CharlyD
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Where's the new tech in hi-end at CES?
Buddha
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I've been looking forward to this year's CES for some time as there have been several significant technology and market changes in the last year, and I was eager to see how hi-end audio has responded. Based on the show reports, hi-end audio is still chasing that elusive audio nirvana through technologies at least 20 years old (release of CD) and with architectures that are even older (analog source, preamp, amp, speakers). New HD disk formats became available in the last year that support delivery of 8 channels of 24-bit, 192 kHz digital audio. Windows Vista will support audio of at least that resolution as well as providing methods for routing that content on home networks. The overwhelming success of the iPod has clearly demonstrated that consumers crave convenience and portability in their entertainment. Where are the DACs with HDMI or even firewire or ethernet connections? These DACs could easily also integrate sophisticated DSP from vendors such as Audyssey. Why convert to analog at all? Class D amps have evolved to the point where very high quality amplification can be integrated into the speaker enclosure (e.g. Sonicweld). I feel that, by not embracing these new technologies, hi-end is missing a tremendous opportunity to offer new hardware that can deliver truly state-of-the-art performance.

Hi, Charly D, welcome!

I might be a bit out of step, but I don't don't see the downside of some of those things you criticize. I mean, heck, I've been happily chasing other kinds of nirvana with equipment that was "designed" over 6,000 years ago!

(Heh heh, how often does one get to mix a dick joke with an evolution joke?... ...)

OK, now that that's out of my system, there's a couple things about high -end Hi Fi that are a bit "Luddite-ish"; but the wing nut (most of the Hi Fi guys I know) part of the high end Hi Fi industry is serving a market niche that doesn't necessarily want what Charly D thinks we should want. As such, for better or worse (usually better) the progress is evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

For people who know how hard it can be to get two channel to sound right, the prospect of 8 channel seems as far from reality as exclusively two channel audio sounds to you.

Seriously, we are an aging group of two channel freaks, and we're a big enough market that it behooves manufacturers to try and please us, even when we're wrong.

We sometimes tend to be slow adaptors, so getting CD right twenty-some years down the road is doing something cool with "new" technology, to us.

We also know how much work would be involved in getting 8 channel "just right," and many of us might feel that all that extra expense, work, installation, etc. would not deliver a big enough slice of bliss to make us bother. Yeah, we're happy with good old hamburger instead of high tech Soylent Green...but which really is right? Why quit something we love? Or, why criticize us for not dropping the old and grabbing the new?

Plus, keep in mind that you're talking to guys who are prone to buy a stereo interconnect cable that costs over a thousand bucks. Multi channel would kill us, I swear.

We're also probably a bit wary of new fangled crap, 'cause we've seen so much of it splash down spectacularly, then sink into oblivion as we watch from the shore, clutching on to our depleted checkbooks, waiting for the next big thing.

We're "twice fooled," at least!

I do think you are right about consumers voting with their pocketbooks in favor of convenience, and two channel is the absolute dominant technology in this regard. Even the iPod generation is buying two channel in droves.

So, two channel IS high tech!

Sure, sometimes Hi End doesn't embrace certain things immediately, but after a while, if it works, we do. We're starting to embrace Class D amplification, but it ain't "there" yet, IMHO.

And, since Class D isn't my cup of meat yet, what is it exactly that I'm missing when I fail to support a type of new technology that doesn't sound as good as my old technology?

When Class D amps evolve a little more, they'll get alot more acceptance in our marketplace, you'll see. But for now, that is the manufacturer's problem, not mine for not buying it yet.

I live in Las Vegas, the HOME of rejecting existing architecture in favor of new. Let me tell ya, new architecture(s) can suck just as bad as old ones! (Pardon my malaprop based on your electrical architecture sentence.)

For me, for now, I'm happy with evolution. I already spent cash on new technologies like quadrophonic sound, 8 tracks, cassettes, elcassettes, digital tape players, 4 channel home theater, 5 channel home theater, six channel home theater, and seven channel home theater. Somehow, even the glorious promise of eight channel audio doesn't impress me yet.

I am getting excited about the prospect of Hi Fi sound without interconnects or speaker cables, though! I will try and be an avid consumer when they get that right!

Cheers, and welcome again!

Monty
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Heh, and I'm excited about finding a newly manufactured 12AX7 tube that I actually like...a lot! Talk about your old technology!

Btw, it's the Russian reissue Tung-Sol gold-pin ECC803S. It's a noiseless, harmonic rich tube with extension and resolution. Did I mention it's quiet? Yeah, dead silent quiet!

Stereophile should consider an issue devoted to tube rolling and reviews.

RGibran
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Welcome...and great post CharlyD.

John Atkinson, zumming up his review of the Sonos WIFI Music System stated:

"But the real beauty of the Sonos system is the way in which it marries excellent audio engineering to a system design that allows foolproof and efficient setup of a distributed-audio system. It's just a shame, I guess, that these groundbreaking audio products didn't come from an established high-end audio company".

RG

nunhgrader
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Stereophile should consider an issue devoted to tube rolling and reviews.

I've been wanting to read this myself!

CharlyD
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Seriously, we are an aging group of two channel freaks, and we're a big enough market that it behooves manufacturers to try and please us, even when we're wrong.


First of all, let me say that I am a proud member of the "aging group of two channel feaks". As a population, however, I'm certain that we're getting smaller in number. It would be interesting to see the demographics on attendance at high end shows, but I doubt there are very many gen X or Y'ers in attendance. Also, my two-channel system is of fairly high quality, was purchased more than a decade ago, and will probably see at least another decade of use before any significant changes (unless something better than CD or vinyl becomes generally available). This lack of interest by younger populations and very slow churn rates must make business very difficult for high-end manufacturers.

Also, the music industry is facing a very uncertain future due to the easy distribution of digital content over the Internet. I read somewhere recently that the ratio of illegal peer-to-peer downloads to purchased content is at least 5 to 1! That ratio is verified by every person under 30 I ask about their music aquisition habits. The options avialable to the music industry that would allow some viability of their business models are very limited but include obsolesence of the CD and moving to more secure formats (DVD-A, SACD or HD disk) or electronic distribution (Internet) that uses DRM methods to disallow illicit copying.

One of the more significant announcements from this year's CES is that MusicGiants is now offering 24-bit, 96kHz, multichannel downloads in addition to their CD quality downloads. All MusicGiants content, however, is protected by Windows DRM and is bound to the hard drive it is downloaded to. The only method I'm aware of for playback of this downloaded HD content over listening room systems is to locate the PC in the room and use the DACs on the PC sound card or motherboard. I'm not aware of any multi-channel media adapters that would allow streaming of DRM-protected HD audio content over home networks. It's hard to see how MusicGiant's foray into delivery of HD content over the Internet can be viable until such devices become available.

Also, 2-channel and multi-channel distribution methods are not mutually exclusive. A distribution method that supports 8 channel HD music can also carry 2 channel HD music. Multi-channel content can easily be mixed-down to the number of speakers in the target room. A single multi-channel program residing on a home media server could be mixed and equalized according to the characteristics of the target room in a networked system.

There are many vendors now offering systems for distribution of music over home networks. To my knowledge, none of them are multi-channel (> 2) or even provide support for HD (greater than CD) quality. Also, very few of them support the DRM that will likely be required for any HD content.

Once again, it is my contention that the hi-end industry is missing an opportunity by not offering products that address the trends and incorporate the technologies I've mentioned above. Younger generations are not going to give up the convenience of their i-Pods for the far higher quality reproduction offered by high-end systems - not unless that same convenience can be made available in those systems without any loss of fidelity. I greatly appreciate the experiences I've had raptly listening to my antiquated 2-channel system. I hope there are future generations of "aging group(s) of two-channel (or multi-channel) freaks" enjoying similar experiences.

CECE
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A lot of the Russian brans and some other familar ones have been bought out and are actually made in teh same factory. And many are now junk. Some brands still hold their expertise, but read all about Russin tube factories and how it's getting nutty. One factory fighting another, over names and processes

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