What has changed in hifi in the last 10 years? seems everything is still the same

georgebushy

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I am talking about the cd's that are still being used. Why they dont use DVDs that have more data to store and we could enjoy real 24 bit sound?

My rig is over 10 years old, I have harman kardon cd and amplifier and JM lab speakers, has the quality improved so much that I need to replace the whole rig?

but really I am bummed out from the MP3 quality and stuff and no dvd audio format, that everybody could use in dvd players
 

Deliriumbassist

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There's a few reasons, by my understanding, why DVD-A failed.

First off, not all players supported DVD-A.

Secondly- more expensive.

Thirdly- major selling point was the ability to record and playback in 5.1. A lot of people don't have 5.1 hifi systems. For those with a DVD-A capable player, these 5 channels would be downmixed to stereo, and this quite often sucked. It was also expensive to record in such a way.

Fourthly- SACD won the format war. If you could call it winning considering the relative death that has died.

Fifthly- marketing of the format was poor.

Sixthly- for the DVD-A discs that had multiple program options (e.g. DVD-A Stereo, DVD-A Surround and Dolby Surround), you needed the system hooked up to a screen.

Finally- it came about at a time where the public started moving on to non physical media.
 

Johnno2

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matthewpiano said:
Are that many people really still using CDs?

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/how-does-your-listening-divide-by-source

I have stopped buying new CD's, sick of being dissapionted with 'remasters'

Its vinyl for me now and spotify , a used technics SL1300 fitted with AT95E cartridged through a CA 651p phono sounds delicous through my system
 

matthewpiano

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Johnno2 said:
matthewpiano said:
Are that many people really still using CDs?

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/how-does-your-listening-divide-by-source

I have stopped buying new CD's, sick of being dissapionted with 'remasters'

Its vinyl for me now and spotify , a used technics SL1300 fitted with AT95E cartridged through a CA 651p phono sounds delicous through my system

Similar here. We're really enjoying vinyl. BTW the AT95E is a gem. I have one fitted to one of my turntables (a 70s Pioneer PL12D) and it performs remarkably well for a £35 cartridge. Those CA phono stages are excellent too.

If you ever fancy trying something different, the Ortofon 2M Red that I've got on the Pro-ject is terrific. I'd take this over the Rega Elys2 on my RP3 any day.
 

utomo

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New speaker also did not easily beat speaker from 1957

http://bit.ly/JT4hRY

the sensitivity is amazing. the sound is good.

I hope new Speaker are better in sensitivity and also the sound quality.
 

MajorFubar

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David@FrankHarvey said:
MajorFubar said:
Biggest change by far (in terms of audio) has been the surge in popularity of digital downloads and the decline of CD.

'...surge in popularity of digital downloads AND vinyl...'
Wouldn't say vinyl has surged except statistically. If I'm a baker and I sell two loaves of bread on a Monday and four loaves of bread on a Tuesday then statistically I sell 100% more loaves on a Tuesday, but realistically I'm still not selling much bread. I still don't know anyone outside of enthusiast forums who would ever think of buying an LP. In fact most people I know would be shocked to find they still exist.
 

Frank Harvey

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Maybe we live in very different parts of the country then. Our most popular product for over a year now has been turntables, and despite not really having promoted the fact we now sell vinyl, people we have never seen before are turning up to have a look and purchase - old and young. What makes this surge more significant over any previous ones is that if you go back 10-15 years and the numerous "vinyl is making a comeback" claims, availability was still limited. This time round, almost every new release is being released on vinyl (obviously the record companies are seeing a trend). I've bought stuff In the past few years that I never thought I'd own on vinyl.
 

MajorFubar

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Yeah I've bought stuff too, but in that respect I'm still a curio from a bygone age, not trailblazing some kind of major rennaisance. In 2013, just 0.8% of all UK album sales were on vinyl. Which is probably up from something like 0.1% ten years ago. So statistically a huge increase, but realistically barely a drop in the ocean.
 

Johnno2

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matthewpiano said:
Johnno2 said:
matthewpiano said:
Are that many people really still using CDs?

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/how-does-your-listening-divide-by-source

I have stopped buying new CD's, sick of being dissapionted with 'remasters'

Its vinyl for me now and spotify , a used technics SL1300 fitted with AT95E cartridged through a CA 651p phono sounds delicous through my system

Similar here. We're really enjoying vinyl. BTW the AT95E is a gem. I have one fitted to one of my turntables (a 70s Pioneer PL12D) and it performs remarkably well for a £35 cartridge. Those CA phono stages are excellent too.

If you ever fancy trying something different, the Ortofon 2M Red that I've got on the Pro-ject is terrific. I'd take this over the Rega Elys2 on my RP3 any day.

I was considering the 2M red, but didnt want to spend too much in case I didnt like the vinyl sound or my 70's technics gives up, but its performing superb, these things were made to last, I agree about the AT95E, just listening to a mint copy of stings 'nothing like the sun' which I found in a charity shop for 50p! and it sounds great, I also have the CD version , I am hearing nuances on the vinyl copy such as drum timings I never picked up on with the CD, I never thought my cloth ears would discern such things
smiley-tongue-out.gif
 
T

the record spot

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Massive change in the last decade. Technology has improved and costs have reduced that now easily permit streaming music services to thrive. External storage is cheap, so a 2TB drive is yours for less than £100. The choice available is excellent as is the quality.
 

steve_1979

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Also on a side note. The loudness wars and the souless manufactured rubbish they push in mainstream pop music hasn't done any favours to 'hifi quality' music over the past 10 years.
 

andyjm

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David@FrankHarvey said:
MajorFubar said:
Biggest change by far (in terms of audio) has been the surge in popularity of digital downloads and the decline of CD.

'...surge in popularity of digital downloads AND vinyl...'

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Vinyl has surged from an insignificant percentage of overall music sales, to slightly larger insignificant percentage of overall music sales.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/vinyl-records-renaissance-barely-moves-the-sales-needle
 

Singslinger

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MajorFubar said:
Biggest change by far (in terms of audio) has been the surge in popularity of digital downloads and the decline of CD.

Yes agree. Plus the shift by manufacturers from making CD players to music streamers/one-box players/DACs.
 

The_Lhc

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steve_1979 said:
Also on a side note... the souless manufactured rubbish they push in mainstream pop music hasn't done any favours to 'hifi quality' music over the past 10 years.

Got nothing to do with it, pop music has been soulless manufactured rubbish for 50 years...
 

Viking

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Well I must admit I am still buying CD's but mostly second hand from specialised music shops. I then put the whole lot onto a Brennan JB7 so I don't have the problem of deciding what to put on. It does convert the music to MP3 but I find when I put the machine onto random, I get to hear music that I haven't heard in years. It can store up to 5000 CD's and is plenty for me. I think downloading music from websites is very expensive without having the actual CD's and covers. A couple of people I know have paid lots of money for downloads only to have their ipods crash loosing the lot! Not for me.
 

alainrj

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Would love to see a shootout between a low-end, mid-range and high-end separates system from 10 and 20 years ago and modern comparable kit. What would be the degree of change in sound quality of each component between then and now?
 
J

jcbrum

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Viking said:
A couple of people I know have paid lots of money for downloads only to have their ipods crash loosing the lot! Not for me.

Seems unlikely to me. If they have paid for their downloads in the first place, as you say, then they should be able to obtain re-loads without much problem.

About five years ago my laptop was stolen. I rang Apple and they changed my iTunes account password, and reset my account to re-load all my music purchases without any problems.

As it happens I used an automatic backup facility, and so had no difficulty re-loading my other data onto a new laptop.

One of the things which has most recently changed in the last 10 years is the facilities for cloud computing which greatly assists local storage problems.

JC
 

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