Future progress in reproduced sound

[PeterA]

What are the biggest impediments to realism in reproduce sound? How can they be addressed and will there be significant progress made to solving these issues in the foreseeable future?

I happen to think they are in the areas of clarity, scale, and energy. It’s not clear to me if it is more of a recording issue or a system presentation issue. Or is it something completely different like the fact that we all have different preferences and can’t agree on a common direction?

There was an interesting discussion on Ron’s podcast recently about the fragmentation in the hobby. Was it always like this? It didn’t seem so fragmented when I was younger and first becoming interested in the 1970s, but I was not paying a lot of attention back then to the industry at large.

I am curious to learn what others think about this topic.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

There was an interesting discussion on Ron’s podcast recently about the fragmentation in the hobby. Was it always like this? It didn’t seem so fragmented when I was younger and first becoming interested in the 1970s

no internet. how could you know about what was going on? just what was mainstream enough to be in magazines.

, but I was not paying a lot of attention back then to the industry at large.

I am curious to learn what others think about this topic.

the fragmentation was always there, but the internet did two things; it's allowed awareness to spread of pockets of interests, and brought more attention to those groups and attracted like thinking hobbyists. so each group went farther down their rat holes with more encouragement.....and separated further.

living situations have always been an influence; larger family homes and suburban life and large paychecks drove manufacturer/dealer and product and speaker size in the USA, even baby-boomer 60's rock focus with more desire for deep bass. and more dense population and smaller rooms were significant in Europe and Asia. also the classical music focus in Europe was a factor too and effected gear choices and speaker size, less low frequency focus levels, and horns. SET and horns in Japan was isolated for a time, then got recognized and became part of the big picture. hobbyist's became manufacturers of more esoteric narrowly focused gear.

the CD and then the i-pod and files, streaming and mobile listening, along with the change in the music business all had a hand in things too.

music listening in the 60's and 70's was turntables and the radio. cassettes then started to expand things.

these days with home ownership harder it might skew system footprint over time again for younger generations. but serious audiophiles are such a small fraction of the population not sure it will change things.

 

[Lee]

I think there are few impediments and, in fact, a lot of growth possibilities from science and technology.

My bet is that mathematics will continue to move forward in digital and create lower noise floors and better dynamics.

I think on the analog side, more precision in speed, isolation, and materials science will continue to drive down noise.

On loudspeakers there is a clear trend to better and better crossovers and drivers.

On electronics, there are better circuit designs, improving parts quality, and better power and grounding implementation.

On the recording side, new mic and ADC technology is improving.

In my opinion, some SOTA systems present astonishing realism like the M9 experience I had. But I believe even non-SOTA systems will materially improve.

 

[Lee]

As far as fragmentation, it seems a double-edged sword. The rise of virtual communities has created opportunities for niche segmentation. But it’s a tiny hobby already so arguably this doesn’t help industry economics.

Or am I wrong?

More segments may create new paths into the hobby. At TAS we saw portable audio, turntables, and computer audio as gateway drugs of sorts.