• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Should HiFi be much less expensive nowadays, because of technology and obsolescence?

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
I think this come down to the question, what is HiFi and what is it for? Yes, today's portable devices are objectively HiFi in terms of technical performance, the dBs and kHz are all good, but I question the use to which this HiFi is put to, and whether that then constitutes HiFi listening.

Wearing headphones on the bus or in the office implies that the wearer is doing something else at the time, and consequently listening is not the primary activity on which the wearer is concentrating on. It's the personal equivalent of in-store background music, an accompaniment to other activities. Is it therefore correct to call it HiFi? The equipment may be, but the circumstances aren't.

That's why I cannot find that listening to headphones, however good, is HiFi in the way that at home, sitting quietly concentrating on the music spread out in front of one, in the way it is at a concert or gig can be.

S.

Headphones are to HiFi as condoms are to sex. :facepalm:
 

BobbyTimmons

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2019
Messages
355
Likes
398
It's already been cheap if you ignore the TOTL audiophiles. A ER2SE + EQ/DSP is pretty endgame worthy since crossfeed/speaker sims can make the Ety's rival the HD800.

No idea with speakers since I've never had one since i was 16.
In my experience, good headphones - while often being a pleasant experience - still sound so much worse than the most budget speakers, in terms of reproducing the experience of listening to live music.

I'm not sure a system will be my idea of "endgame worthy", or really high fidelity, if by its nature it will be so far from the experience of hearing the symphony in the concert hall.

(I grew up with headphones and still use headphones).
 
Last edited:

BobbyTimmons

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2019
Messages
355
Likes
398
Headphones are to HiFi as condoms are to sex. :facepalm:
I feel more like headphones are to HiFi, as watching porn is to sex. Listening on headphones is better than nothing. But at the same time, it can be shocking how much of an improvement speakers bring to your enjoyment of music compared to headphones.

Headphones are wonderfully useful inventions and have a unique place (for example, listening in the train or when out for a walk, or sitting in the garden). But I find it difficult to believe that people can be very satisfied listening to a symphony on them, or even a jazz performance, in comparison to listening on speakers. The melody, rhythm and harmony is still there - so they are technically reproducing the main components of the music -, but there is little sense of the musicians' position in space, or of sound coming from the instruments.
 
Last edited:

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
That's true, I always wear a condom when I have sex on public transport.

You could just wear a balaclava like any normal sex maniac. o_O

GC378q8i_400x400.jpg
 

Human Bass

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Nov 25, 2018
Messages
653
Likes
660
It is as long you go for the right stuff.

Consider the Topping A90, incredible power with record low distortion and noise. An amp as good as that for 500 bucks was a pipe dream 5 years ago.
 

Head_Unit

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
1,341
Likes
688
I mean the first Sony CD player was like 2 grand in today's money, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't use it to get laid or order a pizza either.
Well actually...OK, no pizza...
 

Head_Unit

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
1,341
Likes
688
Back to the thread, I have a little system in an office room. Old iPhone, probably $50 used. Little Dayton amp* $30 (though I got it on sale for $15). Closeout 5.5" 2-way solid plastic Monoprice speakers. Sounds better than a lot of stuff from way back in the day that my vaguely typical family had. Well, actually we had the white Advents, run off a Garrard system.

This setup is better-AND can stream all kinds of music, FREE, with BETTER fidelity than the old vinyl setup especially if you consider actually pressing quality. There is a bit of a mid dip; someday I hope to find some kind folks to help me measure them and rework the crossover which I'm pretty sure is just a capacitor. And surprisingly the little woofer can pump out Watch The Throne, The Bee Gees, and other such at quite good volume even from that small amp.

*can't recommend it too much especially at the sale price. https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...attery-powered-mini-amplifier-15-wpc--300-380
 

oldsysop

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2019
Messages
383
Likes
657
To have a serious second coming of the "golden age" there needs to be a demand that is not there. Also it makes no sense for companies to erode their margins in a luxury market.

On the flip side I do think the next 10 years are going to be great for a couple reasons.

Cheap and mature DSP is available and accepted.
Class D is mature
DACs are cheap
Computer modeling is accessible and powerful

Unfortunately, if I rub my crystal ball I don't think the innovations will be in stereo. It will be some homepod/soundbar abomination with insane software that will actually be good. Software is the future as with most things imo. The physics of speakers seem pretty well understood.

Items that I think are part of the "new age"
-Dutch and Dutch, super cheap for an apex product.
-MiniDSP
-DIRAC
-REW
-Homepod, even though its current iteration is trash.

Just my 2 cents
A perfect summary of everything I do not want for me.
 
OP
Frank Dernie

Frank Dernie

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
6,445
Likes
15,780
Location
Oxfordshire
I was part of the first mobile audio generation, having bought the Sony Walkman II when it came out during college.
I was 28 or 29 when the original Walkman came out.
It was very expensive (for me then) but I saved up and bought one for travel. It improved my quality of life immensely since I was away from home working a lot.
I did buy a set of Koss electrostatic headphones with my earnings as an exchange apprentice in Milwaukee in 1970. The idea was that they would be higher quality than my speakers and hence preferable.
They were much higher quality than the speakers I had then but I suppose it was then I learned I didn't much enjoy listening to music on headphones.
I have owned headphones ever since and went to Etymotic ER4S for travel decades ago.
I have Stax electrostatics and others but the fact is I almost always end up taking them off and switching speakers on if I can, which means even in my office I use old speakers rather than modern headphones and SOTA (RME ADI_2 PRO) DAC/Amp...
 

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
As in, it's better to have a pair and not need them, than to need them and not have them…

Two time-worn rings in the wallet, then? ;) Oh, headphones.
I have two sets in the cupboard for that purpose - needing them. They haven't seen the light of day for ages as I use loudspeakers. I guess they will be useful one day in an old folks home. :facepalm:
 
Last edited:

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia

Pluto

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
990
Likes
1,631
Location
Harrow, UK
You have to look out for the “use by” date…
 

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
You have to look out for the “use by” date…

Never seen one on headphones.

If you mean me, I'd rather not know but if you can recommend an accurate algorithm my curiosity could get the better of me.
Wink.gif


P.S. I have no problem with others using headphones.
(For me they are like a claustrophobic, hot and sweaty, headclamp with a wierd isolation affect). YMMV.
 
Last edited:

Robin L

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
5,209
Likes
7,588
Location
1 mile east of Sleater Kinney Rd
That proves it. You were too old. Too late to acclimate to headphone sound as much as speakers :)
I was 24. But I was used to headphones when I was 14.
 
Top Bottom