2. misc-audio
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Nothing new under the sun?

Reading all the material available on audio, there seems to be fairly widely divergent opinions about how much progress we're making, about whether anything truly new is coming about, or whether it's all just marketing.

On the one hand, you read constant reviews, both professional and personal, detailing how the new speaker takes the listener places they've never been before. "Performance like this cost 10X the price just a few years ago", or was unavailable, etc. Not just speakers, any component. The implication is that major strides are being made and the result is much lower prices for much higher performance.

An alternative view is that there is nothing new under the sun, just slick marketing. With this view, you can buy some excellent equipment from the last 20 years, get great sound, and never look back because nothing being put out today performs signicantly better.

Which is it? Should we all just admit that what we have today isn't going to be bettered any time soon and find another hobby?

kthomas

Showing 1 response by entilzah

entilzah
2 posts
 
Great question, you make a solid point and so too do some of those who disagree. I'm a little closer to your line of thought. But I must concede the argument that digital advances are making it look like a quantum leap may be ahead. Just not in time for this years Christmas shopping season.

Maybe I'm getting cynical in old age but it seems like our entire country and economy is based on the imperative that everybody should spend every penny they have immediately on something that will be obsolete next week. They should then dispose of what they have for the "new and improved" model just as soon as they get an increase in their credit line. (I'm ignoring all of the pure crap that also sings this siren song.)

All this said, I just bought some new cables, am I a hypocrite?

I just wish stuff was more modular (read plug ins) so we could buy equipment that has a life expectancy as long as ours. How much current equipment will last as long as some of the old vintage stuff still out there. I would love to have the confidence I could grow old with my current system. Sometimes I envy our grandparents. Then again maybe our grandparents were just better at saying "Enough."
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