobby" these days is the fact I know quite a bit about my favorite genres and great performances. My system just allows people to get closer to those performances. I absolutely love it when friends come to my place and say "Can we just sit down and listen to some music before we watch a movie?", that and my own quiet moments are what makes HiFi continue to be relevant - as a vehicle to make people enjoy awesome performances. Can't share that with IEMs and a smartphone.

PS: I always love it when I am listening to music by myself after a long day, and my cat (Boli, 4 year old British shorthair) walks over and plops down between the speakers to chill, too.

 

[beeface]

The trouble is that there now seems to be an inverse correlation between quality of reproduction and what is newly being recorded!

the elephant in the room is that although reproduction is better and more affordable than ever, we'll seemingly always be stuck with the same crumby recordings

 

[pablolie]

the elephant in the room is that although reproduction is better and more affordable than ever, we'll seemingly always be stuck with the same crumby recordings

I have never had illusions about the quality of many recordings. With classical and jazz I like a flac, even though even there many pre-1970 recordings don't really justify it. I absolutely adore "Waltz for Debbie", but no one really thinks it gets any better a 24/192, right? I also love latin music (salsa especially) and R&B, but no one can convince me they are more enjoyable as flacs rather than 256VBR MP3s.

 

[Emlin]

the elephant in the room is that although reproduction is better and more affordable than ever, we'll seemingly always be stuck with the same crumby recordings

I think that the elephant is crumby artists. And the music industry behind them. There's nothing that money couldn't fuck up.

 

[beeface]

I think that the elephant is crumby artists. And the music industry behind them. There's nothing that money couldn't fuck up.

I suppose it depends on what you enjoy.

Personally, I think there's still good music being released, but not necessarily on the majors. Sometimes you need to look toward the margins

 

[GXAlan]

Marantz™ Wireless Speakers

Marantz

www.marantz.com

Marantz entered the wireless speaker game with something MORE expensive than Devialet!

 

[AdrianusG]

Agree completely on the number of audio shows worldwide. Some of that can be explained I think by the shrinking number of brick-and-mortar dealerships outside of truly large cities like New York, London, Tokyo, etc.

Meanwhile,

featuring at upcoming Capital Audio Fest.

CAF 2024: The Voice That Is to Debut the TIDAL for Bugatti MP-1 Preamplifier - Twittering Machines

Michael Lavorgna's Twittering Machines: HiFi with a twist

twitteringmachines.com

Just 125.000$ for the Pre-Amp and the same for the Digital controller, allrighty then

 

[Bjorn]

I don't mind good looking equipment and get that if you have the means, you want something nice looking. But I detest the combination of extremely expensive and poor or mediocre sound quality. And that's unfortunately where almost all expensive brands are at. So it's more for the eyes rather than the ears!

 

[Purité Audio]

So much of the high end Tidal stuff included is for the nouveau riche, really poor taste.
Keith

 

[Frank Dernie]

I just think "hi-fi" is something that people get automatically and very easily these days. The stuff that comes out of your smartphone with $100 bluetooth headphones most certainly would qualify as amazing HiFi what, less than 20 years ago? So you could say you get HiFi pretty much for free these days.

The bigger problem for "traditional HiFi" (separates and speakers) is probably space and mobility these days. Younger generations grew up listening to stuff in their rooms while laying down in bed and such. The concept of sitting between two speakers while remote controlling stuff is a bit weird to them. And the attention spans have greatly diminished.

And then there's also the fact the current HiFi culture has become quite adversarial, and we have lost our innocence. It used to be when I was 19 that you got a Technics deck-tuner-amp and some Sennheiser cans (remember the black plastic and yellow foam cups?) and your friends would all go "oh sweeeeeeet setup duuudeee!", now it's more like half of them going "dude this stuff got a very negative from xyz, have you compared with zyx?".

In my experience most blokes like a gadget, as do a small number of women.

In 1968, when I first bought a HiFi component, HiFi was pretty well the only gadget where one could buy various components and mix and match to suit your taste, read reviews etc.

Most blokes I knew had a stereo and the magazines of the day, certainly here in the UK, were still doing proper technical tests of components to show potential customers what was available, at what cost and with what performance.
I would NOT say everybody was a music lover, by any means, though, and plenty of people I knew in the University residence at a technical University were mathematicians, physicists and engineers and there were probably more people interested by dicking around with their kit, moving it about, updating it and measuring it than there were people interested in listening to music on it seriously.

Segue to now and the hifi magazine waters are polluted by the ridiculous idea of subjective reviews, probably originally perpetrated by Jean Hiraga, and there are so many other sorts of gadgets for blokes to obsess about, the whole HiFi landscape is nothing like it was back then.

The market for premium HiFi is tiny, largely unnecessary, and the people supplying it are vulnerable.

I may well still have bought the Devialet, just for the remote control, but there is a huge amount of perfectly fine-for-music recordings dynamic range and frequency response kit on the market at much lower prices today.

 

[Galliardist]

Reading through this, I had two thoughts:
1) If only things relating to phones and screens are selling, please explain why the "high end" and the most dedicated subjective audiophiles are wedded to... the LP?


2) What we are seeing may not be the end of hi-fi, but that it has shrunk to a point, and changed in nature, to the point where what is fashionable from day to day dominates the market, and nobody is safe except maybe the big boys that own brands across the market (where one or two brands may support the rest, maybe in rotation).

As I understand it, even B&W has had financial problems across the last decade and has been bought several times when in trouble. If it wasn't owned by a group that includes a number of other brands, I suspect it may have gone under. Think about that for a moment.

And a bunch of ASR favourites are growing, at the expense of the bottom end of the old mainstream market that the major players once held. Again, this may prove to be fashion, or really just that they are cheaper at a time when many people are affected by (... political point would follow if allowed). Even that pendulum may swing back though.

This all feels short term to me though. I suspect that the AR juggernaut will roll through what is left of the hifi market in a few years. Then, I might talk about the demise of conventional hi-fi.. But it will be the mass market that falls first if that happens.

 

[Palladium]

Most current music have crappy production values, while you can get decent BT speakers/TWS and awesome wired DACS/IEMs for peanuts now.

 

[GD Fan]

As of yesterday Devialet still has a demo station in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.

We heard both size Phantoms, which had impressive bass extension. Too bass-happy by a few dB, however. Also heard the portable blue tooth speaker and the soundbar (which didn't sound too good at all).

As you can see above, the demo space is far from ideal. But it was a fun little detour while passing through.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

no one in my household really wants to sit for 2-3hr

Smartphone = attention span = zero

 

[Theta]

As of yesterday Devialet still has a demo station in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.

View attachment 407814

We heard both size Phantoms, which had impressive bass extension. Too bass-happy by a few dB, however. Also heard the portable blue tooth speaker and the soundbar (which didn't sound too good at all).

As you can see above, the demo space is far from ideal. But it was a fun little detour while passing through.

It looks like Devialet is toast, they were heavily financed and now it looks like LVMH is reluctant to throw in more good money after bad.

 

[Nopiano]

It looks like Devialet is toast, they were heavily financed and now it looks like LVMH is reluctant to throw in more good money after bad.

Yet they are just launching new kit here in the UK, a rather gaudy looking amp similar to recent models, called Astra. 21 November is the date mentioned.

Devialet

www.devialet.com

 

[Mr. Widget]

It looks like Devialet is toast, they were heavily financed and now it looks like LVMH is reluctant to throw in more good money after bad.

Done right, audio may make you a decent living, but it is not a great investment. Sure Sonos has done a pretty good job of making it work for them, but they are an outlier.
Put the same investment in traditional luxury goods, or just about anything else and your ROI will be significantly greater.

 

[Scytales]

Yet they are just launching new kit here in the UK, a rather gaudy looking amp similar to recent models, called Astra. 21 November is the date mentioned.

Devialet

www.devialet.com

£14,000 for a 2x150 W / 8ohms continuous power integrated amplifier with Wifi, 1 RJ45 Ethernet connector and 2 USB ports...