High-end audio has always supported a fringe element of manufacturers who make bizarre products backed up by loopy "research." Curious, strange, or just plain silly, these products, and the claims made for them, have given the audio hobby a sort of "Flat Earth Society" cult reputation.
DVD audio standards are still up in the air, but promise (hopefully) to come down soon. For our inaugural question, we want to know what you prefer: fewer channels and longer playing times, or multichannel high-quality sound with shorter playing times.
Several years back, sales of multidisc CD changers overtook single-disc players in the lower end of the consumer market. New multidisc machines from California Audio Labs and others have pushed this trend toward the high end, but will they overtake tweak single-disc player sales?
Conventional wisdom has always held that a pair of speakers can make the biggest difference in how a system sounds. But these days other components may be equally or more important, depending on the situation.
It's not easy being an audiophile. Once you finally get that perfect (or near-perfect) pair of speakers, you've got to find a good location for them in your room, along with your other furniture. Did you build your room around your stereo, or do you prefer your stereo to fit into your mixed-use room?
Based on the replies from an earlier "Vote!" about the future of high-end audio, many audiophiles predict a continually diminishing market for high-end gear.
Some claim that FM radio for serious musical enjoyment is dead, while others say it is only sleeping. Certainly some of you have favorite music stations you listen to once in a while. Don't you?
Reader Dan Rust decides to rip open the can o' worms about audiophiles spending extra bucks on the wire in their systems. We're curious about your experiences: How important are speaker-cable and interconnect upgrades to you?
Recording and music production technology has seen enormous change in recent years. Engineers and producers now have unprecedented power to manipulate the tinest details in recordings using computers and other tools. But the process may be taking the life and soul out of music. Some feel that commercial recordings lack the spontaneity that makes live music so immediate and satisfying. Others prefer the "perfection."
In the January '98 <i>Stereophile</i>, Michael Zeugin of Audio Influx asserts that high-end audio is being sucked into a "Black Hole" for a variety of reasons. These include: goofy products, computers taking over the youth market, and boomers' limited income being channeled elsewhere. What do you think?