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Hi end audio equip sounds better today than in decades past due to tech - T/F

I am in a hi-end audio store today, speaking with the owner, who has been in the audio business for almost 40 yrs. Super nice guy. Can talk up a storm - but as a good thing... where someone like me can learn a thing or two.

He said something that I found curious... audio equipment (pres, amps, rcvrs, speakers) sound better today than just 20 years ago, b/c ’they didn’t have the same technology back then we have today'. Why? Better materials, better components, better r/d... the stuff just sounds better in today’s world, he is telling me.

Coming from someone who doesn’t know any better.... is there any truth to this?
riffwraith
rajugsw
215 posts
 
YES ! Down with Vinyl...LOL ! Give me Digital DSD/PCM all day and you won't take it "from my cold dead hands". 

Seriously though who'd a thunk Apple and a white box the size of a pack of smokes would revolutionize/degrade/wake up how we listen to music today 20 years later ! mp3's/AAC's forever (ugh! - I have so many that are replaced now with AmazonHD streamed via Bluesound node 2i).

Cheers !
ghdprentice
6,969 posts
 
I have actively pursued high end audio for fifty years. Each decade has been market by a sizable improvement in sound. At first it was basic design using available components, then carefully chosen components, then advances in materials, then designers have components designed for high end audio. It is pealing the onion and closing on reality through different designs, tubes, semiconductor, etc. competition drives companies besting each other.

Every component I have replaced that was over ten years old greatly surprised me how much better it was. I am sure that will not end anytime soon.
petg60
1,486 posts
 
Generally yes. But i can think of many designs that stand the test of time. Technology has advanced considerably, parts are better, exotic materials are used more frequently but old and new ideas work equally the same.
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 
50 - 70 years ago we used tubes, turntables, high-efficiency speakers and vinyl recorded through tubes and discrete electronics - in other words complete analog systems. Today, we use digital through out our systems and media. In my opinion, digital is more convenient but very rarely sounds better than an all analog system from back then.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,781 posts
 
Speaker used to be the "weakest link" (talking about dynamic speakers). Today, companies like B&W and Magico are producing products that are really special. I just wish J. Gordon Holt and H.P., RIP, could have heard them.
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