Audio cycle of trends

[goraman]

Dose anyone think that flea powered SET amps will be the rage forever?
Or will the Push Pull become the amp to have in 5 to 10 years?
Tubes to SS to tubes?
Will digital become the rage leaveing tuntables dusty once more?
I wonder what the next shift in must have audio will be?
CHANGE is what keeps reviewers and hifi stores in buisness.

What is comming next?

Give us your best guess.

I belive 2 channel will make a huge come back to the main stream.

[DSJR]

Downloads into portable music players are what most of the kids are into. Old fashioned hifi systems and especially the old stuff we peddle are for our generation and there are currently very few takers below 30 years old due to student debts etc...

As for trends in us oldie audio buffs - been there, seen it all before and jumped off the tour bus :)

[Rare Bird]

I know at least two hi-fi trends/fads at the moment i get sick of hearing about :steam:

[Ali Tait]

People who love SE (including myself in this) would not generally change to PP,and vice versa.I've had and enjoyed both types,but far prefer SE.As for trends,they come and go,and people jump on bandwagons.

[Marco]

Hi Ali,

It was interesting comparing Nick's 211 with the copper amp, on the end of Ian Walker's Tannoys the other week....... I think Nick may have a slightly different view of P/P now :eyebrows:

;)

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Both have their merits I think.Just comes down to personal preference at the end of the day.

[Marco]

Yes indeed - that's exactly how it turned out.

Nick, though, was rather surprised at how 'un-P/P like' the copper amp sounded.

He said it wasn't just what the copper amp did that impressed him, but more what it didn't do (in terms of the "P/P traits" he dislikes), which I thought was quite a compliment from such a die-hard SE man!

You must come down for a listen some day :)

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Yes I'd like to when I get a chance.So what Nick means is the copper amp is more SE than PP sounding! :lol:

[magiccarpetride]

Dose anyone think that flea powered SET amps will be the rage forever?
Or will the Push Pull become the amp to have in 5 to 10 years?
Tubes to SS to tubes?
Will digital become the rage leaveing tuntables dusty once more?
I wonder what the next shift in must have audio will be?
CHANGE is what keeps reviewers and hifi stores in buisness.

What is comming next?

Give us your best guess.

I belive 2 channel will make a huge come back to the main stream.

I see these two trends shaping up:

1. Digital amplification (yes, it used to suck ass, but that may change, if NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier is any indicator -- http://nadelectronics.com/products/masters-series/M2-Direct-Digital-Amplifier)

2. Containerless content -- rescuing musical content from the tyranny of containers (i.e. no more easy to misplace, easy to scratch discs, USB sticks, external hard drives and such); everything is going to be in the 'cloud', readily available to be streamed into the receiver of your choice, wherever you happen to be.

[Joe]

I predict a return to audio by Amstrad. Every time you switch it on, Sir Alan Sugar's voice will boom out 'You're fired!' so realistically that the listener will be reduced to tears.

[Joe]

I know at least two hi-fi trends/fads at the moment i get sick of hearing about :steam:

Mheh! Would one be a certain Japanese turntable, by any chance?

[Joe]

I see these two trends shaping up:

1. Digital amplification (yes, it used to suck ass, but that may change, if NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier is any indicator -- http://nadelectronics.com/products/masters-series/M2-Direct-Digital-Amplifier)

2. Containerless content -- rescuing musical content from the tyranny of containers (i.e. no more easy to misplace, easy to scratch discs, USB sticks, external hard drives and such); everything is going to be in the 'cloud', readily available to be streamed into the receiver of your choice, wherever you happen to be.

The second suggestion certainly seems a reasonable prophecy; the trend has consistently been towards music on demand, wherever you are, and storage is virtually free. I guess the challenge would be working out a business model that (broadly speaking) keeps both music companies and consumers happy. If music companies per se have a future, that is.

[magiccarpetride]

If music companies per se have a future, that is.

They don't have a future. Same as purveyors of telegrams don't have a future.

Music as a successful business venture existed long before the emergence of music companies. And it will continue to exist successfully long after the music companies are dead and gone!

[Rare Bird]

Mheh! Would one be a certain Japanese turntable, by any chance?

:lol:


I predict a return to audio by Amstrad.

I then predict the Amstrad TP12D MK.11 :lolsign:

[Steve Toy]

The Copper amps have many of the SE attributes with the right speakers. No good with Fostex and other ubersensitive drivers though as it just pulverises them and makes them sound constipated.

[Alex_UK]

The second suggestion certainly seems a reasonable prophecy; the trend has consistently been towards music on demand, wherever you are, and storage is virtually free. I guess the challenge would be working out a business model that (broadly speaking) keeps both music companies and consumers happy. If music companies per se have a future, that is.

At the moment (and not in North America - sorry Alex) - Spotify is this, as long as you also have an iphone, so you can access on the move/in the car/at work etc - the problem is bit rate (320 kbps max, with a premium account (£9.99 a month)) and artists continuing to live with the miniscule returns of this business model...