High End Amp Price Collapse musings

Swiss Watches,  French Champagne, Cuban Cigars,  American/Canadian/British High End Audio.    None of these things will ever be well reproduced in China.   Audio Research, Krell, Pass Labs, Jadis,  etc.   show me class D coming out of China, because thats who makes it,  that is in any way close to our Class A products.   As far at CRT television,  well,  most of the professional TV studio mastering is still done on CRT.  Yes, they are $50K CRT tubes, but still they are old technology refined to the point that its far higher quality than any mass produced flat screen from China.   Take Jolida amps, I've owned 2,  great amps, but they are not worth the money new that is about the same as a good ARC tube amp used.   Why is McIntosh still making the same exact product 40+ years later?   Because its just better,  better made, better materials and better sounding.    You can keep Class D.  If i wanted class D I would have a home theater system and not a full tube 2 channel stereo system .  

I don't think Class D amps will replace Class A or AB amps anytime soon - they are simply not all the less expensive to build and have multiple problems, (sound just being one - they can play hell with tweeters life also).  

Now a turbo 4 IC engine vs. a inline-6 or an V-8 is another matter !  My son has a turbo 4 2.0L in his Audi A4, and I have a direct-injected turbo 4 2.0L in my Volvo V60 wagon, and they are both terrific engines.  Lots of torque down load and plenty of HP - the Volvo engine makes 240 HP in the V60 and can be "juiced" to make over 300 HP in their sport models with a sequential turbo / supercharger.  These engines are light and very fuel efficient as well.  Of, course, my C7 Corvette has a NA 6.2L V-8 and it is a beast, but these fours are the coming thing.  Even Mercedes has gone to a turbo 4 in its main sedan, the E300, for emissions and fuel economy.

WRT vinyl sales vs. CD's and downloads, for 2016, CD's out sold both vinyl and digital downloads.  In fact, CD's sold 10 times as many albums as vinyl in the best year vinyl has had in over 20 years !!  I think vinyl is a niche for people who love to futz around with turntables, but in the long run its a dead end.  Same for digital downloads which are big in the USA but nowhere else.  The big coming thing is digital streaming / subscription services, like the Berliner Philharmoniker and Tidal.  That is how you will get nearly all your tunes in 10 years.

I do feel badly after reading this.  Just bought a pair of Clayton M 300's a few months ago.  Silly me.:)

Good luck with that!

Pitting Class-D against Class-A is not even a fair argument.  When 95% of all mid-high end amps out in the world are Class-AB.... isn't that where the comparison should be?  I have zero interest in owning a VERY inefficient and costly Class-A or Tube amp, and have owned many great class AB amps in my lifetime.  I've heard $2000 amps that sound amazing, and ones that sound lifeless and boring.  Switching amps are finally up to that level of quality.... matching amps in the $2-3k range, but maybe not beating out $8k amps.  It's an interesting time in Audio!!