Good read: Audioholics‘ about science/religion

Very relevant and true, though perhaps it's a bit "old news".

Still on the fence about the network audio thing, it's the future no doubt. But aside from AES67 which is a professional standard for audio over IP, I do not see any household equivalent that's as easy to use and configure.
 
The thing I am most reluctant to accept is that streaming-stuff. Firstly it’s bogging bandwidth and driving global-warmth (just like a class-A warms up the listening-room), and then there‘s the business-models, starving out the artists)…
but yeah, full access to „every“ tape ever released sounds like fun. OTOH, it makes collecting (good records) somewhat irrelevant.
One of the pleasures I enjoy when I’m at my friends places is their music-collection—„have you heard this record/interpretation?“ etc.—just as much as listening (and looking at 🙂 ) the gear…
 
Yes, streaming is killing the polar bears.

My bedroom system amps dissipate about 400W, the DAC alone 100W but at least i don't stream 😀

I'd be very surprised if a 400W Amp consumes 400W!

Think nearer 30W plus a few Watts when it's actually doing something.

DACs and CD players consume a mere couple of watts as do tuners.

I just tested my HiFi, 43 Watts at idle, and hardly increases under load.

6 core PC and all ancillaries including internet: 91W idle occasionally jumping to 150W when busy. Added a 10W table lamp, 101W, so a calibrated result.

It's air-conditioning, heating and cooking that eats up the kilowatts. Enough Bunny Hugging, let's do the Science! 😀
 
English is not my native language, so please forgive me if I misunderstood it. For me this article is about the need (in the view of the author) of breaking with our old habits. Namely, listening to vinyls, that "low-resolution, low-dynamic, high-distortion format that was relevant 65 years ago". And he even has some remark about the early DAC chips. "Can a 1984 DAC chip perform like the best over-sampling, super-computer DACs of today to make digital more analogous to the master tape? No, it can’t." I, as many here, am biased towards the early Philips DACs (TDA154x), and I think our hobby is not only about technology evolution, but conveying emotion through music in the first place. Streaming is convenient, but pulling an LP out of its sleeve, enjoying the cover art, the ritual of putting on an LP or a reel-to-reel tape, that is something different.
 
Yes, I'm absolutely on your side.
The more I think about it, the more I question his conclusions. Although some are quite correct. (Like socialising in the listening-room, or this thing about strange wires)
Good gear should be able to be left in invisibility, and on the other hand, I like to have that stuff admired...
And still, nothing compares to a vinyl record, reel, tube-amp etc. IMHO