Into the Future

[The Computer Audiophile]

On 6/4/2020 at 7:32 PM, SJK said:

Time keeps on ticking – into the future.

 

I find it interesting how nostalgia plays such a part with the audiophile experience.  We don’t need to get into specifics, but we all remember musical experiences in a kindly light.

 

That amp, that turntable, those wonderful speakers.  But it was the moment – a dark basement with black light posters, a little herb and Band on the Run looping on an 8 track player.

 

Point being, with someone the other day mentioning that Singer Sound and Snell speakers were the best thing ever and that started another thread on how that was true.

 

And it could be….but likely isn’t. 

 

The world of technology and materials evolves, changes and improves in so many ways.  With the reproduction of sound we would have to assume that would also be true.

 

But people still pay a premium for a Thorens TD124 rumble table – because “it has a great sound” from the 50’s. 

 

I’m a firm believer in how technology and continual advances have made everything better – stereo systems included. 

 

When people start to wax rhapsodically about how magical their reel to reel sounded, I comment on how many times I had to use an editing block and splices to cut out the mangled bits and did a high speed rewind to find 3,600 feet of tape coiled up on the floor.

 

I don’t really have a point with this other than to prompt a discussion on how, just maybe, at least with stereo gear – this is the best of times. 

 

With the updated system we have now, my wife and two Maine Coon cats hear things on recordings we’ve had for years that we’ve never heard before. 

 

I’m not going to bore you with a list of all the gear I’ve had over the years because none of that matters.

 

What I will say is that if you want modern sound, you need modern gear.   

Hi @SJK, first I must say I love the Maine Coons :~)

 

I also like that you don’t have a point but would rather prompt discussion. Makes me feel like you don’t take this as serious as a heart attack, but it’s still important. I’m with you 100%. 
 

I think we all have feelings for older stuff we once used. We are human. This is a good thing. If we all forgot the good times, where would we be in the bad times?

 

I think people suggesting that audio has moved backward, the logical conclusion of the past equipment being better belief, is illogical. Recording quality may have changed, but that’s a different story.
 

Equipment designers have all learned from past generations. Materials science has improved. Measurement techniques have improved. Global access to the best internal components in the world is a click away. 
 

The Snell speakers may have been good but are we foolish enough to believe that all speaker designers today still can figure out what made them good and can’t copy that design? There are many companies that just copy other designs. If the stuff from back in the day was the best, we’d have plenty of copies on the market. 
 

I’m cool with people getting nostalgic. It’s fun. I think it’s misguided to fall into the older was better trap. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Digi&Analog Fan said:

Music was certainly better in the 1960s and 1970s. It's probably gotten worse with each succeeding decade. TV shows were certainly more creative and clever with better plots, and actors with much more characater. I think things overall were more intelligent and creative and better done with much better standards and taste. At least some audio equipment from that era exemplifies this. They might not have had some of the sophisticated computer analysis or materials, but they had "ears" and pride in what they put out.  

Hey sonny boy, get off my lawn!

 

I disagree about music getting worse. 
 

I’ve toured many manufacturers’ and talked to many designers over the years. Almost every one of them has incredible pride in what they create. 
 

It may be helpful, or maybe I missed this part, for you to tell us about a single product that has no equal today. Limiting this to specifics could help the conversation. 
 

For example, Joe Sixpack from XYZ company has the best ears and more pride than anyone today. This is evidenced by his ABC amp that has no equal today. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, Digi&Analog Fan said:

You can sometimes see the IRS in the background if you watch P.S. Audios Paul McGowans daily videos.

If you believe everything you see there, we probably won’t find common ground to discuss much of anything further. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, Digi&Analog Fan said:

Re: SJK. I guess according to your thoughts no one on here has CD sound as good as your sound. Lets bow to the king. You have proven many times foolishly that you are not the logic king.

Personal attacks aren’t allowed here. This is your warning. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

38 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

Depends on who is doing the attacking...I have seen a lot go on here by regular users.

You have a great site, but I see bias regularly.

I only wish you would be more unbiased in personal attacks you allow...but i must admit, it's been a couple years since i have been on, and it does seem much more quiet now than i remember...so maybe you have cleaned up the act a little...I certainly hope you don't allow personal attacks anymore...i certainly remember seeing many a day against many different people regularly in the past.

No attacks are allowed. Please use the report post function if you see one. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

23 minutes ago, Digi&Analog Fan said:

That could be useful info if I ever try that route in the future. I am always modding my CD players, including the analog stage. When I take a CD player to a high end shop and have them hook it up to hear an amp or speakers, they always want to look inside my player after. My ideas are in there though. I once told a dealer if you let me take out the midrange driver of that over $100,000 speaker (very well known high end brand) and let me see the driver make and model on back of the magnet, I'll let you look inside my CD player. The midrange was a $260 driver, from a European driver manufacturer which also makes a $400, $600, $800, $1,000, $1,200  driver and those even higher up. If this company is the rule rather than the exception, then what's inside is a shortchange too, for the fortune that someone foolish enough gives them.

We get it, you believe you're smarter and more competent than the people who build this stuff for a living. You've also determined how much they pay in employee healthy care, retirement, facility rent, cabinet costs etc, to determine the products are way over priced. 

 

Perhaps you should start a Digi&Analog Audio Company and sell the stuff at a fraction of the price and be the savior of all high end audio. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, beerandmusic said:

 

That sounds almost border-line like personal attack?

 

What about it is a personal attack. The guy/gal always says he can do things much better than the manufacturers and his comments about the costs of materials are also along the same lines. I can only go by what s/he says. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

 

I think you could express your point without using "attack" words...take a moment and see if you could word it differently?  Sounded "off the cuff"

Please let me know what the personal attack words are.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, beerandmusic said:

"you believe you are smarter and more competent"

"you have determined"

"be our savior"

"start your own company"

 

could be:::

 

Is it possible that there are more costs involved in running a business and that the BOM is the least of the expenses?

Have you ever owned your own business and know the costs that are involved?

 

My mom used to always say to try and phrase your remarks as questions as to be less confrontational....not that i ever listened to my mom (smile).

 

 

No comment.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Digi&Analog Fan said:

Its extremely "bizzare" to be attacked by the owner of a forum for simply stating my personal experience. I never said I was smarter than all or any manufacturers. There are certain things that manufacturers do not bother to do inside their products that would be too labor intensive that I know how to do, and can implement and improve upon. And yes, in my decades of experiments I'm sure I have learned some things that very few if any have also discovered. When a worthwhile, creative, funny, knowledgeable interesting person joins your mostly rather boring forum, do you harass them instead of being ggrateful? Do you think it would be a traumatic experience or just awful to be removed from a forum like this? What is your IQ? By the way the ultra expensive speaker brand I was talking about is one that I am sure you personally and intimately know.

I'll let you words speak for themselves. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, beerandmusic said:

You asked, i just gave you my opinion...i am not stating I am any more perfect...i just found it funny that you just said "no personal attacks". 

 

I guess it is just "relative".

 

 

I didn't attack anyone. When someone says they know more than others etc... It isn't an attack to say it back to them. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

Chris, I haven't followed this guys posts but based on his last post questioning your IQ, i would give him the boot...clearly he is a trouble maker...

To be honest, I couldn't even finish reading the entire thing until you said that. I went back to look. It's par for the course these days. Many people believe they are much more important than they are and feel like everyone owes them something. As an example, here is a PM I received not too long ago. I hope you can see how this gets really old. 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, NOMBEDES said:

Silly rabbit. It is not the equipment you remember it is the time, the place, it is what you were when you were there.

 

When I listen to an early Beatles song, I can still remember her perfume, her touch, the pure joy of a powerful 390 ford V8 on a back road in the Santa Maria Valley.   The excitement of getting someone to buy us a case of Coors beer.  The music came out of a car radio from a station in LA which we could only hear on a good night.  No one cared about the speakers, no one knew what Hi Fi was.  We only waited for the DJ to play the "full length" version of the song.

 

Just like my parents would listen to big band (WW2) music until their death, we will listen and remember the songs of our youth filtered through the memory of that perfume, that kiss.

I love it!