I am 74 years old and have been involved with audio since the early 1970's. Actually it was some Marantz products, such as the Marantz 20b FM tuner, for instance. Well since that time, using some old audio products such as the McIntosh MR74 tuner, 30+ year old Stax headphone systems-well put them into a modern, top quality audio products plus the latest in Power cords, power conditioners as well as the latest top end interconects and speaker wires---well the results can be truly amazing. That is for sure. For instance, presently I play a Oppo 205 player thru an Rega Orisis integrated amplifier, into at least 30 year old Stax SRD7/SB, Lambda headphone system---incredibly quality of audio reproduction. Plus remarkable base performance considering I am driving them with 160 watts per channel. Oh, if I play my McIntosh MR74 tuner thru this headphone system---well just say I currently read all about the latest headphones and headphone system being offered today and laugh. Anyway there is still a lot of truly great audio products from the past out there still today, and much of it is still in perfect condition. Plus us oldtimers are passing on every day presently, thus much of there gear is being sold off all the time.
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
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
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- 52 posts total
- 52 posts total