Seems as the drive is gone looking bak 10 years. Old circuits are in high regard - not that I can say they are lacking anyting and are probably most worthwhile to build. But in general I feel that the whole diy community is moving towards ready cooked but frosen stuff. Many good products have been obsoleted because a more popular, cheaper and inferiour brand bought them and let them die. So have we seen the prime of -/+ 25years of technology pioneering?
Are we bound to cope with what companies prefer to sell? I do not want to take that pill!
Are we bound to cope with what companies prefer to sell? I do not want to take that pill!
In my opinion (and measurements) , Hi-fi peaked in the 1980's.
Ignoring the "super A" and other fluff , the NAD,H/K, and other Japanese
creations are the peak of performance.
What we see now is just a further refinement of these 30 year old designs
here on DIYA.
PS - I would not touch post 90's audio , most of it is disposable garbage -
NOT hi-fi , at all.
OS
Ignoring the "super A" and other fluff , the NAD,H/K, and other Japanese
creations are the peak of performance.
What we see now is just a further refinement of these 30 year old designs
here on DIYA.
PS - I would not touch post 90's audio , most of it is disposable garbage -
NOT hi-fi , at all.
OS
In a word yes!
Its got little to do with technology and more to do with lifestyle and demand.
Ie in the UK people earn less and priorities change once that happens its curtains for the old ideas.
However life must move on for better or worse.
Companies make what they can sell..I think you will find we the DIY community are the dying people that think everything and everyone else is wrong, but of course if we are the minority how can we be right and everyone else be wrong.
Can you really see people going back to only phones in boxes on the street? Can you see the youth of today throwing away the mobile phone..and could you see industry going back..its never going to happen.
There are many factors the computer is probably one of the main driving forces..its life Jim but not as we know it..
Eventually people won't be able to DIY it will be plastic slabs and that will be it...through hole parts and SMD will be history.
I remember the audiophiles saying digital is rubbish and only analogue is worthy of investment..Now how can a diamond being dragged through plastic be the way forward..Its harsh but things aren't going to go back..when our generation are gone the next will be saying the same about their days..
This is all about the human race...and those that can't keep up get left behind. I'm slipping behind the pack faster as I get older..but that's how its always been..one day I will be obsolete.
Regards
M. Gregg
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Portable audio has improved a bit. The tablet I'm writing this on cost roughly what my Sanyo pocket cassette/radio did, but performs better and does more. The JVC earbuds are better than any headphones I owned back then.
It is called diyAudio and IMO you can build better amps and preamps today than anything you could buy or build in the '70s. Speakers too. For the former you have better devices and better understood designs, courtesy of Self and Cordell, and for the latter mostly better software for both design and testing.
Portable audio has been revolutionized by the iPod. It used to be that portable audio was a boombox that ran on a half-dozen D-size batteries. One tape = 90 minutes of music. 120 minutes if you wanted to risk your music collection on the ultra-thin tapes.
Later came the Walkman. Sweet. Still only 90 minutes of music, but at least the player fit in a coat pocket.
Discman. Still only one album. Still required a coat pocket.
iPod. Tiny package. Fits in the front pocket of my jeans. Huge storage. I have most of my CD collection on my 30 GB 2006 vintage iPod. It still works. My phone has my entire CD collection in 320 kbit AAC. No more, "oh, I forgot to bring CDs with me to work AGAIN. I guess I won't listen to music today."
Tom
Later came the Walkman. Sweet. Still only 90 minutes of music, but at least the player fit in a coat pocket.
Discman. Still only one album. Still required a coat pocket.
iPod. Tiny package. Fits in the front pocket of my jeans. Huge storage. I have most of my CD collection on my 30 GB 2006 vintage iPod. It still works. My phone has my entire CD collection in 320 kbit AAC. No more, "oh, I forgot to bring CDs with me to work AGAIN. I guess I won't listen to music today."
Tom
The New World
On so many levels the "New World" is doomed to a catastrophic ending. The life style is advancing towards total chaos- Or to put it other words- Maximum Entropy. That is not to say there won't be hot spots of achievement along the way; in fact they appear in forms such as: "Bright Young Talent" emigrating from places like China and India to the US in search of opportunity and finding it at places like Intel- Where they design their replacements in the creation of artificial intelligence and robotic systems for less than the former employee got for same job. But what happens when Robots produce all the worlds goods or substantially so? What do the remaining 7 Billion inhabitants do with their life? Is that when Utopia arrives? Hardly! One only take notice what the idle do for pleasure now... And where would the revenue to purchase come from? Monetary printing or everybody just gets an iPod-Phone-Player-Implanted in the brain and eats genetically engineered foods?
We have arrived at nearly peak everything with the exception of weapons systems and financial investment schemes. And now with CERN begins the delving into the construction of time, energy and matter.
In this context the DIY'ers are actually positioned quite well should the wheels fall off the world in our lifetimes... as long as it's not due to an Anti-matter neutralization...
On so many levels the "New World" is doomed to a catastrophic ending. The life style is advancing towards total chaos- Or to put it other words- Maximum Entropy. That is not to say there won't be hot spots of achievement along the way; in fact they appear in forms such as: "Bright Young Talent" emigrating from places like China and India to the US in search of opportunity and finding it at places like Intel- Where they design their replacements in the creation of artificial intelligence and robotic systems for less than the former employee got for same job. But what happens when Robots produce all the worlds goods or substantially so? What do the remaining 7 Billion inhabitants do with their life? Is that when Utopia arrives? Hardly! One only take notice what the idle do for pleasure now... And where would the revenue to purchase come from? Monetary printing or everybody just gets an iPod-Phone-Player-Implanted in the brain and eats genetically engineered foods?
We have arrived at nearly peak everything with the exception of weapons systems and financial investment schemes. And now with CERN begins the delving into the construction of time, energy and matter.
In this context the DIY'ers are actually positioned quite well should the wheels fall off the world in our lifetimes... as long as it's not due to an Anti-matter neutralization...
They ask if you want fries with that. Or more likely, you get to watch the smoke pour out of their ears if you order something that's not a combo meal and they have no idea how to ring it up.
In that world order, you won't be able to take a p*ss without a permit, let alone build something yourself out of ancient technology. Audio in general may be outlawed.. ("What can this strange device be? When it touch it, it gives forth a sound....) And if we ever do advance to using antimatter for power, some idiot will end up dropping some on the floor, and the world will suffer the same fate as Alderaan.
+10 To colourcat ,but a genetically engineered super virus should wipe out most of the planet. We are just temporary "robots" for the elite until we become unmanageable / non-viable anyways.
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Reminds me of that red matter in one of the latter Star Treks... Now where did I put that stuff? There was some plumbing job during summer as I recall...
Regards
I have to admit to being a terribly nostalgic electronics engineer.
I still buy in old 1980's Maplin audio kits and bring them back to life.
I have re-engineered 3 of the Maplin amps with modern transistors and better circuitry with my own design pcb's.
I still buy in old 1980's Maplin audio kits and bring them back to life.
I have re-engineered 3 of the Maplin amps with modern transistors and better circuitry with my own design pcb's.
I've been collecting technical books for decades. After the apocalypse, should I survive, I'll be able to recreate all the technology. At least the stuff using vacuum tubes. I did, however, recently notice a gap in my library- no books on how to grow food.
What worries me at the moment is a relatively small number of people, using tech and automation, can design and build everything the rest of the world needs, and feed them too. What does everybody else do? A friend suggested caring for the elderly, which is a good idea, but wouldn't use enough people. Is our capitalistic system soon to be a unsustainable relic in the dustbin of history?
What worries me at the moment is a relatively small number of people, using tech and automation, can design and build everything the rest of the world needs, and feed them too. What does everybody else do? A friend suggested caring for the elderly, which is a good idea, but wouldn't use enough people. Is our capitalistic system soon to be a unsustainable relic in the dustbin of history?
That's at least two. Where does this stuff come from? Have I failed to notice that everyone on the planet is fed and has all their needs met? Are wants purposely not mentioned? Is this idea vaguely disguised slavery? Is it time to close this thread? I need answers!🙂
When I was young,
I saw things differently, you went to work you earned money for the things you wanted. The world is a very strange place, people are looked after (sometimes). Its interesting to note that a reflection into the future needs to have a young mind where everything is new! How many of you older types start to see the same thing reinvented with a new twist..what happens when every tune has been played in every way possible..fashion is another example.
Perhaps we are locked in a loop? Perhaps the next catastrophy will be nano virus how do you kill a machine designed as a wepon..
Education has been reinvented so many times I've lost count..but whats it trying to achieve. Robot's are coming..I don't regard the industry version as robot..don't forget the big filter<<the idea of the wall that has to be crossed ie no life to life..life to self aware..self aware to audiophile..😀
Perhaps what is important is standard of living...if you are going to live how do you want to live..like Jimi Hendrix said..When I have to die I have to do it my way..so let me live my life the way I want to live it..😀 its interesting..
People work they spend money and buy what others make..or so it used to be..But that's a reflection from an older mind not a shiny new one. A child sees the sun for the first time..and starts to remember<<NB I didn't say learn. Lets enter the great hall and see the elders 2000 years old..what would they have to say?
The first elder speaks I'm bored..and me says another..like the gods on Olympus what would they do that would interest them? Taking into account the limitations of the universe if we cannot travel...we appear to be locked in the past and can't see it. How much has really changed..for the average working person just things look nicer and so it goes on..are we really so different? A nano virus and a club are both weapons the only difference is the technology has anything changed in the human mind?
Regards
M. Gregg
I saw things differently, you went to work you earned money for the things you wanted. The world is a very strange place, people are looked after (sometimes). Its interesting to note that a reflection into the future needs to have a young mind where everything is new! How many of you older types start to see the same thing reinvented with a new twist..what happens when every tune has been played in every way possible..fashion is another example.
Perhaps we are locked in a loop? Perhaps the next catastrophy will be nano virus how do you kill a machine designed as a wepon..
Education has been reinvented so many times I've lost count..but whats it trying to achieve. Robot's are coming..I don't regard the industry version as robot..don't forget the big filter<<the idea of the wall that has to be crossed ie no life to life..life to self aware..self aware to audiophile..😀
Perhaps what is important is standard of living...if you are going to live how do you want to live..like Jimi Hendrix said..When I have to die I have to do it my way..so let me live my life the way I want to live it..😀 its interesting..
People work they spend money and buy what others make..or so it used to be..But that's a reflection from an older mind not a shiny new one. A child sees the sun for the first time..and starts to remember<<NB I didn't say learn. Lets enter the great hall and see the elders 2000 years old..what would they have to say?
The first elder speaks I'm bored..and me says another..like the gods on Olympus what would they do that would interest them? Taking into account the limitations of the universe if we cannot travel...we appear to be locked in the past and can't see it. How much has really changed..for the average working person just things look nicer and so it goes on..are we really so different? A nano virus and a club are both weapons the only difference is the technology has anything changed in the human mind?
Regards
M. Gregg
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Humm, Really..in what country? we are on the verge of a global catastrophe..
But its nothing new, its just new to our generation.
We create hell on earth but that's the human condition..😀 we build up paradise and then destroy it at a whim.
Can there actually be any change..probably not. We are not in control I hear everyone say.. but the question is then who is in control if the problems are made by us.
We are heading for the biggest problem we could imagine..the problem is us! However we refuse to admit it like Nero singing as he burns Rome..
We are fantastic at blaming everything else..pointing the finger its your fault..as we argue while the patient dies on the table.
Regards
M. Gregg
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