Vote

iTunes!

The July, 2004 Stereophile is my pick for the most important audio issue because of Micky Fremer's review of the Wavac SH833 amplifier. As I am fortunate enough to own those magical amplifiers, I only wish that every music lover could audition them. Happy New Year.

From my my memory, there were no groundbreaking strides made in any format. Maybe 2005 will be the year of the unscratchable vinyl record!

The iPod and Mini iPod along with iTunes. Now, AOL has Musicnet—$8 a month for unlimited downloads. But downloads and their cool devices are not the only story. They were the lightning rods. The story is cheap software that may not be real audiophile quality, but is easy to manipulate, transfer, and carry. In almost every issue there is an article about encoding disc and security watermarking. The music industry still doesn't get it. Forget CDs, SACDs, or DVD-As. The real issues are Internet software and portability. Who cares which format wins? There won't be any formats folks. It will all be on your hard drives and IiPods or Dell Jukeboxes. It will be I-rock transmitted to your FM tuner in your car. It will be Wi-Fi around the house. It will be the 1000 songs on a 4GB portable 1/3 the size of a pack of cigarettes. (remember cigarettes?) Low-rez won because it was easy for the consumer to use and collect music on. The consumers want to control their own music. Do you understand that recording industry? Musicians will soon go directly online to offer their music to the buyer. Not as a novelty, but as the way music is distributed. The recording industry has controlled its way out of existence. Four labels control most of the recorded music that is released on CD. Who cares? I think your review of the iPod makes perfect sense. It is the mainstream form of music playback and had best not be ignored. Now, Adcom, Krell, Mark Levinson, Sony and anybody else who wants to make the transition had better figure out a way to turn this MP3 format into high-rez or be compatible with it or they will die off.

All In One Package Home Cinema systems are selling more and more companies are paying more attention on Home Cinema systems instead of dedicated Hi-Fi separates (some popular companies stopped manufacturing of separates or decreased the number of models in 2004).

The rushed (and botched) launch of the dual-disc format was the last, desperate act of an industry trying to save DVD-A. And you still have to plug your TV into the hi-fi. Oh dear.

iPod, iTunes

Rigor mortis beginning to take hold of SACD

Ipod being the No.1 item for Christmas. Tells where the future of music is going. Convenience and portability not sound quality.

The RIAA witch hunt - right or wrong, the actual issue at hand, and their very public display if idiotcy.

iPod or clones. The significance is that low-rez just gets more popular while it seems no one in the generation X'er's or younger do not know what hi-rez is or ever really heard of it. I realize that most high rez companies have limited budgets which precludes much marketing. But Mark Levinson and Bose are the only companies I've ever seen ads for in other than industry mags. No wonder nobody has heard of true hi fidelity.

The general public's desire for high rez video coupled with low to medium rez surround audio.

I sold all of my CDs and went iPod with Apple's lossless compression. Now I listen to LPs at home and my iPod everywhere else. Stick that in your 2004 and smoke it!

Hi-Md. At last a portable digital disk recorder which doesn't compress the Sound and has some of the best editing features available. Now lets see it in Audio Seperates, I can't wait!

Another year has passed and the average consumer still hasn't heard of SACD (or DVD-A). Meanwhile, even my wife wants an MP3 player...

My vote goes to Simaudio's introduction of the MOON Limited Edition (LE) Balanced Differential Music System in January, 2004. This system consists of the W-5 LE dual-mono amplifier, P-5 LE dual-mono preamplifier, and Eclipse LE CD player. Each of these components is exquisite in their own right, but when they are holistically combined they epitomize the concept of system synergy. These components are surely among the most stellar examples of what can be more affordably achieved in modern solid-state circuit designs, leaving little if anything to miss in comparison to vacuum tubes.

All the articles about DVD-Audio and SACD multichannel losing ground quickly show there is simply no interest in these formats. Two channel rules CD sales and that in inself is amazing today.

Well for me (on a personal level), the big audio event of 2004 was getting wireless broadband in my home. With my laptop (which has built-in wireless) tied into my my home entertainment system, I have access to quality internet audio music channels. Bluebeat.com is one example of the sites I visit. Their high-quality free audio streams (320Kbit!) and large selection of classical stations has revolutionized much of my listening this past year. Publicly speaking, I saw a lot of trends in 2004. More satellite radio, iPod mania, growth of surround sound programming, a return to increases in CD sales. But no single event stands out in my own mind.

Yawn.

I think the most significant audio issue, and one that wasn't properly addressed, was the stupidity of the high-rez format war in the face of the same companies actively continuing to dumb down the majority of consumers with bad sounding hardware and awful music. Giants like Sony need to start having their left and right hands working towards the same goal.

No.1: The iPod's adoption by the general public (and its effective acceleration of the move to a centralized PC base for all media storage). No.2: The continued war by the music industry on its customers, branding every downloader as no different that full-scale commercial pirates. No.3: The utter failure of high-rez formats in the marketplace. I don't do iPod or downloads, but these were the issues where audio went beyond a few hobbyists and affected the general public. I mostly listen to the real high-rez format: LPs. There is a No.4: the continued ostrich-like denial by the audio industry that quality home audio is no longer a mass market product.

It's really sad that the passing of the legendary BBC British DJ john Peel went unoticed in my favorite magazine. And I thought that your readers and staff were music lovers and enthusiasts. Cheers!

iTunes. Love it or hate it, it represents the future of music distribution.

Though it was technically out a few years ago, the vast increase in satellite radio, combined with FCC's despicable giving in to Clear Channel, was the story in 2004. Radio as we knew it is dead, except for NPR.

The ever increasing improvement in solid-state electronics matching or exceeding tube technology.

Monster Cable's insensitive attack on anyone using monster in their business/product utilization.

Bread makes me poop

MP3 players killed hi-fi as we knew it. Audiophiles, hang up your ears.

i think high resolution formats and well done surround sound are coming closer to the real thing and i love them. no compression nor low-rez for me. i think these new high-rez formats are a signficant improvement in our modern listening pleasure and my latest addition is an universal player. recently, this last year, however; i set up a truly fine turntable, arm, cartridge and phono stage, and, when i listened to my first vinyl in almost a decade, my first thought was, "why did we leave vinyl in the first place?" ah! it was portability, ease of use and set-up that really started the whole move to this new format of cd's. we audiophiles noticed the quiet background and said, "this is great," but were, at least, a little disappointed in the quality and the reproduction of the sound. but, we too, left the maiden that brought us to the hobby in the first place and moved to the cd. i rejoiced as technology improved and we were brought ever increasing fidelity, in xrcd, dvd audio, and now most recently, in my personal experience, sacd. but, alas, my muse is back and we love a good afternoon together, my vinyl, my tubes and a good recording; whether it is beethoven's "emperor" concerto or pink floyd's "dark side of the moon," a violin concerto, with isaac's stern and pearlman and pinchus zuchermann dueling it out, or the beattles extolling the virtues of "yesterday," vinyl has it hands down, tics, scratches and all. thanks for the "new revolution," the rebirth of my old collection of vinyl, of which i never disposed, the new equipment in the arena, new pressings of some of the old works and even new recodings on the old medium. great stuff!

Rock On Wes