High Performance Audio - The End?

@johnk ,

"I want my systems to sound as close to real music in real space as possible. This can be done fairly affordably if one DIY and knows what they are doing"

"This hobby is more about knowledge and less about spending. The more you know the better the end result."


Wise words. Care is needed in system building and price is very little guarantee of success as anyone who has attended a show will have discovered.

There's never been a better time to get into audio. Some much good gear at reasonable prices and so much real world information available. 

Hopefully with sites like this there will be no more need for anyone to blindly follow reviewers and throw their good money after bad.

I tried that and it didn't work. Not finding the sound I wanted led to far too many compromises which soon proved unsatisfactory.

As you say, knowledge is important. Perhaps knowledge of exactly what you're looking for and unwillingness to compromise on that is the most important.

Sometimes just learning about yourself can take years. 

Objectively, audio standards are declining as consumers continue to choose convenience over quality. Many people in this forum themselves care more about convenience. 


Subjectively, Imho there is no such thing as ultimate resolution because we all hear differently from each other, and we all hear differently depending on our mood, time of day, what we ate drank or smoked etc. ultimate resolution is what ultimately pleases us.


My system is a logical evolution/contInuum of a physiological and philosophical tendency or preference that I inclined towards when I was a teenager. Little has changed over 51 years of my high end audio experience. I established what I preferred early on, Ledy it alone, and since then I just sit back and enjoy the music. 

Very, very well put!

@unreceivedogma,

'Many people in this forum themselves care more about convenience.'


Good observation.

In my case I've gradually gone from a manual turntable to a CD player, then personally compiled CDs to avoid changing discs, then Minidisc for even greater editorial flexibility.

More recently, most of my listening is via streaming to my Bluetooth speaker in the garden or headphones whilst walking to and from work.

None of those steps particularly resulted in any improvement of sound quality, but they were all more convenient. I kind of gave in to them too, obstinately resisting CD to the mid 1990s and only recently giving in to buying a Bluetooth speaker, and shock horror - using playlists more frequently. 

This is all a far cry from my purist audiophile days of endlessly cleaning stuff and experimenting with cables, stands, and upgrades. I guess I must be getting slower and finding family life far more draining than I ever imagined it would be.

I don't think the restraint and the uncertainty of these last 6 months have helped much either, and now the current plague is at new levels here in the UK.

It's wise to be careful and have some contingency plan in place, but there's little point in letting yourself dwell too long on what might or might happen.

It might, it might not.

My main system is still easily the most enjoyable with simply a bigger and more effortless sound but I just don't buy new music the way I once used to since most of the artists I loved and followed are now dead.

Thank God for Dylan!  His last album has easily been the musical highlight of the year for me.

Just before the recent sudden hike in new cases we were discussing re-establishling our Thursday music nights (apparently there's a decent new albums out by The Flaming Lips and Bill Callaghan) but now things are uncertain again. 

My passion for music certainly hasn't dimmed but it's not new music, most of it was recorded before the year 2000.

Priorities changes with years and centuries....

Music does not change, and like the sky, revolve  around the earth....(And i know who Copernic was for those who had doubts).

:)