Death of High End Audio

S

stonedwaldo420

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
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505
I have always been a fan of hooking my computer to an actual home theater setup (one with full size floor standing front speakers… those shitty mini front speakers with 6in woofers don’t count!).
Anyway, the wall street journal had a depressing article in it this morning about how some manufacturers (I believe they mentioned sony) are discontinuing their line of high end audio gear such as receivers. Why? The iPod has caused so many people to look at sound quality as not so important.
What do yall think about this? I would cry if Yamaha, Onkyo, and Harman Kardon discontinued their high quality lines as well.

BTW, how do the USB hookups on some of the new receivers work?
 
You have a link for this article? I think that Sony is discontinuing because they aren't selling the quantity they desire rather than iPod Death. Besides, I know quite a few iPod users using lossless.
 
I'm not worried. Sony is really a company that does all media.

Companies Like Denon, H/k, etc. only make audio gear. There will always be demand, it's just a matter of how much.
 
I dont think high end sound is dying at all, sure theres the ipod crowd but thats not everyone that listens to music.

Usually people that dont buy high end stuff havent tried it and dont know any better. That or that cant afford it
 
Sony recievers were never the greatest anyways..I think. :p
 
aznx said:
Sony recievers were never the greatest anyways..I think. :p
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LOL, I agree completely. That’s why I am not crying right now. I sure as hell won't miss them from this segment of the market. In fact, I think it is in some ways a good thing that Sony got out. After all, a lot of uninformed buyers were being tricked into buying an overpriced Sony that just couldn’t stack up to Yamaha, Onkyo, or Harman Kardon. This means more $$$ going to the good guys.
Sony car subwoofers suck hardcore as well.
Why can’t they make audio gear as high quality as their tube TVs (which are pretty damn nice)?
 
stonedwaldo420 said:
LOL, I agree completely. That’s why I am not crying right now. I sure as hell won't miss them from this segment of the market. In fact, I think it is in some ways a good thing that Sony got out. After all, a lot of uninformed buyers were being tricked into buying an overpriced Sony that just couldn’t stack up to Yamaha, Onkyo, or Harman Kardon. This means more $$$ going to the good guys.
Sony car subwoofers suck hardcore as well.
Why can’t they make audio gear as high quality as their tube TVs (which are pretty damn nice)?
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I think it's cause they're too big...not enough resources to make everything really really good.
 
I can see the logic.

I rememebr back when a stereo was a personal statement as much as a car was. Normal people used to have parties to demo their stuff. A tuner costs a few hundred dollars, and an amp was more. Integrated crap was shunned and looked down on.

Now, it's kind of still there, but the costs are higher to the point most people can't afford seperate components and integrated is the way to go for most: all throw away stuff the same as everyone else has.

Sony won't be out of it...ever. They always make a one off super high end thing that amazes anyone who comes into contact with it.

Heck, without Sony, the DC coupled circuits IC's are made of wouldn't exist (or at least not they way they do now).

Sony has made some pretty good amplifiers and stuff (remember the legato linear from the 80's...very smooth, I had one myself) they more cross the border on esoteric for their seperate of lately.
 
No biggie. I wouldn't buy high end Sony stereo equipment, and I don't believe people buying higher end gear would either. My first receiver was a Sony though, but it wasn't high end, just higher end for Best Buy. Who needs Sony when you can buy Krell? :D
 
Sony hi-end is there ES line, and I would call it a low hi-end compared to most hi-end stuff in that price range. Don't get me wrong Sony ES has had some nice stuff over the years. but I am sure they just do not make the sales with it anymore as there is much better equipment in that price range now days...
 
High end isn't dying. I have a highend setup in my vehicle and I can't stand MP3's, I will always buy the CD over downloading from iTunes because the quality is so much better. I guess it depends on the volume you like to listen at though.
 
benamaster said:
High end isn't dying. I have a highend setup in my vehicle and I can't stand MP3's, I will always buy the CD over downloading from iTunes because the quality is so much better. I guess it depends on the volume you like to listen at though.
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Me too, after getting some decent sound stuff mp3s just dont cut it anymore. I buy cds now. The lossless files sound good as well but my computer is soo loud its not worth it to listen to music from it
 
True, a car is such a different listening environment, along with the living room. MP3's aren't bad to listen to while working though. FLAC is pretty good burnt to a CD though.
 
hi-end audio will never die. The problem with the introduction of the ipod is that people are beginning to favor image and style over functionality and performance. Hence why so many people are buying thes ipod speaker docks from JBL and the like for $200+ and insist they sound wonderful rather than investing in some real speakers.

As long as they are in business, HK, Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, ect will keep on making high end receivers, and other companies will continue to make high end speakers and other components.
 
Sony is a special case.

Most of their "high end" is crap and people know it. They're no longer willing to pay the Sony premium when there is competing hardware that is both cheaper and better.

The only respect they had left was for a couple of their dvd players and their projectors. They've been decidely mid-fi in the audio area for years.
 
I used to say I loved Sony A/V equipment, but now it's only I <3 Sony video equipment. They simply kick ass in that segment for the most part. I don't see how high-end audio is dying though...I'll happily wait 'till next paycheck so I can purchase that nice Denon over a mid-range receiver. Hell, just lift a high-end receiver and some other mid-range/retail store fare...the high-end receiver is freakin' massive. I think the filtering circuitry in my Denon is like 10lbs alone.
 
I was surprised to see that WSJ article making the rounds so much. The iPod + iTunes music store is the new cassette. Plenty of people back in the 80's and 90's had cassettes as their primary means of music playback with no real pretensions of true hi-fi.. but for most it was good enough quality. That didn't kill the high end did it? That's the problem with journalists. They're too much in tune with the sheep-like, frankly rather dumb people who form most of the world's population.

And it's not going to be a bunch of people obsessing about CD quality from now on. Even now there are companies experimenting with 24/96 downloads, high-end dedicated computer audio systems under development, etc. It'll change... but speaking as one, the audiogeek will be alive and kicking for quite a while yet.
 
This is not an attempt to insult every self-professed audiophile, but...

Maybe the MP3 has broadened people's horizons to the point that exploring and enjoying new types of music is what being an audiophile is really about? The traditional audiophile obsesses over quantitative and qualiftative evaluation of audio quality, and perhaps more than a few of them could get more out of their music by trying new music rather than "reference" titles for audio evaluation.
 
xonik said:
This is not an attempt to insult every self-professed audiophile, but...

Maybe the MP3 has broadened people's horizons to the point that exploring and enjoying new types of music is what being an audiophile is really about? The traditional audiophile obsesses over quantitative and qualiftative evaluation of audio quality, and perhaps more than a few of them could get more out of their music by trying new music rather than "reference" titles for audio evaluation.
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There is no traditional audiophile in terms of music buying habits. But it is in fact far more likely you'll find a groaning rack of CD's or if you're more hardcore, vinyl.
 
benamaster said:
With Sony dropping out of high end audio, what will happen to SACD?
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SACD is stillborn anyways. Even with players with SACD-support becoming more common, the available library is still exceedingly MEH.
 
Zardoz said:
Sony hi-end is there ES line, and I would call it a low hi-end compared to most hi-end stuff in that price range. Don't get me wrong Sony ES has had some nice stuff over the years. but I am sure they just do not make the sales with it anymore as there is much better equipment in that price range now days...
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Their highlights have not been their receivers, though. They have had some very nice DVD and CD players over the years. Some you can get used for around $300 still rival many $1k+ units. They are build like brick shit houses, too.
 
stonedwaldo420 said:
I have always been a fan of hooking my computer to an actual home theater setup (one with full size floor standing front speakers… those shitty mini front speakers with 6in woofers don’t count!).
Anyway, the wall street journal had a depressing article in it this morning about how some manufacturers (I believe they mentioned sony) are discontinuing their line of high end audio gear such as receivers. Why? The iPod has caused so many people to look at sound quality as not so important.
What do yall think about this? I would cry if Yamaha, Onkyo, and Harman Kardon discontinued their high quality lines as well.

BTW, how do the USB hookups on some of the new receivers work?
Click to expand...

Simply put, know this:
If companies stop making quote "high end" audio products, this allows for more of a nitch market for high end audio. Honestly, to be frank with you, these big names really have little to no market share in the ture "high end" audio market from what I've seen.

Bottom line, don't worry. There are people who will pay an arm and a leg for high end audio, and thus there will always be this nitch market of high end audio makers. It ain't going anywhere.

I think it would be interesting to compare the ideaology of mass market brand names in the US, and how they do things differently in Europe. I think it all deals with target audience.
 
What is more important however is the fact that mainstream consumer audio should be made better, even if at some expense. Most people do not know or care about real audio fidelity and the ones that do pay a lot of money for the priviledge. What needs to happen is availability of lower priced, higher quality gear to get normal consumers interested in high sound quality. It is a lot like PC speakers: The good ones were very expensive and a few years later the price has dropped to a level that is touching mainstream. Take the Z5300e's for example: They are now under $150 in many places except for the biggest retailers. Though they aren't awesome, they are great for the price. The market isn't won with quality over affordability, it is won with a marriage of both extremes.
 
eastvillager said:
Sony is a special case.

Most of their "high end" is crap and people know it. They're no longer willing to pay the Sony premium when there is competing hardware that is both cheaper and better.

The only respect they had left was for a couple of their dvd players and their projectors. They've been decidely mid-fi in the audio area for years.
Click to expand...

QFT!
 
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