The death of high fidelity

[griffo104]

A very interesting thread. Is high fidelity dead ?
Was it ever alive in the first place to the man on the street ? Personally I think not, the ipod has replaced the Currys 'midi' system, it hasn't replaced the turntable nor the cd for people who want the best sound they can afford.

I'm a subscriber to the Music Matter Blue note releases. Stunning reissues of a range of Blue Note records, pressed at 45rpm, in superb gatefolds with extra photos from the sessions. Two arrived last week and these are just stunning, the best records I've heard outside of original Deccas from the early 60's. Silent records, with the music just bounding out at you, dynamic and full of good Jazz swing.

This from a technology that has been around for how many decades, and yet still they manage to raise the bar on quality even though we keep hearing all this computer stuff is taking over.

Ok these pressings aren't cheap but thanks to the current £ to $ ratio I paid $70 for two records plus postage from the US - and these are the best upgrade you can get for a hifi, quality music with care taken to ensure they are the best.

People who care for music will still spend the extra on turntables and cd players, still pay for the better pressing and rematsers on cd for the simple reason they allow the music to communicate better.

High fidelity dead ? thankfully yes it is

[Marco]

People who care for music will still spend the extra on turntables and cd players, still pay for the better pressing and rematsers on cd for the simple reason they allow the music to communicate better.

Nice one, Griffo. Count me in. High quality vinyl rules! There's nothing to touch it.

I don't own an iPod or an MP3 player - and never will. They're an abomination, sonically, and simply not hi-fi, certainly in a portable format. There's a standard of sound reproduction that I will not go below, and the above plastic abominations give me ear bleed when used with those horrid 'earbud' things.

When I'm travelling I use my trusty 1985 Sony Walkman Pro with TDK SA chrome tapes I've made of music recorded from my system at home via a Nakamichi CR-7. Result? Superlative analogue sound quality which is a million miles from the 'angry bees in your ear' low-fi sonic row of an iPod or MP3 player! And as for being serious sources in a hi-end system? Don't make me laugh!!

Marco.

[griffo104]

Nice one, Griffo. Count me in. High quality vinyl rules! There's nothing to touch it.

I don't own an iPod or an MP3 player - and never will. They're an abomination, sonically, and simply not hi-fi, certainly in a portable format. There's a standard of sound reproduction that I will not go below, and the above plastic abominations give me ear bleed when used with those horrid 'earbud' things.

When I'm travelling I use my trusty 1985 Sony Walkman Pro with TDK SA chrome tapes I've made of music recorded from my system at home via a Nakamichi CR-7. Result? Superlative analogue sound quality which is a million miles from the 'angry bees in your ear' low-fi sonic row of an iPod or MP3 player! And as for being serious sources in a hi-end system? Don't make me laugh!!

Marco.

I do use an MP3 player, an old Creative one, simply for listening late at night, tunes recorded at the hughest sample rate, 320kb, for the unit. I use 'proper' Sennheiser headphones and it sounds ok. slap it through a hifi though and it really just doesn't work and even using them on my second budget system, the Sony DVD/SACD player playing normal cds easily sees it off for coherence, dynamic, flow and rythmic integrity. And I'm no fan of cd.

People seem to forget that the man on the street never got into hifi, they still haven't but those who take their music seriously will still make the effort. I'm not talking about some of the serious high end BS, you really don't need to spend silly money to put a quality hifi togther and I think that's what puts so many people off.

If the mags simplified and featured more articles on quality affordable gear then we would see more enjoy decent sounding musical systems.

Wadia doing an ipod dock ? Gimme a break please, garbage in, garbage out, as they used say in Glasgow.

[Marco]

I totally agree. But it would be interesting to hear it (I think they're only £350) just to see if the combination has any audiophile potential and how the sound compares to a top-notch Red Book CDP.

I believe Krell also do a similar iPod dock.

Marco.

[Steve Toy]

I heard the Krell docking system at the Manchester show. It was not good. I'll give you this analogy: imagine a picture taken with a 110 film being printed onto poster sized paper. It looks overblown and grainy. Put an Ipod Nano through a full-blown hi-fi rig and the sonic equivalent is what you get.