On Sat, 28 Sep 2013, Larc wrote:
On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 22:11:18 GMT, (DK) wrote:
| In article , Metspitzer wrote:
|
| You really wouldn't even need a laptop. You could control the stereo
| with a cellphone.
|
| It's all just status games. Stuff not really far removed from "my
| dick is bigger than yours". Where it was big-ass HI-FI system
| before, it is the gold-plated iPhone now. It's not about function,
| it's about status.
|
| That said, the idea that mp3 on any of those teeny-tiny audio
| "systems" produce a sound comparable to the well-built
| analog setup is completely laughable. They are just good
| enough for masses and the hi-fi craze of the 1980s was a
| huge overkill for that same masses.
There's a definite connection between the death of good home stereo
systems and the death of golden ears. Much of the public just doesn't
seem to demand audiophile sound quality anymore. They are perfectly
happy with obviously reduced fidelity and increased distortion just so
long as it's loud enough. At a time when there has been greater clamor
for always better quality visuals, audio has been allowed to reverse.
Well, at least most of the music they listen to wouldn't profit any from
better sound reproduction.
I wonder if the Walkman had something to do with it. It gave a good sound
by doing away with speakers. A pair of reasonable headpones against the
ears will sound better than some random speaker in a less than perfect
box. And since they were headphones, not much audio power needed from the
Walkman, so it likely was a decent amplifier.
So people got used to something small, and eventually not so expensive.
It also shifted them, "music is portable".
And around that time, the CD appears, "really high fidelity sound", and
expensive. But eventually CD players are everywhere, the quality of the
sound not so important, the portability of the CD more important.
And that followed, so The Big Stereos start disappearing. Some of it is
cosmetic, the wave of mini-stereos came along at some point, some awful
but the quality (at least other than the speakers) not a reflection of the
small size.
And then computers came along, everyone wants sound, but doesnt' want the
space. So instead of a decent sound system, they add horrible plastic
speakers with just enough amplification to get some sound out of them.
They aren't there for sound, they are there to get some sound.
So by the time people decided they didn't always want to have headphones
plugged into their ears, the notion that small was what counted was there.
I've seen cheap speakers that have no amplification that plug into mp3
players. The good thing is that if they want good sound, they can always
revert to headphones, which of course puts them back into portable mode.
It's just that if they want speakers, they won't do so well. Even a
boombox with auxiliary inputs have bigger speakers (relative speaking)
than many of these docking stations.
Michael