Retrospective

20 Years of High End by Myles Astor /cont'd

#5: Equipment Prices Guess I’m starting to sound like my parents! Twenty years or so ago, I was hemming and hawing over the purchase of my first high-end audio interconnect, the Super Litz MF-1, for the then unheard of price of $47! Later on, Grado raised the industry’s and consumer’s eyebrows alike when he released a transducer topping the $600 price point. To show how much things have changed in the last 20 years, SOTA cable and cartridge prices now top $10,000 and electronics and turntables are close to or over $100K. On the plus side, the performance of some current inexpensive high-end audio products tops what was considered state-of-the-art 20 years ago. #4: Home Theater Competitor or adjunct to high-end audio? The verdict is still out. Home theater has yet to achieve the promised convergence of auditory and visual senses for music reproduction. Unfortunately in the vast majority of home theater systems, musical realism takes a back seat to the spectacular and the sensational. Well then, at least audio companies are selling more channels, wire and speakers. #3: The Internet Every industry has been touched by the internet—and high-end audio is no exception. Where does one start? One could begin with how the internet has created a worldwide community of audiophiles who exchange pleasantries on forums such as audioasylum.com, individual websites or audio blogs. Then there’s the speed of information dissemination through individual websites or audio blogs (of course, there’s always the downside of malcontents and trolls stalking the ethernet). Finally, Ebay, audiogon.com and a handful of other sites make buying or selling equipment or software a breeze. On the business end, equipment manufacturers’ websites offer everything from information and specs on current product lines to a product history to the ability to download equipment owner’s manuals. On the magazine side, the internet has, for better or worse, opened the door to a new generation of virtual high-end audio magazines. Allowing for greater and more diverse viewpoints, these magazines still haven’t realized their ultimate goal—bringing a review to fruition much more quickly than print magazines. The bottleneck for both bricks and mortar and virtual magazines is still the time needed to properly review a piece of audio gear. #2: The Absolute Sound magazine This is the magazine that gave rise to the modern era of high-end audio. This is the magazine that introduced the world to then unknown audio manufacturers such as Audio Research, conrad-johnson, Mark Levinson (the man), Infinity, VPI, Magnepan, etc. (as well as many that folded, remaining forever part of the history of high-end audio). The original The Absolute Sound, affectionately known to its readership as TAS, set the standard, especially during its Golden Years in the ’80s, by which all other magazines were judged. In its heyday, TAS, guided by the vision of the intrepid Harry Pearson, resonated with an unbridled enthusiasm, a sense of adventure and appreciation of music. Could another magazine recapture TAS’s early visions and success? The answer is as simple and complex as this: Time and place are just as important as the idea when it comes to hitting a home run. That time may be at hand again…. #1: Digital Recording Not a lot needs to be said here. For better or worse, the advent of digital recording technology has revolutionized the recording, music and high-end audio industries. There’s the ease of use. No more pops and ticks. The iPod. Music on the go. Downloadable music. The ability to do home recordings. Upsampling. What’s the next digital frontier? Almost certainly in the near future, at least, the use of server-based music systems.