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2017 vs. 1990s - How far we have come

Hi Everyone,

I'm just taking a moment to think about how far we have come in the quality and enjoyment of music over the last 3 decades or so. I'm listening to Jazz.fm at 96kHz/16 via a Squeezebox Touch an NAD D 3020, and custom speakers (free design is available here ) on my desk as I work.

I have to say, the sound is pretty fantastic. We do a lot of comparisons to evaluate the relative merits of any given system, but we choose what we compare to. If we compare what we can get now vs. in the late 1980's/1990's I have to say things are really really good, and we should all take time to think about that now and then.

My total outlay is around $800 in electronics + the speakers.

First, I can pick among almost any radio station in the world. When guests from China show up, I have a station from Beijing playing when they arrive. I have 3 or 4 really good jazz stations on tap. There's Spotify and Tidal (great old school catalog) in addition to my 800 albums or so, some hi rez, mostly Redbook.

Digital amplifiers and DAC's are sooooooo much better than they used to be. Some of the DAC improvements in the low/mid market is outstanding. Especially Redbook. Digital amps, even cheap one's, sound so much better than the initial trials around the 1980s I heard. I mean sooooooo much better.

Don't get me wrong, there's a warm spot in my heart for vinyl and tube amps. But let's not pooh pooh an all digital/Class D solution either. The convenience, price and features are really outstanding now.

There will always be room for a discerning ear however. I don't mean to say all DAC's and all Class D amps and all speakers are now great. They are not. I am saying that for the music lover and audiophile your entry level to really good sound is a lot less expensive than before. Let's celebrate this, and also celebrate that this allows us to share not just shopping experiences but culture as well. The better music transmission is, the easier it is to enjoy and share all sorts of music, and culture. We should delight in that.

Best,

E
erik_squires
mitch2
3,716 posts
 
Sorry Eric, I didn’t type my question correctly, I meant to ask what you considered "the best Class D" that sounds as good as "the most accurate Class A"? Is it something different from, or better than, the NC1200 amps that I compared to?
erik_squires OP
15,876 posts
 
Sorry Mitch, I think the Hypex, and ICEPower are very very good, but there are also some hybrids I hear good things about like NuForce, NAD (not sure how broad) and Pascal.

Brlindfolded, I cannot hear a difference between ICEPower and Parasound Halo amps (A/AB). I just can't. I've also heard some very expensive pure A amps and also, just don't hear "better."

As yo usaid, there are differences, but if we keep our minds open about what "better" really is, I think the Class D's have arrived.

Best,

E
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
The ear by nature is a strong and manipulable filter. It can editorialize on the fly and learn long term methods/ways better than just about any form of hardware we can imagine or realize.

The same goes for learning the differences between one amp and another.

Most ears can hear better than their owners think they can. Like learning a new language it’s about exposure and will - tied to the right kind of effort.

The ear, like the brain, is plastic. They have to be. They have to be. And they are. Nothing in your more elevated aspects of neurology is set in stone. Human life requires things to be this way.

We have predilections, tendencies, ruts we fall into... but this is all malleable, 100% so.

We each have a combination of natural capacities and a given plasticity, each person’s package and keys to that package being slightly different.

I think that people who say they can’t hear some aspects of sonic qualities are really selling themselves short, in the majority of cases.

If the given mind acts like a blunt force injected trauma of a freight train -- toward others in the audio world (charlatans! Snake oil! etc!)... then their hearing plasticity will be similarly affected. They’ll never learn to hear anything new.

The two go hand in hand...the two (hearing and mental projections into the world) are intimately linked in as many real world ways as you can imagine. All part of the same given neurological/physiological expression package.

Ie, angry denier, automatically hears nothing. Decides all others are the same or charlatans. We all know the story. That person is literally blocking their own potential for learning and knowing. No joke.

The reasons behind it illustrated and brought into the conversation can show, for all... the problems inherent in such a position.

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,887 posts
 
Up several levels for me.
erik_squires OP
15,876 posts
 
I agree, teo. I also wonder how much of this causes us needless mental um... exercises.

I mean, let's say it is fully possible to hear the differences in wiring when they use copper mined in Chile vs. Indonesia. Perhaps this is some deep learning we can teach ourselves to do. What good is it?  This is why I'm always pushing for audiophiles to focus on the room, and design their own speakers. It would help balance their choices in values to discern in a different light.

I think we unconsciously train ourselves to listen to certain minutia while ignoring bigger issues. I see this all the time at shows. Some audiophiles can ignore the room acoustics, and get impressed by speaker X when I just can't. The room acoustics are the life or death of a demo for me.
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