It is interesting to see all these kinds of more recent developments (or most of them) coming not from the top down, as we've long been accustomed to, but essentially from 'the bottom up'...simple battery experiments, new inexpensive streamers (ala Allo Digione Signature), chip amps and the rest of it, much of it having been around for a while, now bearing fruit in the form of new product releases that, for the first time for their price category, are beginning to show signs of upending established traditionally made products that cost one or two thousand bucks, or even more...and at a fraction of the cost. I do imagine more such price/performance barriers might be broken relatively soon...and by Class D, as well. Low mass TT's just might add to the party.
We're also seeing continual advancements in things like noise-floor reduction and power-factor correction, the recent rise in low-cost NOS DAC's and now finally a much wider availability of 24/96k, or higher, technology in ever lower priced ancillary digital gear. And we are beginning to see all that across a number of companies that are competing for those same emerging market arenas. That is the thing that gives me the best hope for the moment for the future of the hobby. That, and, as I say, that most of these products now seem to be 'climbing up' to possibly challenge and overtake traditional, lower-end hifi, I'd say. This area of the market does seem to me for the moment to be a legit "cutting edge" in its own right. I agree it's sorta hard to ignore what might be going on here.
I say bring it on, too.
We're also seeing continual advancements in things like noise-floor reduction and power-factor correction, the recent rise in low-cost NOS DAC's and now finally a much wider availability of 24/96k, or higher, technology in ever lower priced ancillary digital gear. And we are beginning to see all that across a number of companies that are competing for those same emerging market arenas. That is the thing that gives me the best hope for the moment for the future of the hobby. That, and, as I say, that most of these products now seem to be 'climbing up' to possibly challenge and overtake traditional, lower-end hifi, I'd say. This area of the market does seem to me for the moment to be a legit "cutting edge" in its own right. I agree it's sorta hard to ignore what might be going on here.
I say bring it on, too.