Top 3 hi-fi brands (and "honorable mentions")

[Wombat]

Absolutely. The efforts by Sony, particularly Heitaro Nakajima (RIP) and his team (Doi, Fukuda and Iga) are simply the most significant contribution ever made to high fidelity and reproduction equipment.

He received Japan's highest civilian honor (purple ribbon) for CD development in 1993.

I highly recommend "Digital Audio Technology" 1st edition if you want a great (technical) read.

This listing below I found is likely a first edition, first printing, if it is the hardcover (first english translation McGraw-Hill)

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital...id=5042359&hash=item213d171dd7:i:142758845911

Was originally printed for the JAES in 1979 and then updated with some fantastic prototype shots along with tons of theory and details. Doesn't go into Redbook as such, because it didn't exist at that point. It does go into EFM, CIRC and covers a lot about digital tape recording, early PCM processors and LPF filter theory.

Lots of details on the Sony/Philips working groups, the progress made etc. Written with a slight skew as he was a Sony engineer and by the time the second print run of the book was made, many of the prototype shots were replaced with different Sony images. I have two of the books, one a soft cover, one a hard and there are minor differences.

Copies from $2.49. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...d_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=

FYI:
Rotary-head digital audio recorder: https://www.researchgate.net/public...Head_High_Density_Digital_Audio_Tape_Recorder

 

[svart-hvitt]

In his later years, he established a space where older, retired engineers like himself, would come together and develop some of the ideas they had never brought to market. It was to be a collaborative, free thinking and not constrained by commercial interests, group. NHLab.

After his death, it appears his son vowed to keep nhlab (Nakajima Hitaro LAB) running, although I don't think it is funded enough to keep pursuing their speaker designs. (https://www.nhlab.jp/speaker) Plenty to see and read here, although I don't know how long it will be around on the internet.
The English content translations have mostly disappeared, but I had bookmarked this one https://www.nhlab.net/english/heitaro-s-column/ as it was a place where Heitaro would write whatever came into his head. Read the speaker diaphragm factory one. https://www.nhlab.net/english/heitaro-s-column/a-loudspeaker-diaphragm-factory/ This was the dedicated, purpose built pulp/paper factory and manufacturing facility for Sony, when they introduced the SS-G7 loudspeaker in 1976. An unbelievably good speaker, all 48kg of it. My best friend has my pair in his loungeroom where he enjoys them every day.

https://www.nhlab.net/sitemap/
https://www.nhlab.jp/

A memorial page https://www.nhlab.jp/memorial

The JAS held a special dinner to celebrate his life. There, sitting next to his picture is the Sony CDP-101.

View attachment 17423

It's the passionate, dedicated, true engineers like this man, backed with the resources of huge companies, that gave us the audio advances we were so fortunate to have experienced during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Heitaro gets my honorable mention.

I appreciated the interview with Mr. Iwama:

MR. IWAMA: This kind of factory is too unique even in my company. I’m afraid there may be not a few people who cannot understand the philosophy of this factory.
https://www.nhlab.net/english/heitaro-s-column/a-loudspeaker-diaphragm-factory/

And I think therein lies the bane of many a company, when new management replaces «the philosophy of this factory» with the philosophy of the dollar, i.e. taking the bean counter’s perspective.

In theory (financial economics theory) the dollar perspective is the right one. But what does decades of real-life insights into audio science and production tell us?

 

[Wombat]

I appreciated the interview with Mr. Iwama:

MR. IWAMA: This kind of factory is too unique even in my company. I’m afraid there may be not a few people who cannot understand the philosophy of this factory.
https://www.nhlab.net/english/heitaro-s-column/a-loudspeaker-diaphragm-factory/

And I think therein lies the bane of many a company, when new management replaces «the philosophy of this factory» with the philosophy of the dollar, i.e. taking the bean counter’s perspective.

In theory (financial economics theory) the dollar perspective is the right one. But what does decades of real-life insights into audio science and production tell us?

The amount of specialist and corporate knowledge lost in privatisation, take-over and downsizing business practices would be inestimable.

 

[SIY]

Creative destruction: the bean-counter takeovers of established companies clear room for new creative players.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Creative destruction: the bean-counter takeovers of established companies clear room for new creative players.

Yes, that’s the fairytale.

In reality, established companies (McIntosh, Audio Research) are taken over by bean counters to extract higher dollars from gullibles.

After reading this thread and @amirm ’s reviews of amps I wonder if the mostly untrue saying that «everything used to be better in the olden days» may have some meaning after all, in audio.

I just read that The Terminator 6 will be ready for Christmas of 2019. It’s as if we’re living in a world of remakes, isn’t it, where true innovation must step aside from the faster dollar of a remake.

 

[SIY]

Yes, that’s the fairytale.

And indeed the reality. I've been continually amazed at the performance that we can get now from creative products from newer companies. Just looking at products I've had in my lab recently, Vanatoo, RME, Kali, miniDSP, Scarlett, and Behringer have amazed me at the performance per dollar and the excellent engineering that went into them.

 

[svart-hvitt]

And indeed the reality. I've been continually amazed at the performance that we can get now from creative products from newer companies. Just looking at products I've had in my lab recently, Vanatoo, RME, Kali, miniDSP, Scarlett, and Behringer have amazed me at the performance per dollar and the excellent engineering that went into them.

These are mostly remakes of old ideas, inaudible improvements (>120 dB).

Didn’t @restorer-john previously write that old (among the first) 16/44 converters are as good as today’s when used to play back this widely used format?

 

[SIY]

Not even vaguely. There was nothing of this performance and value available even just a few years ago. Cheaper, lighter, and in the case of the speakers, insanely better sound for the dollar than we could get even just a few years back. I commented in another thread that I can use a box the size and weight of a couple of paperback books to replace (and VASTLY outperform) my old classic Ampex reel-to-reel.

This is the best of times for audio, and the destruction of dinosaurs has been a huge positive for innovation.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Not even vaguely. There was nothing of this performance and value available even just a few years ago. Cheaper, lighter, and in the case of the speakers, insanely better sound for the dollar than we could get even just a few years back. I commented in another thread that I can use a box the size and weight of a couple of paperback books to replace (and VASTLY outperform) my old classic Ampex reel-to-reel.

This is the best of times for audio, and the destruction of dinosaurs has been a huge positive for innovation.

Sorry, I don’t see the innovation in the products you talk about. They’re not aesthetically pleasing either.

I know, these are my highly subjective comments.

A parallell: Even if I am a fan of Apple and like the new Mac Mini 2018, I am also quite aware of the fact that Apple is not about innovation (form-factor innovator) anymore (they even skipped digital out in the 2018 remake to save a couple of dollars) but all about squeezing higher dollars out of gullibles.

So show me some real innovation, where design is aesthetically pleasing because form has a natural function.

 

[restorer-john]

Sorry, I don’t see the innovation in the products you talk about. They’re not aesthetically pleasing either.

I don't see it either. Sure, there is a gradual evolution of technologies that have been around for 40 or 50 years, but true hang-the-expense innovation is just not there. The inventors themselves gave the CD format 25 years life, before it was even released and said all music would end up delivered from solid state with no moving parts. This wasn't science fiction- they knew in advance. What has come since? Exactly what they planned.

I just find the endless tinny little, low powered headphone boxes, terrible ergonomics, cheap-ass construction, little flexibility and features stripped off gear quite nauseating. Fly-by-night companies, soliciting for startup money by promising something magical and all the while, merely implementing application-note designs using the latest flavor-of-the-month D/A converter stuck on a single board with PCB mount terminals hanging off each side, jammed into the smallest box they can find.

I commented in another thread that I can use a box the size and weight of a couple of paperback books to replace (and VASTLY outperform) my old classic Ampex reel-to-reel.

Apples and oranges comparison. My 25+ year old portable DAT will outperform an RTR too- what does that prove?

 

[Wombat]

The innovation is mostly due to Moores Law, circuit-board population, Class D amps, switching PSs and replacement of mechanical components with more modern control methods. Arguable improvements other than in size and/or cost.

The audible side of things is little changed.

 

[SIY]

My 25+ year old portable DAT will outperform an RTR too- what does that prove?

Incredible technical progress. These days, the stuff is lighter, higher performance, more versatile- and doesn't need the tape.

 

[restorer-john]

Incredible technical progress.

Absolutely. Foundations laid by Nakajima again.

 

[SIY]

The other thing I note is the advent of speakers truly designed as a system- customized drivers and waveguides using multiphysics and FEA, built-in amplification and DSP. Stuff like the classic Rogers LS3/5A and Audio Research are left far in the dust, and outperformed at a way lower cost.

This is the golden age. We're pretty much at the limits of what we can do with stereo. The limitation is formats, and that's not a technological limitation.

 

[watchnerd]

My impression is that Arcam makes great performing gear at a reasonable price. That brand probably deserves an honourable mention.

Maybe in the UK.

In the USA, the price markup makes it not so reasonable.

$5500 for a AV860 preamp/pro is not a very good deal compared to other options: https://www.musicdirect.com/preamp/Arcam-AVR860-714-Channel-AV-Receiver

 

[watchnerd]

This is the golden age. We're pretty much at the limits of what we can do with stereo. The limitation is formats, and that's not a technological limitation.

I can stream high resolution digital audio from my office Roon server to my Devialet over wireless and apply all sorts of DSP along the way. It sounds great, is easy to use, and has more genres and albums available that I can listen to in my entire life, let alone the 2-3 hours a week I can spare to dedicated serious listening.

Or I can listen to my LPs or my reel-to-reel tapes.

The later are more fun, and get more air time as my free time shrinks.

 

[JJB70]

I think audio gear is like most other stuff these days, top performance is far more accessible and what was once the preserve of the wealthy is now available to all. That is undeniably good. You can use any computer or tablet as a hi-fi source and there are some excellent system speakers if you'd rather avoid the hassle of DACs, amplifiers and even cables. I have a pair of KEF X300A active speakers with USB input in my home office and their performance is excellent, I paid £250 for them. So for £250 I can hook up my lap top or phone and have genuinely hi-fi sound. I really can't see how that can be bad. Hi-fi has been commoditised, in the same way as cameras, computers and lots of other stuff. The flip side of this is that I also think audio gear has lost the build quality and craftsmanship, and it no longer has that wow factor it once had as we just take it for granted. These changes are largely the result of positive changes but I do miss the sort of rock solid quality and attention to detail of older products as there is a pleasure in that sort of quality. And in terms of the analogue side of the audio chain, although prices are much lower (in many cases in straight $ terms, never mind inflation adjusted) I'm not so sure performance is that much better. Amplifiers reached a point of being audibly transparent decades ago, my amp goes back to the 1990's, if I replace it now I'd clearly get much better digital functionality, I might get XLR connections but I doubt whether I'd notice a sound improvement and I seriously doubt I'd get anything like the build quality without spending serious $$$$$$s. Even when I bought the thing it wasn't so much for the sound quality as for the build quality and just because of the pleasure of ownership.
And of course the elephant in the room is that good audio equipment is now very much a niche, the main market has already made its choice for stuff like Bose and JBL BT speakers. You might say it was ever thus, but I remember when the electrical areas of department stores did sell pretty good hi-fi gear and offered the lower-mid tier separates from companies like Marantz, Kenwood, Sony, Pioneer and with perhaps a couple of the high end statement pieces. Similarly the major electrical chains did sell good hi-fi gear. Now those shops are pretty much limited to BT speakers (and not the sort of system speakers that are starting to change hi-fi. How many people other than audio enthusiasts have a hi-fi system nowadays?

 

[JJB70]

Maybe in the UK.

In the USA, the price markup makes it not so reasonable.

$5500 for a AV860 preamp/pro is not a very good deal compared to other options: https://www.musicdirect.com/preamp/Arcam-AVR860-714-Channel-AV-Receiver

That's a perennial problem for imported gear everywhere, some local importers/distributors have silly pricing policies.

 

[JJB70]

The other thing I note is the advent of speakers truly designed as a system- customized drivers and waveguides using multiphysics and FEA, built-in amplification and DSP. Stuff like the classic Rogers LS3/5A and Audio Research are left far in the dust, and outperformed at a way lower cost.

This is the golden age. We're pretty much at the limits of what we can do with stereo. The limitation is formats, and that's not a technological limitation.

I see the future of audio gear as being system speakers.

 

[Sal1950]

The other thing I note is the advent of speakers truly designed as a system- customized drivers and waveguides using multiphysics and FEA, built-in amplification and DSP. Stuff like the classic Rogers LS3/5A and Audio Research are left far in the dust, and outperformed at a way lower cost.

This is the golden age. We're pretty much at the limits of what we can do with stereo. The limitation is formats, and that's not a technological limitation.

Your first paragraph may be technically correct but I'm not so sure I would call this "the golden age".
Speakers that will do everything but supply a Qobuz high rez feed (that's probably coming) may be technically excellent but where's the fun of it? The "golden age" of high fidelity as a hobby it could be argued was back in the mid 60s when high end stuff like HH Scott or Harman could be purchased either assembled or in kit form. My 1963 Allied catalog probably features kits for electronics and speakers near equally in kit and factory built forms.

Is todays world of 700+ HP supercharged musclecars the golden age of autos? The ones you might be worried that even changing your own oil might upset it's damnable computer?
Or was it the 1960s big block that we sweated over in the garage all week to make the weekend drag races?

I'll probably finish out my days in audio a more hands on type of guy.