High End Amp Price Collapse musings

The economics mentioned in the first post assumes a rational market where demand is created by first order information. Consumers would buy the best product and shift demand based on somewhat perfect information. Hifi is more akin to religion. The opinion makers, which are in the most part the magazines, drive the demand. Once something is a few years old and no longer on this or that list, the demand and prices drop.

The situation is akin to Keynesian beauty contest analogy.

"It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of one’s judgment, are really the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice the fourth, fifth and higher degrees." (Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936).

It’s immaterial whether Class D or Class A amps are better. By the way, I love my Pass Labs XA100.8. ;)

Class D vs Class A/AB is like ground beef vs prime rib!

Using class D for a subwoofer amp. Quite acceptable IMO. However, even an Audio Research 150.5 class D amp eventually grew unsatisfying with my Rennasaince 90's. Aragon 8008BB much better now.

Swiss Watches,  French Champagne, Cuban Cigars,  American/Canadian/British High End Audio.    None of these things will ever be well reproduced in China.   Audio Research, Krell, Pass Labs, Jadis,  etc.   show me class D coming out of China, because thats who makes it,  that is in any way close to our Class A products.   As far at CRT television,  well,  most of the professional TV studio mastering is still done on CRT.  Yes, they are $50K CRT tubes, but still they are old technology refined to the point that its far higher quality than any mass produced flat screen from China.   Take Jolida amps, I've owned 2,  great amps, but they are not worth the money new that is about the same as a good ARC tube amp used.   Why is McIntosh still making the same exact product 40+ years later?   Because its just better,  better made, better materials and better sounding.    You can keep Class D.  If i wanted class D I would have a home theater system and not a full tube 2 channel stereo system .  

I don't think Class D amps will replace Class A or AB amps anytime soon - they are simply not all the less expensive to build and have multiple problems, (sound just being one - they can play hell with tweeters life also).  

Now a turbo 4 IC engine vs. a inline-6 or an V-8 is another matter !  My son has a turbo 4 2.0L in his Audi A4, and I have a direct-injected turbo 4 2.0L in my Volvo V60 wagon, and they are both terrific engines.  Lots of torque down load and plenty of HP - the Volvo engine makes 240 HP in the V60 and can be "juiced" to make over 300 HP in their sport models with a sequential turbo / supercharger.  These engines are light and very fuel efficient as well.  Of, course, my C7 Corvette has a NA 6.2L V-8 and it is a beast, but these fours are the coming thing.  Even Mercedes has gone to a turbo 4 in its main sedan, the E300, for emissions and fuel economy.

WRT vinyl sales vs. CD's and downloads, for 2016, CD's out sold both vinyl and digital downloads.  In fact, CD's sold 10 times as many albums as vinyl in the best year vinyl has had in over 20 years !!  I think vinyl is a niche for people who love to futz around with turntables, but in the long run its a dead end.  Same for digital downloads which are big in the USA but nowhere else.  The big coming thing is digital streaming / subscription services, like the Berliner Philharmoniker and Tidal.  That is how you will get nearly all your tunes in 10 years.