True Game Changers

[Fitzcaraldo215]

We have another thread going about excesses of hyperbole in reviews:

http://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/most-hyperbolic-review-phrases.720/

The leading candidate phrase was "game changer", and that has certainly been overused to a fair-thee-well about individual components.

Nonetheless, there have been some genuinely huge audio game changers in my lifetime as an audiophile. To my way of thinking, it is never a component. It is a technology, a consumer market paradigm that at its best offers better sound and/or much greater convenience, flexibility, selection, etc. To be a legitimate game changer, it must last in the consumer market and not be a flash in the pan. It is also not just a particular media format. Those come and go. And, it is not necessarily just about music listening.

So, my list is below. Your thoughts?

1. Stereo vs. Mono recording and playback.
2. Digital Audio starting with the CD and into hi rez.
3. DSP as applied to Room EQ, Crossovers, DAC filters and beyond
4. Multichannel Audio recording and playback for music and video - 5.1 and 7.1 to 3D audio, now in its infancy.
5. Computer Audio playback plus the Internet and the convergence of audio/video with computer technology and related digital devices.

I cannot imagine what is next.

 

[Purité Audio]

The technology used in the Beolab 90's /Kii THREE, which I am sure will be adopted by other manufacturers ( if they have the skill set) in time.
Keith

 

[Speedskater]

I would add: AB/X testing.

But I would subtract: DSP as applied to Room EQ.

 

[Cosmik]

I think some people would include "Portability". It has no importance for me - I don't feel the desire to listen to music all the time, but I think many do. Presumably the Walkman was a huge development in the way many people 'consume' music.

 

[Thomas Savage]

I think some people would include "Portability". It has no importance for me - I don't feel the desire to listen to music all the time, but I think many do. Presumably the Walkman was a huge development in the way many people 'consume' music.

very true! The iPod too..

 

[Thomas Savage]

Microsoft media player....

They don't just hand them Emmy awards out for nothing u know...or..

 

[Cosmik]

I cannot imagine what is next.

Could it be ... nothing? I think we have finally 'got there'. Yes, we could introduce head tracking, sonic holography and so on, but it'll only ever be a curiosity for music. The only people who really want to go any further with audio are the game players who need to synthesise realistic sound as they move through landscapes shooting aliens or whatever.

 

[amirm]

Great thread. These would be my additions:

1. Understanding of psychoacoustics as it applies to speaker design and rooms.
2. Software replacing hardware Ability to instantly download music. Manage it in music libraries. Fantastic remote experiences in the form of tablets/touch devices. And even DSP are manifestation of software replacing old hardware schema.
3. Networking. Whether it is the ability to instantly download a track, share it around the home or playing from the cloud while driving in the middle of nowhere, these are transformative experiences.
4. Voice Recognition and Recommendation Engine. This is starting now with Amazon Echo (and to some extent Siri and Google). When taken to its extreme, and combined with recommendation engines, will take us to the next level in bringing efficiency to what we want to listen to, and discovering new content.

 

[Cosmik]

...the next level in bringing efficiency to what we want to listen to

I'm not sure I want efficiency in that regard. I would be only too happy to be inefficiently distracted with stuff I've never heard before, or to have the onerous task of seeking out new music that I might like (nor not). As I have mentioned before, I don't think that science has any meaning when it comes to art. If software can choose our music for us, why not cut out the middleman and simply get the software to compose it directly?

 

[RayDunzl]

The technology used in the Beolab 90's /Kii THREE, which I am sure will be adopted by other manufacturers ( if they have the skill set) in time.

Any patents on those devices that would inhibit such adoption?

 

[TBone]

1. Stereo vs. Mono recording and playback.
2. Digital Audio starting with the CD and into hi rez.
3. DSP as applied to Room EQ, Crossovers, DAC filters and beyond
4. Multichannel Audio recording and playback for music and video - 5.1 and 7.1 to 3D audio, now in its infancy.
5. Computer Audio playback plus the Internet and the convergence of audio/video with computer technology and related digital devices.

I cannot imagine what is next.

1. I started w/stereo, and really don't have much mono in my collection, for better or worse. Many prefer certain mono recordings based on mixing and a lack of stereo artifacts.
2. Digital audio has greatly improved this hobby beyond anything else I've personally witnessed.
3. Neither here nor there with me at this point, but I understand the requirement/concept.
4. MC has been around a while, not certain if it really represents the future tho, at least from an audio only standpoint. Certainly the advantage of more channels is welcome, but my software is mostly 2ch, and MC systems are not always feasibly adopted in all homes. Perhaps the future adoption of HT systems everywhere, will move MC music / technology forward (*).
5. I'm really looking forward to computer based replay, the convenience alone chirps my tweet.

(*) "I cannot imagine what is next"

If I may hazard a guess, I'm suggesting cleaner greener life-style products. Less equipment, less heat generating devices, less energy, and perhaps the most important factor of all, greater wife/home appeal. I especially think this is important with the future multi-channel systems.

 

[RayDunzl]

Past Game Changers (in generally chronological order):

---
History- http://www.classicalworks.com/his.pages/early.his.htm
---

Pipe organ

Piano Forte

Standardization of Orchestral Instruments

The Rite of Spring

Victrola

Radio

Talkies

Electric Guitar

Elvis

Stereo/LP

Solid State

British Invasion

FM

Trendy Chemical Amusement Aids

Jimi Hendrix

Stadium Rock

Massively Multitracked Recording

Cassette

Synthesizers

Disco

Walkman

Microprocessors

VCR

Digital

CD

RAP/HipHop

WWW

CDR

Subwoofers

DSP

DVD

Home Theater

DRC

File Sharing

Streaming


---
What did I forget?

 

[Thomas Savage]

Past Game Changers (in generally chronological order):

---
History- http://www.classicalworks.com/his.pages/early.his.htm
---

Pipe organ

Piano Forte

Standardization of Orchestral Instruments

The Rite of Spring

Victrola

Radio

Talkies

Electric Guitar

Elvis

Stereo/LP

Solid State

British Invasion

FM

Trendy Chemical Amusement Aids

Jimi Hendrix

Stadium Rock

Massively Multitracked Recording

Cassette

Synthesizers

Disco

Walkman

Microprocessors

VCR

Digital

CD

RAP/HipHop

WWW

CDR

Subwoofers

DSP

DVD

Home Theater

DRC

File Sharing

Streaming


---
What did I forget?

Backstreet boys...

 

[TBone]

What did I forget?

Sex Pistols, Grunge ... and more recently, sadly, Auto-Tune.

 

[TBone]

Backstreet boys...

before Boy bands, Big Hair bands ...

 

[FrantzM]

Game Changers IMO
Triode Amplifying Device
Loudspeaker
LP
2-Channel Stereo
Acoustic Suspension Speakers
SS amplification
MCH
PCM Digital/ CD
High End Audio (Yes! There was a time when they were striving to reproduce sounds better)
Subwoofers.
Importance of Room in Final Sound Quality
DSP/DRC
Multiple Subs
Downloads

 

[Blumlein 88]

Video games????

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Hard to argue with much of that. Very good choices. I'd put the subwoofer on the short list, as well as active speaker technology. And I'm not sure multi-channel has really had enough of an impact on music listening to change the game. I'm sure when it is recorded for space, instead of hat tricks, it can be fabulous, but there's so little of that out there, it just does't hold up. It's a little more successful than SACD, but not much. DSP isn't there i terms of impact...yet...but I expect that one day it will be built into nearly everything.

Tim

 

[RayDunzl]

DSP isn't there i terms of impact...yet...but I expect that one day it will be built into nearly everything.

You mean things like cell phones, and wifi devices, and AVReceivers, and radios and TV's and cameras, and cars, and airplanes, and factories, and GPS, and...

 

[NorthSky]

...Bathtubs?