asvjerry,
"Are things getting better? Or are things getting worse?"
I suspect the advance of audio is much like the advance of civilization, forever moving forwards, and then backwards, and forwards again. Enlightenment followed by the dark ages followed by enlightenment and then so on.
How long has it been since Democritus, Socrates, Euclid, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc? How long since the construction of the Antithykera mechanism? How much progress since have we really made?
When was the real golden age of audio?
Was the highest point the 1950s where many people took an active part in building hi-fi equipment and actually demanded and sought out higher quality recordings? Or is it now?
Did we really need 4 track and beyond?
There’s plenty of recordings out there doing fine in plain mono, aren’t there?
If the wheels of history are driven by what the people want, then is it not also fair to say that the audio consuming public seem content with compressed garbage, err I mean music?
So did the CD/loudness wars era usher in a new dark age for audio? Were many of the advantages of digital recording and playback simply casually discarded in an attempt to stand out even further on AM/FM radio?
So are we audiophiles hopelessly fighting against the majority and merely pissing against the prevailing audio wind?
Or could we be on the cusp of a new audio awakening where we will witness the digital era coming to fruition, finally relegating analogue to history once and for all?
Either way, the audiophile life has never been easy. Even the well-heeled rarely seem to get what they really want, whilst the rest of us may merely be chasing a most enticing mirage, but mirage nonetheless...
"Are things getting better? Or are things getting worse?"
I suspect the advance of audio is much like the advance of civilization, forever moving forwards, and then backwards, and forwards again. Enlightenment followed by the dark ages followed by enlightenment and then so on.
How long has it been since Democritus, Socrates, Euclid, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc? How long since the construction of the Antithykera mechanism? How much progress since have we really made?
When was the real golden age of audio?
Was the highest point the 1950s where many people took an active part in building hi-fi equipment and actually demanded and sought out higher quality recordings? Or is it now?
Did we really need 4 track and beyond?
There’s plenty of recordings out there doing fine in plain mono, aren’t there?
If the wheels of history are driven by what the people want, then is it not also fair to say that the audio consuming public seem content with compressed garbage, err I mean music?
So did the CD/loudness wars era usher in a new dark age for audio? Were many of the advantages of digital recording and playback simply casually discarded in an attempt to stand out even further on AM/FM radio?
So are we audiophiles hopelessly fighting against the majority and merely pissing against the prevailing audio wind?
Or could we be on the cusp of a new audio awakening where we will witness the digital era coming to fruition, finally relegating analogue to history once and for all?
Either way, the audiophile life has never been easy. Even the well-heeled rarely seem to get what they really want, whilst the rest of us may merely be chasing a most enticing mirage, but mirage nonetheless...