I've heard over 150 products this year, and these are my 5 hi-fi highlights

[What Hi-Fi?]

What Hi-Fi?'s technical editor picks his favourite hi-fi products of the year...

I've heard over 150 products this year, and these are my 5 hi-fi highlights : Read more

 

[Combat]

So in other words, while many other review sites and publications look forward to the future, What HiFi are stuck firmly in the past?

 

[podknocker]

So in other words, while many other review sites and publications look forward to the future, What HiFi are stuck firmly in the past?

I get this feeling most of the time. It still amuses/confuses me why we have a vinyl revival, never mind the CD player, now into its 5th decade of production. At least CD sounds great and there's no faffing around. I still own 250 CDs, but not played one for yonks. Double clicking on any of the 80 million Spotify tracks and podcasts is so much easier. At some point, surely, someone will wake up and say 'OMG these LPs are ancient and are so much faff and don't sound as good as newer formats'. I'm still waiting!!! Then there's a new speaker, designed to look like one from the 60s.

Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X review

A thoroughly modern performance housed in an olde-worlde wrapper

www.whathifi.com

'Large size may be an issue for some'

Really?

 

[SteveR750]

I'd really like to see the validated research that demonstrates electron path memory in a doped silicon semiconductor device, and how that "hardens" the sound. Might be useful to perhaps first quantify what they mean by harden.

 

[Rui]

I get this feeling most of the time. It still amuses/confuses me why we have a vinyl revival, never mind the CD player, now into its 5th decade of production. At least CD sounds great and there's no faffing around. I still own 250 CDs, but not played one for yonks. Double clicking on any of the 80 million Spotify tracks and podcasts is so much easier. At some point, surely, someone will wake up and say 'OMG these LPs are ancient and are so much faff and don't sound as good as newer formats'. I'm still waiting!!! Then there's a new speaker, designed to look like one from the 60s.

Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X review

A thoroughly modern performance housed in an olde-worlde wrapper

www.whathifi.com

'Large size may be an issue for some'

Really?

If you started to listen to music in late 60´s and by 1974 you had a good sounding system, how would you judge the compact disc sound, even the last edition of some 70´s lp´s not even played in the best cd players of the world aproaches to the sound of old records ,

maybe why young generations don´t like that much 70´s or 80´s or even 90´s bands because the sound of the compact disc is steril, instruments don´t sound like instruments ,don´t get me wrong i do like a lot digital sound but not from the poor 70´s compacted sound ,there was a evolution in digital ,i have more than 5.000 cds bought after 93 ,

it´s only a pitty that i bought some of my favorite albuns in cd ,but they sound so bad that i heard them some seconds of each track knowing them to 100% of their sound i couldn´t heard the cd version, in the 80´s a thing called DAT was released ,it was the best and why insist in the cd format ,

someone is making a lot of many to continue to use this frail steril and bad sounding source and spotify is fine ,one arrives home tired of the entire day working for others and one can seat on a couch and only by putting on the amplifier listen to whatever one wants with a laptop as an example but in sound quality never saw better than a analogue source,

i have good components, well i colect them since late 50´s till today and i can add that turntables sold as an example by pro-ject for prices till 2.000€ sound like pure garbage,i have turntables that if sold today they would cost maybe 20.000€ and others much cheaper but with original cartridge and stylus from early 70´s or late 60´s and when you play a record it feels like the band is playing close to you ,

so new hi-fi gear is expensive and no quality at all, my cd player that i didn´t pay for it is considered very good and it´s belt-driven but i have other 50 to 70 cd players that all are very good, i can even tell you that i bought a live record in 1990 because the cd that had more tracks was doble the price ,the album when played at home i was like, this is the best live recorded album with only bass,two six string guitar and drums, also voice and in the back said "directelly recorded into DAT"

later i had more money and bought the cd ,well i only playd it for a bit and it´s in the same place since i bought it ,so recorded digitally not using one of my best turntables sounds amazing ,maybe the best live recording with the instruments i refer, but it´s cd version sound like garbage .

To resume i don´t mind using either digital or analogue but like to hear music with good sound so the only option are records or vinyl or wax ,i think they had enough time to create a new improved format if it sounds so good and nowhere to be found,

i only can say ,the 70´s were long ago, so call cd a modern format ,

there are very good turntables sold after 1979, allthough today vinyl and turntables is a deal to steal money from the people,

while evolution is forgoten and stealing from the people is the main goal ,it´s one of the oldest actions in human kind as a species, to steal from others,

but if you only heard cds you don´t realize how bad it sounds and how good records sounded in the 70´s, not comparable with cd sound today, for it´s steril sound and not as recorded in a studio, so direct sound with a cd ,ahahahahah!!!that was another joke passed into people, in the 80´s, some even believed it

Really, still think cds are very good ?

 

[podknocker]

I'm 54 and I've been listening to CDs for nearly 40 years and to me they sound superb. I have a decent system and really enjoy the sound, although I do stream most of my music now, at a lower quality. CD has perfect pitch stability, amazing S/N ratio and dynamic range. There are higher res formats, but I don't think they are necessary unless you have a really good amp and speakers to allow the resolution to be realised. If the mastering process is given the same care and attention as with LPs, then CD is able to capture and reproduce a very close approximation to the studio recording. LPs cannot resolve this and that's why many prefer the sound of vinyl as it will flatter a poor recording, due to the lower resolution. CDs have higher resolution, so will reveal and limitations of the recording equipment. I prefer the warts and all presentation of CDs, although I tend to listen to CDs where the recording AND mastering techniques are as high quality as they can be. My favourite album is the first Dire Straits album, released in 1978 and it is a quality recording. The effort and care in the recording really shines through on CD and there is no chance any domestic playback format in 1978 would have come anywhere near the sound of this album on CD. You would have had poor quality record players and AM radio. It's taken the invention of CD and new formats to realise the quality, or lack of quality, in older recordings.

 

[Rui]

If you started to listen to music in late 60´s and by 1974 you had a good sounding system, how would you judge the compact disc sound, even the last edition of some 70´s lp´s not even played in the best cd players of the world aproaches to the sound of old records ,

maybe why young generations don´t like that much 70´s or 80´s or even 90´s bands because the sound of the compact disc is steril, instruments don´t sound like instruments ,don´t get me wrong i do like a lot digital sound but not from the poor 70´s compacted sound ,there was a evolution in digital ,i have more than 5.000 cds bought after 93 ,

it´s only a pitty that i bought some of my favorite albuns in cd ,but they sound so bad that i heard them some seconds of each track knowing them to 100% of their sound i couldn´t heard the cd version, in the 80´s a thing called DAT was released ,it was the best and why insist in the cd format ,

someone is making a lot of many to continue to use this frail steril and bad sounding source and spotify is fine ,one arrives home tired of the entire day working for others and one can seat on a couch and only by putting on the amplifier listen to whatever one wants with a laptop as an example but in sound quality never saw better than a analogue source,

i have good components, well i colect them since late 50´s till today and i can add that turntables sold as an example by pro-ject for prices till 2.000€ sound like pure garbage,i have turntables that if sold today they would cost maybe 20.000€ and others much cheaper but with original cartridge and stylus from early 70´s or late 60´s and when you play a record it feels like the band is playing close to you ,

so new hi-fi gear is expensive and no quality at all, my cd player that i didn´t pay for it is considered very good and it´s belt-driven but i have other 50 to 70 cd players that all are very good, i can even tell you that i bought a live record in 1990 because the cd that had more tracks was doble the price ,the album when played at home i was like, this is the best live recorded album with only bass,two six string guitar and drums, also voice and in the back said "directelly recorded into DAT"

later i had more money and bought the cd ,well i only playd it for a bit and it´s in the same place since i bought it ,so recorded digitally not using one of my best turntables sounds amazing ,maybe the best live recording with the instruments i refer, but it´s cd version sound like garbage .

To resume i don´t mind using either digital or analogue but like to hear music with good sound so the only option are records or vinyl or wax ,i think they had enough time to create a new improved format if it sounds so good and nowhere to be found,

i only can say ,the 70´s were long ago, so call cd a modern format ,

there are very good turntables sold after 1979, allthough today vinyl and turntables is a deal to steal money from the people,

while evolution is forgoten and stealing from the people is the main goal ,it´s one of the oldest actions in human kind as a species, to steal from others,

but if you only heard cds you don´t realize how bad it sounds and how good records sounded in the 70´s, not comparable with cd sound today, for it´s steril sound and not as recorded in a studio, so direct sound with a cd ,ahahahahah!!!that was another joke passed into people, in the 80´s, some even believed it

Really, still think cds are very good ?

Because i listen to the first cd when released and listen to many more through out the years and could compare them with we what was being used to listen to music at the time,

and follow it´s evolution (almost none ,just a decrease in building quality ,when in the 90´s, to make them afordable to all people , a cd would cost the same as two records(vinyl) and enough money to go out and drink some beers with friends ,

i might had only 7 cds but i was friend with the only music , musical instruments and hi-fi gear store owner in the city where i live ,that started to sell them when they were available and by that time most of the people was using their 70´s systems and records were the most sold, i would repeat myself saying that i use to buy records on a imported records store only and even for less money i would buy records ordering them from gemma records in the U.K. they would come out 6 monthes before released in Portugal , as an example only when Back in Black was released for the first time, all AC/DC albums were available on portuguese music stores.

that is related by the dictatorship that existed in Portugal and most of the bands were censored ,so only after 1974 they started to be released in Portuguese music stores, but you could also buy them abroad when travelling, in Spain there was also a dictatorship but there most of the bands were released, only 40km´s from the city where i was born and lived(taking some years when i was living in other continents or European countries

,so you think that in more than 40 years digital was so good but not evolved since the 70´s, what about other digital format several times better sounding than the cd in the 80´s to the point of being compared with the reel to reel decks,

what are the album´s you think i´m wrong when saying they were destroyd when converted to digital? I would like to know you´re opinion in tracks levels and regarding instruments sound as in several tracks per channel,

what abot studios did you listen to music on diferent labels recording studios ,so you can say it´s not true that the sound of a cd is not even 50% of the sound quality heard in a studio, i would say 0% buit let´s not get carried away, the bass was amlost all heard and the kick of the drums, i don´t receive money to say that analog recordins sound better in vinyl than in cd.

That i know of, every recording till late 90´s sound bad in cd ,more related with rock albums or bands that play guitars, drums, electronic keyboards and voice but there are a few exceptions, but only a few, i think i know what i´m talking about having a studio built at home by my father and evolved through the years , i know how sound is captured and recorded

 

[Rui]

I'm 54 and I've been listening to CDs for nearly 40 years and to me they sound superb. I have a decent system and really enjoy the sound, although I do stream most of my music now, at a lower quality. CD has perfect pitch stability, amazing S/N ratio and dynamic range. There are higher res formats, but I don't think they are necessary unless you have a really good amp and speakers to allow the resolution to be realised. If the mastering process is given the same care and attention as with LPs, then CD is able to capture and reproduce a very close approximation to the studio recording. LPs cannot resolve this and that's why many prefer the sound of vinyl as it will flatter a poor recording, due to the lower resolution. CDs have higher resolution, so will reveal and limitations of the recording equipment. I prefer the warts and all presentation of CDs, although I tend to listen to CDs where the recording AND mastering techniques are as high quality as they can be. My favourite album is the first Dire Straits album, released in 1978 and it is a quality recording. The effort and care in the recording really shines through on CD and there is no chance any domestic playback format in 1978 would have come anywhere near the sound of this album on CD. You would have had poor quality record players and AM radio. It's taken the invention of CD and new formats to realise the quality, or lack of quality, in older recordings.

That is a good example but i think it really sounds better in record or vinyl but ican say that is a good example of not loosing their identity when passed on to a compact disc,

but if putted to play at the same time one notices the higher dynamics on vinyl , and as an example i could refer the crime of the century by Supertramp which is the only album i like from this band, and recentelly bought the cd and notice the missing sounds that were on the original vinyl release ,

but today all new record players and cartridges are too expensive and till 2.000€ have no quality at all ,

so some might think that´s how people listened to music in the past but old amplifiers ,turntables and speakers had a much more filled sound compared to modern systems and releases of badly fabricated vinyl records and LP´s there are on cd and vinyl.

To end i would like to refer to U2 , i bought their first album after seeing them live after the release of the second album and when buying cds i bought the albums till joshua tree in cd ,

somehow they never sounded good to me as the LP´s in vinyl , what could get by changing the tone controls on a 74 system i could never emulate in a 90´s high-end system,

not even using a good equalizer, i could hear the sound of the vinyl LP on the cd and i did had a real good cd player compared to the turntable i was using at the time but enough to not buy a new turntable,

having tried a lot of them in early 90´s, only later i bought a good thorens turntable that could improve the sound of the 74 turntable i was using ,i had better turntables but i wanted something new,

as i was tired of brushed aluminium that was almost every hi-fi component i had since started to listen to music, and i also colected them, at the time i had mainly European brands systems or components , they were disapearing so i bought everything i could get from a german militar family´s living in a neighborhood inside the city i live.

The only reason why i was using the 74 pioneer turntable was just because i had installed new belts and had bought a new stylus and was enough good(mainly made of wood and metal with some keys in baquelite) looking to assemble it in my 90´s new system, in black with mohogany side panels,

 

[Rui]

I get this feeling most of the time. It still amuses/confuses me why we have a vinyl revival, never mind the CD player, now into its 5th decade of production. At least CD sounds great and there's no faffing around. I still own 250 CDs, but not played one for yonks. Double clicking on any of the 80 million Spotify tracks and podcasts is so much easier. At some point, surely, someone will wake up and say 'OMG these LPs are ancient and are so much faff and don't sound as good as newer formats'. I'm still waiting!!! Then there's a new speaker, designed to look like one from the 60s.

Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X review

A thoroughly modern performance housed in an olde-worlde wrapper

www.whathifi.com

'Large size may be an issue for some'

Really?

60´s?i´ve seen them talking about klipsch from the 40´s ,re-released model, size doesn´t matter but quality as most of the things in our world.

Quality is not the best of what is talked about but a new definition imposed, like in european comunity quality level for essential food products, i had around 10 trees of the best fruit produced in my region that makes me laugh when buying ,in this case fruit .

In the first ten years i didn´t eat any prior to being used to consume the best ,can´t say quality but the best it can be produced having or not influence on the profit (shouldn´t matter)

like strawberries ,i think people in their early 40´s don´t know that strawberries are sweet not green as they are sold today,

this if not having in their backyard a litle fruit production ,but depends on regions where this fruit is developed better, not it´s best quality redefined by european union to be sold in super-markets,

i think the same is happeneing with all we consume