CES 2012 – All these laptops and Music Servers and USB DACs…
So many systems were completely…
[OK, yes, you might call this a rant. But it is really a lament]
They spend all that money and effort to set up a room, and then they muck it all up. They sit there with their remote control enjoying how they can sit on their bums and play this track and that track – and it all sounds like itchy and scratchy, get me out of here, 1984 again [not the Eurythmics album, 1984, that was GREAT. Currently watching the associated movie it was the soundtrack for… But, back to the lament:].
Sorry to be such a curmudgeon, guys, but I spent my 20’s with early CD sound – and I do not intend to happily relive that particular audio hell again. Not without a fight,, anyway š
You young folks… go for it. See you in 10 years [takes about this long] when you all are lamenting the youthful hours and disposable income misspent , along with all the previous generations of audiophiles – as the rest of us wait for the technology to mature and sound like music [or at least hack up something that pays attention to the actual musical nature of music].
Hey, the generation before me had to live though the solid-state amp / preamp ‘revolution’ – apparently each generation has to suffer [insert wild, hellish screaming here] … The reel-to-reel guys probably thought the same thing about the arrival of LPs – the first turntables probably sounded like poop. .
Hi Guys,
I tried to post the following to the blog, but I think it was again unsuccessful. [So we’re posting it under my name… Mike. We think Len’s ultra-secure PC environment may have something to do with this problem – not sure yet.]
I won’t consider computer audio until three things happen:
1) there’s general agreement on the best standardized implementation method (sound reproduction capability at least equal to SACD, it’s as easy to use as current digital players, and has straight forward backup procedures);
2) the overwhelming percentage of published music is available at redbook or higher resolution quality;
3) composer/artist art and literature is offered comparable to what LP’s use to offer.
Len
Hi Len,
[Was kind of hoping all you lurkers out there would have something to say… but guess not :-)]
I think your post was great and quantified thing is a way that is both practical and illustrative. I think we all can try to think about what our own lists are, and also about what other people’s lists apparently are.
Thinking about your list:
1) SACD is a pretty high bar, I guess I’m OK with redbook [as you know, redbook can sound pretty good :-)].
2) Good point.
3) The potential, of course, is that here will tremendously MORE art and literature than before: the artist’s tweets, wikipedia page, etc.
Later, there could be:
1. Custom websites for an album / song where there is tons of art
2. Custom websites for an album / song which are interactive and social [artwork, photos of the band members, art others have drawn that go with each song, photos and videos of the band on tour playing that song, a forum where people talk about the song, stats on how well the song sold, amount of radio airplay, etc]
3. An evolution beyond music videos to online interactive music experiences [e.g. a Dark Side of the Moon asylum where you go into different rooms and here different songs, can change the length and volume of any segment of the song, etc.]
—–
Back to earth… my list would be similar but, perhaps:
1) The sound is redbook quality or better.
2) Each piece in the technology chain, and the chain itself, has been standardized enough that it is available from at least 3 different manufacturers
3) The ease-of-use as good or better than a CD player [as Len pointed out] and similar robustness [no blue screens of death, no rebooting all the time, no long pauses by the OS swapping in the code, no hiccups during the steaming download, etc]
Anybody else have a list?
Thanks, Len! We’re still preparing to run a bunch of tests to determine why your comments are not showing up…
Take care,
-Mike
I tried some CD rips using dbpoweramp awhile ago and found the album art consisted of only the cover and track listings – pretty lame!