Musings from old school on High Fidelity


Old interview in Stereophile of JA interviewing G Holt.

Do you see any signs of future vitality in high-end audio?

Vitality? Don't make me laugh. Audio as a hobby is dying, largely by its own hand. As far as the real world is concerned, high-end audio lost its credibility during the 1980s, when it flatly refused to submit to the kind of basic honesty controls (double-blind testing, for example) that had legitimized every other serious scientific endeavor since Pascal. [This refusal] is a source of endless derisive amusement among rational people and of perpetual embarrassment for me, because I am associated by so many people with the mess my disciples made of spreading my gospel. For the record: I never, ever claimed that measurements don't matter. What I said (and very often, at that) was, they don't always tell the whole story. Not quite the same thing.

Remember those loudspeaker shoot-outs we used to have during our annual writer gatherings in Santa Fe? The frequent occasions when various reviewers would repeatedly choose the same loudspeaker as their favorite (or least-favorite) model? That was all the proof needed that [blind] testing does work, aside from the fact that it's (still) the only honest kind. It also suggested that simple ear training, with DBT confirmation, could have built the kind of listening confidence among talented reviewers that might have made a world of difference in the outcome of high-end audio.

Yet you achieved so much, Gordon.

I know I did, and my whole excuse for it—a love for the sound of live classical music—lost its relevance in the US within 10 years. I was done in by time, history, and the most spoiled, destructive generation of irresponsible brats the world has ever seen. (I refer, of course, to the Boomers.)

High Fidelity means REPRODUCTION with as little distorion and color as possible and a flat neutral FR within the range of human hearing that retains as much of the original source as possible. This day and age we have the ability to come close but we have chosen the path where High Fidelity means whatever subjective opinion I choose. It might be what one prefers but it isn't HiFi.
djones51
" Then,,,I guess you take issues with most of my post above
I think this hooby is not all biased opinions,,,forensics is involved, a good hunch,,a fair listening, ,,where luck has no place.
research research research
High fidelity ain;’t gonna drop out the sky in ones setup. "

LOL....I’m not sure I'm getting the same Rocky Mountain high, but I certainly don’t take issue with your post.
I'm thinking that our current "big iron" approach to hi-fi, matching this component with that, using a such and such interconnect, will become mostly a "thing of the past".  The younger generations don't seem interested in this approach.

I recently purchased a pair of KEF LS50 Wireless speakers for a new home we are having built, for the living room (my wife uses for her Spotify listening), ditching the former receiver, CD player and cabinet.  I suspect that this sort of powered, wifi connected speaker will be the norm, for the up and coming generations.
The hobby is as much faith-based as evidence based.  And wherever faith is strong there will be those who exploit it and those who refuse to delineate between faith and science.  In Hi Fi, they are two different ways of achieving "the best".  The tacit acknowledgment of that fact is the unwillingness by so many to accept that measurements cannot explain an emotional reaction to a piece of gear and the dismissing of double-blind test results.  Few will admit that.  Instead they invent more variables in order to make it even more difficult to distinguish differences, thereby making faith even more important.  The importance placed on visual design and retail price suggest there are other factors at work as well.  
I find that with better playback equip. I enjoy my favorite music more. If it was recorded well it is a bonus. I'm not very interested in "great' recordings of boring music. Nor the "best" gear. It WILL be better tomorrow. That, in itself does not make my stuff worse.
...and, considering the 'better tomorrow'...
 which was yesterday...*smirk*...or the 'best gear' which we debate to distinction or deletion....

One of these speakers is now being offered @ Costco for 350$ sans a penny....under 'furniture'....

My heart is stilled....thankfully, I have defib on board. ;)

(No, it's Not the one you might accept on style.....)