+1, Good choice, let the super rich do the startups QC - R&D for them!
Run like hell!
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Interesting Beolab 90 Postmortem: Back to the Real World
- Thread starter Fitzcaraldo215
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watchnerd
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watchnerd
Grand Contributor
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
Here's the thing, though:
1. There is a huge amount of R&D going into making HRTF better, driven by gaming / AR / VR.
2. The cost of entry is so much lower
3. The convenience is so much easier
If there is one lesson in audio history is that paradigm shifts happen in audio when quality meets convenience and price, not when quality is hard or expensive.
Are there any technical documents? Videos don't work for me.
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
I don't know, I'm not their public relations person.
OP
Fitzcaraldo215
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Yes, I know, I know. Headphones are hot, hot, hot. And, I understand the concept of the HRTF. What is wrong, incomplete, inadequate, etc. about Smyth's approach to this?
Like Kal, I do not find headphones enjoyable, non-fatiguiging or more accurate for music listening. Although, it is no wonder that they would be of great interest for gaming and virtual reality, yawn. I also understand their appeal to young audiophiles who cannot pony up for a decent system/room with actual speakers. Incidentally, in ancient history, my first stereo used headphones because I could not afford decent speakers. I am not eager to go back to that idea.
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
I don't think it's entirely money driven. I work with millenials who make very good salaries and they spend on headphones and associated headphone amps, DACs, cables, etc, what I spent on my first 2-channel stereo systems when I was their age.
It's that they have different habits.
They, and their peers, have a personal listening habit where dedicated listening is done with headphones, slouching on the couch, while your friends are nearby doing the same. Speakers are for social settings, parties, etc.
They even have headphone dance parties and "silent" discos now:
These are the next wave of consumers, as big a demographic bulge as their baby-boomer parents.
To the extend that the high-end thrives in the future, it will be in its ability to woo new buyers with new habits.
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Fitzcaraldo215
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Gotcha, and I am well aware of the cool millennial fashion trend, the mobility, the envelopment, etc. etc. etc. Yuck. I hate to be an old timer spoil sport, but until such time as headphones can produce an actually better replica of live sound, count me out. I will even put up with the inconvenience or fatigue factors, if the sound is actually better. But, it just ain't.
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
I don't think that's their benchmark.
Actually, I doubt it's a benchmark for anyone except audiophiles. Even my musician friends don't try to compare their (usually modest) home systems to live sound -- they consider the attempt pointless, like comparing TV to real life.
One reason the attempt is immensely satisfying is that OTT rock extravaganzas, and such-like, become amazing listening experiences - they reveal kaleidoscopic whirlwinds of sound which never fail to impress - this is something which currently would be impossible to experience any other way.
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
Rock recordings are of performances you can never catch live - and if they try to make them happen they will most likely stuff it up by using cruddy PA systems - the barrage of high intensity shite is too much ...
But if you get a home system that can go all the way, SPL wise, and totally clean - that's pure magic, fabulous to listen to!
I can buy into the fact that headphones can be a more detailed listening experience in the realm of inner detail, dynamics, and such, but after a time they just run out of being enjoyable to wear. As it stands now they still can't create the soundstageing experience of speakers though future manipulation may change that.
No but I believe it's their fad. Most of us have been thru the can craze at least once in our HiFi days but they just have never been about to replace speakers do to the comfort issue at least. Headphones can do a lot of things but I doubt they'll ever be fun to wear. YMMV
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
I still don't understand...
Live rock events are awesome, but you can never make them, but if you do, the PA system is bad, so listen to recordings of live rock bands at home, at PA SPL levels, because they don't sound like real PA systems?
Huh?
Rock recordings are highly "manufactured" - I'm not talking of recordings of a live gig - the latter are another experience again, with a very different "feel" ... . So, I'm talking about listening to, say, classic 70's, 80's studio recordings at "concert levels".
A more recent example is the soundtrack from here,
This material, played at concert hall levels, is brilliant - but would be very difficult for most systems.
I feel the same way. For me, the biggest problem with headphones is that I find them fatiguing after a while. It's like they lock me in, and it's always a relief to take them off at the end. The only ones I can live with for hours on end are relatively non-intrusive one which let in a lot of sound from the outside, such as Apple's earpods, or Bose's soundsport-headphones. But they don't offer the same sound quality as my Sennheiser 650s, of course.
@watchnerd : in case you understand what I mean here - would you say that HRTF can be more "easy" in this regard than conventional headphone listening, or is it the same thing?
You have a lot better luck putting a 5 man rock or jazz group in your living room than a symphony orchestra.
