Now for the Other Things that happened in the 00's....
Every decade has innovation - the 90's had the Genesis Digital Lens, TacT Millennium and PS Audio Power Plant. But the 00's will go down as the MOST INNOVATIVE period in the history of high-end audio. Divided into new components, innovative ideas and new tweaks :
New Components
-Hard-disk playback / Memory drive.
The right way to drive digital ?
-Master-clock generators.
Expensive, dedicated clocks for digital signals. But can we make a better clock in the DAC ?
-Transformer attenuators.
Lower-cost, passive preamps from the pro-audio world. Esp. for digital - it has enough output on its own to drive a power amp.
-"Buffer" preamp.
Nelson Pass challenges the transformer attenuator.
-Amp-DAC.
From Behold Audio. Only the Germans could pull this off - a DAC put in the output stage of class A amp ! Includes digital attenuation.
- Impedance "changers".
Never hear much about them - but Dick Olsher thinks it's a good idea.
-Amplifier "booster".
From Musical Fidelity. But do we need it ? Some with low or average efficiency loudspeakers say yes....
-Amplified speaker cable.
That's right - a "powered" speaker cable. From Harmonic Audio.
-Super-tweeter.
Beyond 20Khz can't be heard...but do these devices add more "space" to the presentation ? How about improving reproduction *below* 20kHz - which I think these units do.
Innovative Ideas
-Magnetic-drive turntable.
-All-gold, palladium-alloy, and "amorphous" interconnect conductors.
-Fiber-optic interconnect.
-Vacuum insulation (dielectric) for interconnects.
-"Variable gain transimpedance" (attenuation for analog preamps - lead by Ayre)
-Field-coil drive unit. Re-introduced after a half-century absence. Mainly for compression-driver horns.
-Corner-bass loading.
New Tweaks
-CDR copies of CDs.
-Cable "cooker".
-"Add-on" cable. Analogous to Musical Fidelity's amp booster - only now for improved quality.
-Speaker cable lifts.
-Chemical contact treatment.
-Digital-RF sheets.
-Signal path purifier. (Bybee bullets)
-Room "tuning" discs.
-Soundwave reflection mask. (Shakti Hallograph)
-Low-frequency generators / "Blackbody" generator.
There were also a few things introduced in the 1990's but didn't blossom until this decade. This would be the active (DSP) crossover, open-baffle loudspeaker and multi-channel processing like Meridian's Trifield.
What a decade !!!!!!!!!
Now for the Other Things that happened in the 00's....
Every decade has innovation - the 90's had the Genesis Digital Lens, TacT Millennium and PS Audio Power Plant. But the 00's will go down as the MOST INNOVATIVE period in the history of high-end audio. Divided into new components, innovative ideas and new tweaks :
New Components
-Hard-disk playback / Memory drive.
The right way to drive digital ?
-Master-clock generators.
Expensive, dedicated clocks for digital signals. But can we make a better clock in the DAC ?
-Transformer attenuators.
Lower-cost, passive preamps from the pro-audio world. Esp. for digital - it has enough output on its own to drive a power amp.
-"Buffer" preamp.
Nelson Pass challenges the transformer attenuator.
-Amp-DAC.
From Behold Audio. Only the Germans could pull this off - a DAC put in the output stage of class A amp ! Includes digital attenuation.
- Impedance "changers".
Never hear much about them - but Dick Olsher thinks it's a good idea.
-Amplifier "booster".
From Musical Fidelity. But do we need it ? Some with low or average efficiency loudspeakers say yes....
-Amplified speaker cable.
That's right - a "powered" speaker cable. From Harmonic Audio.
-Super-tweeter.
Beyond 20Khz can't be heard...but do these devices add more "space" to the presentation ? How about improving reproduction *below* 20kHz - which I think these units do.
Innovative Ideas
-Magnetic-drive turntable.
-All-gold, palladium-alloy, and "amorphous" interconnect conductors.
-Fiber-optic interconnect.
-Vacuum insulation (dielectric) for interconnects.
-"Variable gain transimpedance" (attenuation for analog preamps - lead by Ayre)
-Field-coil drive unit. Re-introduced after a half-century absence. Mainly for compression-driver horns.
-Corner-bass loading.
New Tweaks
-CDR copies of CDs.
-Cable "cooker".
-"Add-on" cable. Analogous to Musical Fidelity's amp booster - only now for improved quality.
-Speaker cable lifts.
-Chemical contact treatment.
-Digital-RF sheets.
-Signal path purifier. (Bybee bullets)
-Room "tuning" discs.
-Soundwave reflection mask. (Shakti Hallograph)
-Low-frequency generators / "Blackbody" generator.
There were also a few things introduced in the 1990's but didn't blossom until this decade. This would be the active (DSP) crossover, open-baffle loudspeaker and multi-channel processing like Meridian's Trifield.
What a decade !!!!!!!!!