The death of the home stereo system

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I think it may be a bit off base. Modern technology ( storage, streaming etc) may be coming on, but I am starting to see a revolt against the sound quality. Think back,

The invention of the phonograph meant we were free to listen to what we want at home, but at the expense of quality. Eventually, this technology got very good.

The invention of the pocket transistor radio freed everyone in the 60's from sitting in front of the console player, but eventually quality came back.

With digital technology, we again had a revolution in portability and convenience at the expense of quality but I believe ( sure as heck hope) quality is now starting to come back in.

The FM tuner is dead. Sorry, but there is no real reason for a record player, reel-to-reel, or a tube amplifier. I do not believe music quality is dead.
 
I thought the focus was shifting to HT rooms, 5.1/ 7.1 with bigger/better/cheaper flat and projectors.
Our local Best Buys had nothing in two channel but racks of HT receivers.

The market has run thin on HT. Few have the bucks. Drop into a real Magnolia, not the stripped BestBuy version and you will be greeted by tube Mac and Martin Logans. Head up to Balto to Soundscape and you won't find anything associated with HT. Listening Room is still in Pikesville.

Convenience does win, but after the jump in convenience, we get a slow but steady increase in quality.
 
Quote from the article..
That suits Rubio, the Emory graduate, fine. He grew up in a house with a component system but doesn't believe he's missing anything.
"All you need is a good pair of headphones and an iPod and that's pretty much it," he says.
Milner, the author, can't question his decision.
"Now, why even bother?" he asks. "If you can take your entire music collection and more in something that fits in your pocket, why would you not do that?"
Sounds a bit lonely to me:( I choose to share my music with my family and friends:)
 
Perhaps one day sound quality of such systems would be acceptable, but it has a long way to go. No matter how good technology gets, a shorter signal path and a dedicated power supply would always be superior as components are the same and the mass market stuff is always of lower quality. I doubt this would be forgone, people still use turntables today and there is a reason why.
 
There's a shift in the source for sure. Everything I listen to is either in FLAC on my computer or internet radio. Other than that nothing has changed for me. I gave up on trying to mix home theater and audio. Our family room is dedicated 5.1, and our living room is 2.1.
 
Well, there will probably always be those nostalig, stubborn people like me who just want a good stereo set with crisp, clear sound...
I do have mobile audio (on my phone, HTC) but i refuse to wear those trendy earplugs, instead opting for a MDR XB700 wich costs a bit more, but it's sound quality is good enough for me to notice bad quality in the MP3's long before the headphones themselves start distorting. And they're the most comfortable headphones i had so far (that thick, soft foam is really comfortable, not squishing my ears or squeezing my glasses in my head).

So from what I see (with my narrow vision), 5.1 and 7.1 is giving way again for good ol' stereo (and 2.1). Which is good! Because I always (stubbornly) said to my mates and family that their new-fangled surround systems would never out-class or out-perform my old stereo system. Althoug an old, decent stereo set will easily win over an el-cheapo surround set, especially if you only have stereo sources...
 
There's a shift in the source for sure. Everything I listen to is either in FLAC on my computer or internet radio. Other than that nothing has changed for me. I gave up on trying to mix home theater and audio. Our family room is dedicated 5.1, and our living room is 2.1.

I am in the process of doing exactly that. The living room may keep a TV for news, but the surround and processing is coming out. BUT, I do want to be able to feed it from a variety of digital sources. Modern, higher quality sources. Smaller TV that drops out of sight so we can have the window again. That new Parasound preamp has my name written all over it!

"Generic" components including power supplies, get better every day when we demand it. Remember the arguments when OpAmps first came out, and when they became acceptable with the 5538 and now the Nationals are truly sufficient. I have no doubt at some time in the future, something that looks like an iPod will actually be high fidelity. Some will always hate it as it won't be able to be tweaked. Remember car radios of the 80's? Now most OEM units are good enough the aftermarket has collapsed.

Besides, the speakers are still 90% of the sound. The room treatments the other 90%. Electronics are a minor accessory.
 
*impressed whistle*
Looks impressive...
It's a bit above my budget, but it's right up my alley: sleek, simple design and (as it seems) uncompromising quality.

I like excessive quality. But I really start loving it if the levels of quality are so uncompromisingly brutal, that it'll exceed the best of the best, not by miles, but by entire parsecs (levels of quality you can't even justify to the most insane afficionado)
 
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