Describe the "new HiFi sound"?

@decooney 

Whatever floats your boat, personally I couldn't git 'er done with just 50% of the SQ I get from an immersive setup but whatever.

@decooney

Whatever floats your boat, personally I couldn’t git ’er done with just 50% of the SQ I get from an immersive setup but whatever.

Yep. Was born mid-60s, still listen to old rock bands 60s, 70s, and some 80s stuff.

My former audiophile days of securing the perfect recordings and remastered tracks just to be able to sit and listen to how things sound - are over.

Back to listening to MUSIC again, most any type of average recording. Tube, old Class A solid state, whatever. It all works. Nice not to worry about that any more.

Learned all of this from my local audio shop, open 53 years. Been going there for 38 years, no joke. Has all tube, 2-channel systems, total bliss, pure music. 

There are a lot of topics in this thread! I don’t know what the "new hifi sound" is, but I think it’s worth including the art of recording in any discussion of new sound. Artists, engineers and producers have broadened the palette of sound being recorded. This isn’t as simple as an eq curve; it’s about adding octaves, pitching percussion, playing with phase to create soundstage effects and carving out eq segments to let instruments blend. I’m not judging old or new, but the sound of an old recording like Crosby Stills vs newer recording artists is dramatic and largely due to the recording artistry. We are all creatures of our time, and artists creating good or less good within the given limitations.

@decooney

I checked with the dealer re: Audio Note today. I own the Sony "Signature" preamp which I would be replacing as my two channel preamp. I asked about the Audio Note "Signature" preamp, the M10, it costs over $100K☹

Do you know why you need to spend $100K+ on a two channel system? That is what it costs to make it sound decent. For the same amount of money you could buy an entire SOA immersive audio system, a projector, a screen, and room treatments. Did you buy one?

Hey @kota1 I did not mean to confuse Was referring to the lower priced AN gear, and the idea of visiting a friendly dealer to just go for a fun demo listen. Did not mean to imply to go buy it. No, I don’t own any of the higher $ AN units. There are some lower priced units, some nice used stuff out there in the under $5-10k range used. Nope, I don’t own any of that higher priced AN gear. A friendly local dealer I’ve bought other gear from has listening sessions, and I sometimes look at and listen to some of the trade-up gear. If you get a chance, it’s fun to go listen to some of the low watt gear, efficient speakers, etc. I did drool over the Audio Note Meishu Tonmeister Phono integrated amplifier once, now discontinued. And the AN Ongaku amp is out of the stratosphere for me, but fun to listen to if you get a chance some day. Both a work of art on the inside. Yes, some of the upper line AN gear is ultra expensive, agree. Best of luck.