Question for the boomers: what was it like to live through major improvements in audio fidelity?

[AdVis]

I remember when I was able to buy this one new (as a teenager). Now THAT was a milestone in my life!

 

[xanalog]

...my father was not into music...

Yeah, that should be a new crime for the new century... not as bad of [as] lack of mothers' milk but music - as nourishment for the soul - should be birthright!

I remember when I was able to buy this one new (as a teenager).

How did you swing that? ... as a teenager?

ADD: [correction]

 

[beeface]

My parents weren't into music either, except for the worship music at church

Is that a generational thing? I can't imagine that parents today aren't into music.

I play lots of different music styles for my toddler in the car and he doesn't protest. He especially loves The Wiggles though (I like em too)

 

[AdVis]

Yeah, that should be a new crime for the new century... not as bad of lack of mothers' milk but music - as nourishment for the soul - should be birthright!

How did you swing that? ... as a teenager?

Delivering newspapers, vacation job, etc. it took a while. But I was as proud as a two-tailed monkey of course.

The thing that puzzles me to date is that at one time, my mother had been in my room and switched off the "radio" that I forgot to switch off. Fair enough, but how did she find the correct switch??

 

[Daverz]

I'm not clear as to when this [Sony Szell Beethoven Symphonies] set was remastered. The set with this image on Tidal is Redbook. The single issues with the original covers (marked as 2018) is 24/192. They sound the same, as far as I can tell.

I finally got around to doing some spot checks of a few files in a 16/44 download of this 2024 set, and they were bit-for-bit identical with the corresponding files in the big Sony complete Szell box. I used the shncmp utility from shntools to compare the files. Still, this 2024 set is highly recommended to those who missed the big box.

 

[Mysta]

Never really liked cd... Unlike vinyl, I scratched them easily and broke many a case. For some reason vinyl demanded respect so stated with it.
However mp3, napster, mass consumption, suddenly being able to find that rare recording you could never afford in mp3 or that version of a mix etc... Explosive and in a way devalued music... I guess supply and demand.
Here I am still holding vinyl I bought as a child and still do today. Now we have commercial streaming which I also use.
However haven't purchased a c90 since circa late 80s and cds I still avoid. If only on cd why buy when same or better digital format on streaming... Vinyl for me now is a collection. I won't change. Fir now

 

[RPoitou]

Looking back it seems to me that for every step forward there's always a commensurate step back so that while things might sound a little different actual progress is slow.
For example in the 70s just as high quality stereo FM tuners were becoming commonplace and affordable there was a sudden vast increase (in Britain at least) in the number of radio stations which engendered a sort of 'loudness war' and implementation of nasty automatic compression effects - same thing has happened with television programmes of course, more choice less quality.

As the 70s continued progress in solid state electronics meant that amplifier watts were becoming cheaper and easier to obtain - thus encouraging speaker manufacturers to use heavier 'less coloured' cone materials which measured better but removed the life from the music (oops, really shouldn't be saying such heretical things on ASR )

Also in the mid 70s there was a sudden burgeoning interest in new turntable manufacturers with fresh different ideas which unfortunately happened at the same time as the oil crisis that resulted in the proliferation of lightweight poor quality vinyl.

For me the advent of CD in the early 80s happily coincided with my sudden lack of interest in 'contemporary' popular music and allowed me to explore the delights of classical music without the clicks & pops of vinyl. However, some of those early CD players (Philips/Marantz being the exception) really did sound thin and fatiguing.

 

[Frank Dernie]

As the 70s continued progress in solid state electronics meant that amplifier watts were becoming cheaper and easier to obtain - thus encouraging speaker manufacturers to use heavier 'less coloured' cone materials which measured better but removed the life from the music (oops, really shouldn't be saying such heretical things on ASR )

I thought that but it was just me underestimating how much extra power these speakers needed.
The first time I tried the low efficiency speakers (Spendor BC1) I rejected them for exactly that reason but decades later I did a volume matched compare between an efficient, but slightly coloured, speaker and a more neutral less efficient one and with volume levels matched the idea that the more efficient one was more dynamic turned out to be bollox, I just hadn't realised how much power I needed to match the two, and louder always sounds more dynamic.
The Spendor BC1 had very limited power handling though so even if I had realised this back then I am not sure it would have survived or if I had a powerful enough amp available to match volume.

 

[RPoitou]

I thought that but it was just me underestimating how much extra power these speakers needed.
The first time I tried the low efficiency speakers (Spendor BC1) I rejected them for exactly that reason but decades later I did a volume matched compare between an efficient, but slightly coloured, speaker and a more neutral less efficient one and with volume levels matched the idea that the more efficient one was more dynamic turned out to be bollox, I just hadn't realised how much power I needed to match the two, and louder always sounds more dynamic.
The Spendor BC1 had very limited power handling though so even if I had realised this back then I am not sure it would have survived or if I had a powerful enough amp available to match volume.

I can see the logic in that but given the nature of increased power vs perceived volume increase did we ever have enough power for those inefficient speakers? No figures or tests to prove it but my brain suggests that the 'stiction' of moving a higher mass cone at lower volume levels might be what robs the bextrene coned stuff of some vitality. There's no wonder that the complexities of speaker design mean that despite apparent progress they're still the audio components with the most sound quality variation.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I can see the logic in that but given the nature of increased power vs perceived volume increase did we ever have enough power for those inefficient speakers? No figures or tests to prove it but my brain suggests that the 'stiction' of moving a higher mass cone at lower volume levels might be what robs the bextrene coned stuff of some vitality. There's no wonder that the complexities of speaker design mean that despite apparent progress they're still the audio components with the most sound quality variation.

Stiction would be a feature of the suspension system, were there to be any, not the cone material.

I do take your point that it is well possible enough power and power handling may not be available to get high volume from low efficiency speakers.
My favourite speakers are quite efficient, actual efficiency not measured but 5 watts peak on my amp gives similar to concert levels here at home on the piccolo trumpet concerto I am listening to now as the concert (National Welsh youth brass band) I went to on Saturday (they were brilliant!).
I do have a pair of slightly more coloured Tune Audio Anima horns which are 109dB/watt so I can have LOUD if I want

 

[DVDdoug]

CDs. I was AMAZED by the dead-silent background. The perfectly-flat frequency response and lack of distortion were bonuses.

And then discrete surround sound on DVDs. I'd had a crude "matrix quad" system in the 70s but that was mostly just a fun gimmick.

Otherwise, just small-gradual improvements.

I was a bit of a snob about MP3s and lossy audio until I found out that Dolby Digital Surround is lossy... It sounds great! And I probably had only heard low-bitrate MP3s on someone else's system. I wouldn't call Lossless on Blu-Ray's a "breakthrough" because I don't notice any difference (and I can't really A/B or ABX since I don't have exact copies in both formats).

This wasn't a breakthrough, but it was an eye-opener when I was a kid... maybe Jr. High or younger... and I heard an "audiophile" system for the 1st time. I was amazed to hear good bass and good treble at the same time!!! In those days TVs were mono and our TV probably had a 3-inch speaker. My parent's home stereo and AM car radios were nothing special either. They would be junk today. Anybody with a phone and earbuds has better sound. There were better systems but we (and most people) didn't have one.

 

[JeffS7444]

I think by the 1980s, some of the higher-line ADC equalizers came with a measurement microphone and pink noise generator, and I wish I had taken advantage of them, instead of getting sidetracked by the audiophile quest for "purity". But such things were rare in the world of home audio. Not so fancy as more modern quasi-anechoic systems which rely on a series of short-duration "chirps", but infinitely better than nothing.

 

[RPoitou]

Stiction would be a feature of the suspension system, were there to be any, not the cone material.

I do take your point that it is well possible enough power and power handling may not be available to get high volume from low efficiency speakers.
My favourite speakers are quite efficient, actual efficiency not measured but 5 watts peak on my amp gives similar to concert levels here at home on the piccolo trumpet concerto I am listening to now as the concert (National Welsh youth brass band) I went to on Saturday (they were brilliant!).
I do have a pair of slightly more coloured Tune Audio Anima horns which are 109dB/watt so I can have LOUD if I want

A Welsh brass band! - thank you for bringing a smile to my face. Along with a great choice of easy to get to steam railway lines the regular chance to hear a good brass band is one of the few things I miss about living in Britain
Yes 'stiction' was an uncertain choice of word, maybe I meant 'inertia' as in reluctance to get a heavier cone material moving with tiny signals?

 

[LtMandella]

Jewel cases are the devil's work. Have detested them since day 1. I would like to strangle the team that designed them (I know, I should try decaf I guess).

 

[Open Mind Audio]

Boomer here, reacting to the OP's question, what it's been like. Well, for starters, back in the 1970s I used to think these BIC Venturis were the finest speakers made. In my memory's imagination, they still sound like the perfect speakers -- warm bass, pinpoint imaging, wide soundstage, incredible dynamics. Of course, none of that was true ... but our imaginations closed the gap back in the day. I guess that's how people coped with Victrolas, 8-tracks, and cheap bedroom LP consoles. They didn't know any better. So long as you're enjoying the music, it all works out.

 

[HalSF]

It’s always been striking to me the degree to which audio and hi-fi discussion seems generally bored by and indifferent toward the epic macro history of innovation in the field and toward the development of electronics in general over two centuries. Instead it’s all small-bore consumer savvy and micro incremental feature obsession and artisanal connoisseurship and technological tribalism that stir the passions and enthusiasm.

I crave so much more sweep and wonder at what we’ve all inherited and enjoy. It’s amazing and almost miraculous.

Every few years I listen to this fascinating and inspirational BBC podcast episode, “In Our Time: The Invention of Radio,” to get a powerful dose of what wrapping one’s head around the significance of innovation can provide. A follow-up on the past century of progress in audio fidelity and distribution would be incredible.

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Invention of Radio

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tom Ace]

Looking back it seems to me that for every step forward there's always a commensurate step back so that while things might sound a little different actual progress is slow.
For example in the 70s just as high quality stereo FM tuners were becoming commonplace and affordable there was a sudden vast increase (in Britain at least) in the number of radio stations which engendered a sort of 'loudness war' and implementation of nasty automatic compression effects - same thing has happened with television programmes of course, more choice less quality.

That's consistent with what I saw in the USA as well. What you could hear on FM was usually limited more by the station's signal processing than by the quality of your receiver.

Much of the public readily accepted steps backward in sound quality, e.g. music on cassettes started outselling LPs at some point in the 1980s even though it didn't sound as good. Portable cassette players (Sony Walkman and others) increased the demand for music on cassettes.

When I was a kid everyone got television from an antenna on the roof. When cable TV first came on the scene, the picture quality was usually worse than what I was used to with an outdoor antenna but people didn't seem to care much. I don't know how much of the problem was inherent to cable TV and how much of it was just due to poor practice on the part of cable TV companies.

Broadcast NTSC television had its quirks. We lived near an airport and you could see a ghost image on the screen from multipath when the signal reflected off a plane flying overhead. It was an entertaining effect the first few times you saw it happen.

 

[LtMandella]

It’s always been striking to me the degree to which audio and hi-fi discussion seems generally bored by and indifferent toward the epic macro history of innovation in the field and toward the development of electronics in general over two centuries. Instead it’s all small-bore consumer savvy and micro incremental feature obsession and artisanal connoisseurship and technological tribalism that stir the passions and enthusiasm.

I crave so much more sweep and wonder at what we’ve all inherited and enjoy. It’s amazing and almost miraculous.

Every few years I listen to this fascinating and inspirational BBC podcast episode, “In Our Time: The Invention of Radio,” to get a powerful dose of what wrapping one’s head around the significance of innovation can provide. A follow-up on the past century of progress in audio fidelity and distribution would be incredible.

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Invention of Radio

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.

www.bbc.co.uk

I submit that the big leaps occurred when computing resources became practical for use by the audio designers and manufacturers. This led to the electronic circuit simulators and the number crunching for transducer designs, that enabled the "big leaps forward".

 

[pablolie]

As a millennial, I feel like there hasn't really been any massive improvements in fidelity in my lifetime.

...

Were there any moments that stood out to you? Anything that blew you away the first time you heard it?

I was lucky because I always had good references around me - my Dad had a very good sound system. I started listening to a lot of music in the early 80s and CDs weren't wide-spread, so I listened to a lot of vinyl and recorded legendary mix tapes on CC (compact cassette). And it sounded pretty good to me - until CDs came along. From '87 on or so, no more vinyl was bought, and in fact I re-bought many of my favs when they became available on CD. My first CD player (a middle of the line Sony) sounded a bit bright and yet infinitely superior to vinyl. And of course murdered CC sound, although that stayed my secondary (yet important) platform for many more years (until recordable CDs came along) for the Walkman or the car (until I had car with a CD player, probably 1996 or so).

At some point in time I got a really expensive system, but to be honest, I wasn't blown away by the rather marginal improvement in sound, even though it was a brand known for very well-measuring products.

What *really* made a *huge* difference to me was the ability to stream music. The convenience was awesome. I adopted the Squeezebox system around 2004, and after ripping my extensive CD collection, my days as a CD jockey came to an end. The (expensive) CD player functioned as a DAC henceforth. Zero quality decrease, huge convenience increase. I still do buy CDs, rip them and scan the album art - when it comes to my favorite artists. *But* I seem myself listening to my Spotify playlists just as much as my FLAC files, and don't think it is an inferior listening experience at all.

Electronics... I think competent electronics (amps, CD players, DACs) have always sounded pretty darn good. The differentiation there is features, although it's good to know you're above-ish 90dB or so across your chain. DSP aka room correction is great to eek out the amazing specs we have easy access to today, but it's a bit of a YMMV based on your listening environment.

Speakers... gets complicated. My Dad had expensive Spendors, which sounded sweet. I inherited his previous speakers. And it wasn't until 1994 or so I achieved speaker parity. I actually have kept those (my first high-end) speakers and can still rotate them into my system without feeling they sound utterly inferior to what I have now. I actually think we may be moving into a new era of audiophile subjectivism: where minute differences in measurements are used as crutches to explain why some hear clear differences/improvements, but hey.

You said you didn't want people to post about the fact that high end sound has become very affordable, but that to me is awesome and a huge step forward. I can have high end sound on my computer workstation, in secondary systems (like in airplanes or the cabin in the woods), and very close to it in the gym. *That* to me is a huge advancement. It has made a huge difference in my life. Music soothes me. To not be constrained to my one main audio shrine to experience that is not an improvement in just audio - it is an improvement in quality of life to me.

Things that never made a difference: 24/192 hoaxes, green pens on CD edges, expensive and heavy power conditioners and the like.

 

[pinger]

Never really liked cd... Unlike vinyl, I scratched them easily and broke many a case. For some reason vinyl demanded respect so stated with it.
However mp3, napster, mass consumption, suddenly being able to find that rare recording you could never afford in mp3 or that version of a mix etc... Explosive and in a way devalued music... I guess supply and demand.
Here I am still holding vinyl I bought as a child and still do today. Now we have commercial streaming which I also use.
However haven't purchased a c90 since circa late 80s and cds I still avoid. If only on cd why buy when same or better digital format on streaming... Vinyl for me now is a collection. I won't change. Fir now

I love the CD format and never played vinyl again since they rolled it out. Dont stream either. I want the physical CD in my possession. I listen to Classical music so thats the best format. For metal yeah use your vinyl. The music itself is distorted anyway