The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

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savvypaul
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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by savvypaul »

The masses have always been willing to put convenience before quality, in all areas of life, and even when it risks shortening their own life!

Quality and convenience can collide to some extent (hi res digital downloads are easy to access) and sometimes it's possible to sell quality on top of convenience (portable dac / headphone amplifiers to improve sound from smartphones).

Then there's the luxury lifestyle market. Started, I guess, by brands like B&O and now pursued by the likes of Linn & Cyrus. Even Rega seem to be 'pimping their ride' nowadays.

More intelligent music lovers, capable of thinking for themselves and willing to put in the effort, will pursue equipment from more knowledgeable and 'free thinking' manufacturers who do not rely on chrome trims and BS marketing. They will benefit from best sound quality and the best value. They will happily share experience and learning based on fact but will likely remain a relatively small market.

The last group that springs to mind is that of less intelligent music lovers but who consider themselves to be the most intelligent. They are doomed to regular box-swapping and funding of excessive dealer and manufacturer margins. The more extreme members of this group often go on to become moderators of sub-standard hi-fi forums...
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Records coming back is the first stage, real hi-fi will come back as well - what goes around comes around.

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by CN211276 »

I don’t think real hi-fi will ever disappear but it will always be for a minority as it always has been, the question is how small a minority. A decent digitally fronted system could be put together for less than the price of the Naim thingy. This is something Richer Sounds and dealers should be stressing. The budget DAC, amplifier and two speaker system would blow the Muso away in a demonstration, aesthetics being the only plus for the latter. ‎

I don’t think aesthetics and convenience are the only factors at play. From experience I believe many people prefer listening to what they consider to be a “pleasant” sound than hi-fi and a high level of detail, and especially dynamics range, can be a negative. To these people a wide dynamic range results in a lower volume setting and missing out on the nuances. I think this is part of the reason for the loudness wars of the 90s and induced restricted dynamic range on many CDs.
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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by TheMadMick »

CN211276 wrote: SNIP I don’t think aesthetics and convenience are the only factors at play. From experience I believe many people prefer listening to what they consider to be a “pleasant” sound than hi-fi and a high level of detail, and especially dynamics range, can be a negative. To these people a wide dynamic range results in a lower volume setting and missing out on the nuances. I think this is part of the reason for the loudness wars of the 90s and induced restricted dynamic range on many CDs.
If I pay for something and it satisfies me - what's wrong with that? The hobby is about enjoyment and if that is what gives me pleasure then I think that's just fine and dandy. Each to their own.
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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by Daniel Quinn »

I agree , with one caveat . Decisions should be made with full knowledge , many decisions in life are made with partial knowledge and that is a shame.

What strikes me is how many people you see on forums had Fathers with decent hifi's and thus they learnt. Growing up I never had a father and was poor {boo hoo} it was only my search for best possible sound for my love of genesis that led me to hifi magazines . Had I been 14 today , I would not go on to become an audiophile .

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

The difference now is that you finding magazines will be finding information on the net, which is why we must try to give correct and accurate information to counter the prevalent bullshit and :Bllocks:

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by Frasernash »

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote:Records coming back is the first stage, real hi-fi will come back as well - what goes around comes around.
Records coming back is hopefully not a sign as Vinyl was all about a cheap medium even in the 60s and there is a huge specialised market that will develop in China and India so maybe the future will be good.

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by CN211276 »

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote:The difference now is that you finding magazines will be finding information on the net, which is why we must try to give correct and accurate information to counter the prevalent bullshit and :Bllocks:
HFS is not the easiest to find on the net. AOS and WamSpam are a lot more visible. Anyone who has been able to look at WamSpam and HFS today will be aware that I, because of a post on this forum, to all intents and purposes wrote the meaningful part of a paid for review which appeared yesterday! :naughty:
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DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Farnells cat 8 ethernet cable

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NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ

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Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Colbat

RIP Doc

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

They (the other forums) will always try to isolate us, why! because we laugh at them and insult some of the members and especially the owners - partly. Because they are embarrassed by the quality of *correct* information we give compared with their forum folklaw, shilling and spamming by vested interests, cut and paste, and just plain :Bllocks: from eeeediots like Marco - partly. BUT mostly because if more people found us they would be redundant, especially the slurp fest that is now Wigwam.

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Re: The Hi-Fi Industry and Hobby

Unread post by TheMadMick »

Daniel Quinn wrote:I agree , with one caveat . Decisions should be made with full knowledge , many decisions in life are made with partial knowledge and that is a shame. SNIP
Agreed. The problem in life is that you very rarely have full knowledge. It was a cardinal someone who said that "if man waited until everything could be done perfectly then nothing would get done". Much of life is a bundle of compromises. It's the ones that affect you least you find easiest to live with and even that changes with time - life's a bitch, then you die!!!
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