All-in-One units for retiring audiophile & music lovers in 2025, say what?
A good audio buddy friend closing in on his later parts of the golden years contacted me over the holidays. He started talking rather excitedly about these new all-in-one units. [Please disregard if this is nothing new for you and/or not of any real interest]. This story and ask below might not resonate with some. Hopefully others who can relate might reply, understanding a lot of what this is really about. A winding down audiophile friend, looking for simplicity of listening to music is what I can share up front.
I found my audiophile friend's [all of the sudden] inquiry interesting, me asking what he's looking at buying - say what?, and starting to ask him "does it sound good, look good, is it light weight or heavy, could you see it replacing everything as your new center piece in your big room, and all the other stuff gone - really?", "Say more". He started to share more. Please read on if any of this is resonating, Thanks.
We start talking and reminiscing about our early Go-To receivers from the mid 1970s. The big all-in-one boxes. Wider cases, big transformers, powerful, weighty, great FM tuners, tone controls, Big Stereo Sound. How it was back then - simple to listen to FM, big roller dial, plug in your turntable, tape decks, and enjoy the music for days. No other worries, let it play. Remember doing that? I bet many members here on Audiogon lived all of that too, and none of us will ever forget it. I won't.
I also bring this up because It dawned on me, I started asking myself wow - is this really occurring all over again in some new and exciting way. Like a giddy kid I start researching with him seeing more - woah, what? I did realize some of this [sort of an era renewal] was already occurring past few years, still not quite aware myself of what's out there, or coming back, maybe puzzled a bit and curious.
Seeing more videos, familiar reviewers, all touching on this topic past 1-2 yrs. Then you see some of the same new units popping up with all of the reviewers, hmmm.
So my fairly extreme multi [tube/amp/component] audio buddy [past 60 years] starts showing me these new generation [mostly] solid state units he's been looking at, seemingly ready to hang up ALL of the separate components. Says he simply wants "one box" now to "do it all", "getting rid of all this other stuff", to just "play music" and "be done". These were his exact words recently. Some may relate here. It kinda hit me. Something to be said for simplicity and just listening to music. Yes.
Next Generation -
Looking closely at these new units with my friend - seeing somewhat old-familiar design approaches, renewed, by real engineers. Ahhh, hey, there we see big transformers, a stout amplifier section, nice capacitors, thick copper wiring, big screws on power caps, robust binding posts, nice built in DAC, built-in streamer with tons of access, yep - tone controls, loudness control, low noise, meters, lighting - hmmm what's going on here. I soon realized I too need to pay attention and look around more closely - to see what he's really looking at and why. It starts to make a lot of sense, it's coming into a focus, just like the '70s era receivers were.
Fast forward a few weeks - Buddy just ordered his new all-in-one unit, maybe downsizing speakers. He's dropping back down to a new/familiar 70s style midsize speaker as well. He was initially anxious, a little nervous maybe, wondering - and decided to just go forward and "not look back" he says. Some of you may already be well down this path, or even doing this in 2nd, 3rd systems now. The whole thing is sort of a throwback [in some ways] to me, sort of what it use to be like 50yrs ago. Or feels that way to me. They say great ideas recycle back to themselves. Maybe so. Observing closer now.
Wow, wouldn't it be really cool if it could be all done really well, in one-box, once again? No more separates component listening - just hit the power button one time, turn up the volume, and let it play in the big room, listen, walk around, no worries - just let it play for days on end. I bet many here totally get why I posted this. It's for an audio friend.
ASK:
Please share your story. It would be so cool for him to read any of your stories. I know he would be interested and appreciate your wind-back consolidation journey too - if you have one like his to share in some way. Particularly those who've made great strides towards major consolidation and still enjoying the music. Dear buddy is starting the journey now to separate himself from his vast array of separates, lots of stuff, selling everything else soon, and going back to "one box" for simple music in the big room. I'm supporting him along the way on this particularly journey.
Thanks a million in advance for your replies - care to share your familiar story at all?
Not to wax philosophical, but Hegel has very nice integrated amps that include a streamer and DAC. Only missing are cables and speakers. But, McIntosh has what appears to be a genuine all-in-one: https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/music-streamers/RS250 that only requires one to connect a smartphone via Bluetooth. |
It sure what he wants. Good integrated amp can be over 100lbs, cheap units 10lbs. Does your buddy want to save money since he is retiring? Because there are ways to make things simple without sacrificing to less than optimal sound quality. Here are a couple ways to save money and really cut down on audio pieces. Go out and look at the Kef LS60 active speakers. This is the only piece of equipment you will need to stream music and they sound very good. You hook up an Ethernet cable and your done, no integrated amp, no external dac. Another option with more features, better sound quality, and Roon ready, would be a Auralic Polaris integrated. If you want a great sounding integrated, there are a few up to a $25,000 price tag. |
Not exactly. Without sharing too much - it’s more like he’s retiring from audio equipment altogether, readying to check out intentionally in a planned way. He can’t lift big components any more and not wanting to leave piles of rare or high $ exotic amps, preamps, tubes, cables, equipment for his spouse to have to deal with later on should something unplanned happen to him. I see it as him being mindful and tidy not leaving a mess for others to deal with, proactively moving his nice gear to others now while he still can - and still having a say about who it goes to. A key part of this I’d say. And, he wants to enjoy this last all-in-one equipment with his spouse where she can operate it together with him or operate and enjoy herself without his help. i.e respectfully, think later golden years of life as per the original post - if that was not clear before ;)
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