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Perhaps the mistake that is made, is assuming much of this 'hi-end' stuff is actually meant to be an electronics product. Maybe it isn't. Instead, it could be better to think of it in terms of art, as sculptures for people who value form. People will pay huge $ for nice sculptures by renowned artists. Nothing wrong with art. And the rest of us get to enjoy it through the glossy magazines 
LMAO..
I like to listen to "HiEnd" equipment at shows, then when you go home and listen then ask yourself. OK yes its better but is it £16,000 better..the answer is always no!
Then ask yourself if something looks fantastic would you want one at home..the answer is normally no, because if it was yes you could have a go at building it! If you don't want to build it then what's the attraction?
Its not the equipment its the name..Oh look a Prada HIFI..
..LOL..I'll have a Fossil...they keep better time than some watches and the box is collectable.The Fossil HIFI..with Japanese quartz clock/movement.
Regards
M. Gregg
I like to listen to "HiEnd" equipment at shows, then when you go home and listen then ask yourself. OK yes its better but is it £16,000 better..the answer is always no!
Then ask yourself if something looks fantastic would you want one at home..the answer is normally no, because if it was yes you could have a go at building it! If you don't want to build it then what's the attraction?
Its not the equipment its the name..Oh look a Prada HIFI..
..LOL..I'll have a Fossil...they keep better time than some watches and the box is collectable.The Fossil HIFI..with Japanese quartz clock/movement.Regards
M. Gregg
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I guess its quite sad really,
I like the badges of old..
This one rocks my boat I don't even know why..It was on an old radiogram
in glass with rear illumination..I used to sit and look at it for hours.
How cool would a mini glass or enamel HMV colour logo look...
But alas they don't seem to fit on a DIY project.
Regards
M. Gregg
I like the badges of old..
This one rocks my boat I don't even know why..It was on an old radiogram
in glass with rear illumination..I used to sit and look at it for hours.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
How cool would a mini glass or enamel HMV colour logo look...
But alas they don't seem to fit on a DIY project.
Regards
M. Gregg
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I remember reading that article at the time and thinking to myself "it's taken Art Dudley THIS long to call bull-****" on the Audio industry?
The fact that he still writes for Stereophile demonstrates more than a little hypocrisy....IMO.
And oh by the way, he reviews a "$20,000.00" speaker system in the latest edition of Stereophile. How funny is that?
Dave.
The fact that he still writes for Stereophile demonstrates more than a little hypocrisy....IMO.
And oh by the way, he reviews a "$20,000.00" speaker system in the latest edition of Stereophile.
How funny is that? Dave.
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And oh by the way, he reviews a "$20,000.00" speaker system in the latest edition of Stereophile.
Dave.
I guess everyone has to earn a living..people can choose what they want to read.
They say the devil you know..is better than an alternative if you don't know anything else.
Hypocritical maybe..but probably practical. The pictures are sometimes nice to look at..
How many people like their job but still show up everyday to do it?
Regards
M. Gregg
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Price of an interconnect [which maybe made with 24 K Au] = that of a new car.
The main concern I have with ultra high pricing is the lack of strong correlation with improvement toward truly convincing realism in playback. It seems that the industry has reached the point where more dollars mostly buys a different sound character, perhaps, a more enjoyable sound character even, but not a significantly more convincingly realistic reproduction. In math terminology, audio products appear to have reached an asymptotic point on the realism curve, essentially, advancing by very small amounts, if it at all, regardless of the cost applied toward the objective.
This makes me wonder whether an entirely different technology paradigm of some kind may be required for truly realistic reproduction, if such a thing is even possible in a domestic environment on a consistant basis. Perhaps, the technology path the industry has been following for many decades simply isn't capable of providing truly convincing reproduction, and it's only our desperate desire as audiophiles to obtain that which cannot be provided which is partly what's driving ultra high product costs. I do want to be clear; I have heard reproduction where the instruments and voices were very transparent and present sounding, but I have not heard reproduction that sounded close to real to my ears.
For those who may be interested, the following link is to a post on a another forum where I gave my thoughts on the rationale for luxury goods pricing, including, an argument for why such pricing is actually beneficial.
MSB Diamond IV Select dac - Page 2
This makes me wonder whether an entirely different technology paradigm of some kind may be required for truly realistic reproduction, if such a thing is even possible in a domestic environment on a consistant basis. Perhaps, the technology path the industry has been following for many decades simply isn't capable of providing truly convincing reproduction, and it's only our desperate desire as audiophiles to obtain that which cannot be provided which is partly what's driving ultra high product costs. I do want to be clear; I have heard reproduction where the instruments and voices were very transparent and present sounding, but I have not heard reproduction that sounded close to real to my ears.
For those who may be interested, the following link is to a post on a another forum where I gave my thoughts on the rationale for luxury goods pricing, including, an argument for why such pricing is actually beneficial.
MSB Diamond IV Select dac - Page 2
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The limitation is stereo. The soi-disant "high end" market segment has degenerated into fashion and lifestyle because they are not capable, whether because of knowledge or commercial considerations or both, of making any real progress.
i'm convinced the limitation is your vision.
should all parts/manufacturing endeavors,
result in the same quality of sound,
your statement would be correct.
however,
what is the value of a practiced and capable workforce?
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from the FM ACOUSTICS website -
Our way of crafting a unit is very different so it is not possible to "ramp up" production like others can do. The actual delivery situation changes with order influx and production schedules. And orders have been strong, so while some models are backordered for many months, other products are available within 3 months (and not "years" like it is claimed by some "experts" on the web...).
Certain specific units, however, indeed have a waiting list until winter 2016. On these products patience is needed - which most of our clients are willingly providing. They will reap the rewards.
For 18 years FM ACOUSTICS has operated continuously at 100% of capacity. As each unit is fully hand-crafted it is impossible to just "crank up" production.
Elaborate methods using time consuming and complex selection and calibration processes are used by crafts-women and crafts-men who have been with FM ACOUSTICS for many years. It is not possible to just hire additional personnel and rapidly increase production. Hundreds of small details need specific knowledge and know how. Even experienced senior personnel needs a year or two before they understand FM ACOUSTICS standards and can start to be productive.
This may sound overstated but it is a fact that only those who have thorough "hands-on" experience of the production methods can understand how time consuming and demanding the crafting of an FM ACOUSTICS unit actually is.
Miscellaneous - FM ACOUSTICS LTD.
I suspect the same. Stereo reproduction via loudspeakers produces inter-aural crosstalk, which interferes with realistic reproduction, among other technical limitations. Stereo via headphones, while not having the inter-aural crosstalk problem of loudspeakers, have the opposite problem, a lack of natural crosstalk.
It was once thought that binaural headphone playback was the answer to that, but it just has never seemd to catch on, despite the current popularity of headphone listening.
Past industry attempts to move beyond basic stereo, from the Quadrophonic systems of the 70's to the fully discrete multi-channel digital surround systems of today, still do not provide realistic reproduction. While conveying a more three dimensional sounding ambiant field, the sounds themselves just lack realism. This is partly due to the so called, 'second venue' effect, where the reveberant sound of the listening room is superimposed on that of the recorded event. However, I feel that there's more to it than that. I feel that it's partly loudspeaker radiation pattern related, as evidenced by the nearly live sounding presence generated by some omni loudspeakers, but even there, something key is still absent.
My sense is that the key absent quality has much to do with reproducing a natural sounding dynamic envelope without sense of effort. Not loudness per se', but the great dynamic clarity that so characterizes live sound, particularly brass, cymbols and drums, but vocals as well. I suspect that the root of the lack of perceived dynamic realism is to be found in some form of distortion modulation effect, where a components distortion profile is modulated by the dynamic envelope of the program content. This effect is, perhaps, most obvious with loudspeakers, where the distortion often increases dramatically with loudness, although it is apparent with electronics as well.
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Ken, it's even more fundamental, getting back to the recording chain and how we encode. Like you, I've been highly unimpressed with most multichannel formats, with the exception of the commercially non-viable Ambisonics. Linkwitz has attacked some of the stereo issues with his speaker designs, but it's still a bandaid on a corpse.
We hit the asymptote many years ago, and the only way out is to move the axis. And that means giving up the idea of stereo.
We hit the asymptote many years ago, and the only way out is to move the axis. And that means giving up the idea of stereo.
SY, agreed.
BTW, I've long heard good things about Ambisonics, but have never had the fortune of hearing it for myself. Ambisonics could in fact be everything positive said about it, and yet has never been much more than a curiosity. My fear is, that might be so simply because the vast majority of the music listening public just doesn't care about realism enough to result in the widespread commercialization of any real advancement along those lines.
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