New is not better than old, rings your bell? They don't make stuff as good as before? Let's get down to the fact, with cost inflated, they don't make stuff as cheap anymore. Will the market be able to accept the unfriendly price remained to be seen. Blame it on the discontinued parts, banned substances, environmental compliance, rising labour costs, the economy of scale and inflation, up is the only way prices go. Vintage stuff, in particular, if any in good condition will drive the prices nut.
With an enormous amount of research and development in digital and speaker technology for the last decade sees the remarkable improvements. Amplification, for goodness sake, is nearly 70 years old of maturity. "The transistor was invented in 1947 and announced in 1948 by Bell Laboratory engineers John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. Bell associate William Shockley invented the junction transistor a few months later, and all three jointly shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for inventing the transistor" in reference to https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/upgrade-repair-pc,3000-2.html. Except for Class D amplification, this new technology is slowly gathering momentum in spite of lukewarm acceptance. In the back of audiophiles' head, the stereotype mindset has been Class A is better than Class AB, Class AB is better than Class D. I do find Class A sounds slow, the heat is never a welcoming element in a tropic climate. I for one, wouldn't like to listen to music in a sauna. Now, Class D offers unprecedented cheap power, will it spur the speaker designers a free hand to low impedance and power-hungry speakers? We shall see.
With hindsight, I'm an advocate of high efficiency and friendly impedance speakers and what not to like? An easier route to get sound, that of course if you could live with their shortcomings. Every speaker works around the compromises, the good ones don't commit the sin of commission. I champion minimalist system for the purity of sound, detail and transparency. That way, the signal travels less, less signal meddling (by the equipment), on top of that, a saving on one interconnects, power cord, one plinth, one set resonance footers. In short, fewer variables in a system. The real benefit is no crazy power is required. All these freed up precious space, gives music the needed breathing space that promotes greater music expression.
Without a doubt, audioing is personal fulfilment. Audiophiles want to improve their system, they save up to build a bespoke system. Not a generic system, no glamour and glory. They skimp on car maintenance, family vacations, expensive dining and any other spendings. True audiophiles are willing to pay for sound improvement while hesitant on non-audio spendings. The sense of achievement is immeasurable, people do crazy things to boot.
Be it high-end or mid-level, I lookout for a proprietary property or character in a system. Audiophiles who craft their sound weigh a lot, you know when you hear one, trust me. A system with lots of love and cares, the sound speaks louder. While some excel on voices, some on soundstage, some on tones, some in dynamics and though not comprehensive in performance, they earn my respect for trying something than making silly comments.
A well written white paper can only be meaningful if it truly brings improvements. Absorbing technical hoo-ha and allows it to runs over your head prejudices your judgement. The court of public opinion is also equally misleading given different systems and experiences. We should never be wowed by technology superiority that preconditions our mind, the truth lies in the listening. Most importantly, don't be deceived by marketing hype if any.
Implementation is king in electrical and electronics. All parts work within tolerance, this goes without saying different sound with different batches of the component of the same make. Ironically, non-engineering background audiophiles try to pick up from everywhere, they never get the whole picture. Half-truth story. Those with engineering background audiophiles are neither any good especially audio isn't their line of work. Theories can be different from practical. Any electrical student will need to submit his amp project for graduation, good sound is still a far distance. Some audiophiles subscribe to "You're what you eat", totally sold on exotic components. No, it isn't entirely true, the circuit is the mother of all sound. Knowing what goes inside the hood doesn't make one a better audiophile, does it? The point is, do what audiophiles do best, listening. Big mistake to presume things they don't fully understand, a half-cooked knowledge. Topology is the job of an engineer, let the engineers put their skills to the best they could. Everything comes down to the sonic merit.
Good sound or not, audiophiles generally have a good consensus, in most cases. Then again, I don't agree speaker making is art. In my definition, art is a masterpiece, cannot be replicated or produced in quantity. Without prejudice, Klipsch folded horn amazes me for how the technologies go in the speaker. It's the work of a genius, well ahead of its time, so is Quad ESL57. A Chinese proverb says white cat matters not as long as it can catch mice, makes perfect sense in a system building. These speaker technologies inspired me. I'm more of a sound guy than an audiophile. Upgrade is a low hanging fruit, tweaking, on the other hand, will precipitate if you don't know what you're doing. Empirical studies on sound couldn't be very far from right. Like everything in life, nothing comes free, I pay for my lesson with time, efforts and money. Probably you have already noticed that I don't share much of my tweakings/Intelligent Properties in the public.
Audiophiles listen to take a sneak peep into the host's sonic ideas. This is what makes audio interesting. It's a learning opportunity not to be missed, we learn from each other how one arrives at what. Go have fun.
