Mark Levinson: let's be more honest....have a higher value of ethics

[Enkay25]

Dear respected members,
After the thread on Steve Guttenberg Truth or beauty , here is Mark giving his thoughts. (Methinks he read the ASR thread )

Personally I feel the audio especially the hifi industry needs this booster dose of honesty....stop the snake oils and cons, bring value back again to masses, to enable the sheer pleasure of this hobby to be shared more wide. (I mean why hifi should be elitists or cultists) The love for music is ethereal....and will remain so till humanity exist.


What's your take on this :

I am especially interested in what he is hinting as advancement for the industry. (But I am no wiser on this). Hoping this thread will also be as much informative and educative.

 

[peanuts]

"apple computers dont make a profit" lol

 

[JimB]

"apple computers dont make a profit" lol

I took that to mean, for the HiFi industry - that a local audiophile shop, for example, would not profit from recommending using a Mac for your playback system (whatever all that might mean).

 

[Enkay25]

I am somewhat not clear what he alludes by being honest and to work for the people.

Maybe he meant honesty in pricing? Lesser profit mongering? .......(we'll know what his future products are sold as)

And he vouched for whole digital?....he is not analog now? (Edited...left the 'not')

Maybe some experts with insider knowledge may chime in. As a consumer/prosumer it will be interesting if the industry is poised for offering dividends to us.

 

[Eirikur]

/OT - I do love the expression "He's going to hell in a hand-basket", great alliteration.
We (Dutch) have a superb depiction of the "cart" variant: The Haywain Triptych by Jeroen Bosch:

Sorry about that, too much useless information in my head.
Click the picture for a hideously large JPEG to enjoy the brush strokes and the detail.

 

[BillG]

I took that to mean, for the HiFi industry - that a local audiophile shop, for example, would not profit from recommending using a Mac for your playback system (whatever all that might mean).

Indeed, I took him as refering to that as well. Which is why we see them selling $10K+ specialized servers/players now. Nevermind that any sub $500 computer with networking capability and USB ports is more than up to the task...

 

[maxxevv]

Indeed, I took him as refering to that as well. Which is way we see them selling $10K+ specialized servers/players now. Nevermind that any sub $500 computer with networking capability and USB ports is more than up to the task...

Indeed.

I think a sub-US$500/- Windows /Android tablet that has a wifi connection to a NAS server would make for a good music streamer

Not much if any money to be made from these for the audio shop even if they have a 30% net margin.

 

[Zog]

Who let out that creature with the retirement village hairstyle?

 

[BDWoody]

Indeed.

I think a sub-US$500/- Windows /Android tablet that has a wifi connection to a NAS server would make for a good music streamer

Not much if any money to be made from these for the audio shop even if they have a 30% net margin.

Describes the Nvidia Shield perfectly. You can even plug NAS in directly.

 

[anmpr1]

I have no idea what he is even talking about most of the time. A lot of vague generalities that you might hear in a corporate business pep rally. The most remarkable thing is he wants 'truth, honesty, and reality'! I don't know, man. Coming from a guy who pretty much built the price is no object high-end thing, I just don't know what to think.

I guess anyone could see Mark evolving. A progression from the minimalist ML-6A to Cello Audio Palette, the latter embracing Dick Burwen's solid work with EQ. Red Rose offering rebranded (and reworked?) 'affordable' Chinese electronics. His movement to software based EQ. Now (evidently) eschewing the so-called 'high-res' format nonsense.

He's still selling thirty thousand dollar integrated amps 'made in Italy'. Some things never change. However I see he's back to regular RCA connectors. I guess that represents his 'step forward into the future'.

 

[anmpr1]

I am somewhat not clear what he alludes by being honest and to work for the people.

Being honest with yourself is 5th century BC Socrates. Working for the people is 20th century Mao. So his meaning can be found somewhere within those dates. I never knew Mark was such a philosopher. LOL

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I have no idea what he is even talking about most of the time. A lot of vague generalities that you might hear in a corporate business pep rally.

I haven't bothered listening to the YouTube clip but, yeah, that's the way he sounded the last few times I've heard him speak in person. Although he was a significant figure in evolution of modern home audio, he does not seem to be relevant today.

 

[BillG]

I think a sub-US$500/- Windows /Android tablet that has a wifi connection to a NAS server would make for a good music streamer

You were saying?

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...7rWFsYAbFtr1mubXL0lRibm5BoSies6q1HRqxGfpuLSi4

 

[gene_stl]

He almost single handedly invented the absurdly high priced category AND audio jewelry. I haven't watched it yet but it kind of seems like McNamara apologizing for the Viet Nam war.

 

[graz_lag]

Indeed ...

 

[amirm]

The interviewer says he cut that interview down to 10 minutes. I think cutting it down to 1 minute would have been enough. And oh, he should have the same to his part of the video.

I met Mark 15 years ago or so and he didn't make any more sense then, than he does in this video. He was showing us some MP3 enhancement DSP that sounded grating and anything but audiophile enhancements. I was amazed he couldn't hear how bad it was.

 

[ahofer]

The interviewer says he cut that interview down to 10 minutes. I think cutting it down to 1 minute would have been enough. And oh, he should have the same to his part of the video.

I met Mark 15 years ago or so and he didn't make any more sense then, than he does in this video. He was showing us some MP3 enhancement DSP that sounded grating and anything but audiophile enhancements. I was amazed he couldn't hear how bad it was.

A friend of mine was the business manager at Cello. Sounded....interesting.

 

[CDMC]

I think Mark may not be playing with a full deck. His video makes little sense, but the parts that do make sense are hypocritical. He bashes that all the dealers, magazines, and manufactures are conspiring to sell stuff, while his company is pushing $100,000 speakers and $20,000 amps (although he also has speakers starting at a more reasonable $3,000 a pair) through dealers. So great, he believes that most front ends are a rip off and the best can be equaled with a Mac and his $600 software. What about the same Mac with JRiver or Roon, or G-d forbid, freeware like foobar2000?

 

[ahofer]

I think Mark may not be playing with a full deck. His video makes little sense, but the parts that do make sense are hypocritical. He bashes that all the dealers, magazines, and manufactures are conspiring to sell stuff, while his company is pushing $100,000 speakers and $20,000 amps (although he also has speakers starting at a more reasonable $3,000 a pair) through dealers. So great, he believes that most front ends are a rip off and the best can be equaled with a Mac and his $600 software. What about the same Mac with JRiver or Roon, or G-d forbid, freeware like foobar2000?

sounds like having his cake and eating it too. I’ll have to watch this.

 

[scott wurcer]

The interviewer says he cut that interview down to 10 minutes. I think cutting it down to 1 minute would have been enough. And oh, he should have the same to his part of the video.

I met Mark 15 years ago or so and he didn't make any more sense then, than he does in this video. He was showing us some MP3 enhancement DSP that sounded grating and anything but audiophile enhancements. I was amazed he couldn't hear how bad it was.

When we set out to get into consumer audio, before we realized that the margins were nil, we went to a couple of audio salons to audition their idea of SOTA. One place had an all Cello electronics and the top Theil speakers setup in its own room, the sound was excruciating, as bad as the time I visited Yamaha's main site and they made me listen to NS10's.