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> The home audio market has moved on The audio business has merged with the "home theatre" business. The pursuit of audiophile quality was always a boutique/ni

> The home audio market has moved on The audio business has merged with the "home theatre" business. The pursuit of audiophile quality was always a boutique/niche market. > listening to physical music recordings without using a screen You don't need a screen to listen to good audio reproduction. FLAC does of course need a digital device and storage. But there are huge advantages to FLAC over "physical music recordings". You can store FLAC on a USB key and plug it into a modern amplifier to listen. If you must have a spinning wheel (get it?) you can burn FLAC to an optical disc and play that in a player without much "screen". But even optical discs are artifacts of the past. > It's like cursive writing, or knowing how to drive a stick-shift. Handwriting is much more profound for personal development and education. The US Constitution, for example, is a hand-written document. For transportation and tools, technology and innovation will change how people live. Those who remember the past recall how folks lived with trolley buses, ice-boxes, adjusting "rabbit ears", and dialing rotary telephones. Fortunately we can all watch old films in our home theatres. (^;

majormajor 1y ago
> The audio business has merged with the "home theatre" business. The pursuit of audiophile quality was always a boutique/niche market. That's not really what they meant - most people do not have "home theaters" they have a soundbar or a couple of bluetooth speakers.
- crazygringo 1y ago
  Although on the other hand, if you listen with AirPods Pro streaming 5.1, you get a better surround sound and audio experience than 99.9% of speaker setups. For just a couple hundred bucks. Even beyond the audio quality and spatial processing, the noise reduction is magic that speakers can't do. It's amazing how much more detail you can hear when the sound of the HVAC is removed, the hum of the refrigerator, the rumble of traffic. Not to mention the total elimination of sonic reflections off your walls and ceiling that muddy the sound from speakers, unless you're applying treatments.
  - baq 1y ago
    Nobody is saying headphones can’t deliver a good experience, but you can’t cheat physics when going below a couple hundred hertz.
    - crazygringo 1y ago
      Not sure what you're saying -- you know that in-ear sealed headphones (like AirPods Pro) have phenomenal bass? There's no leakage path, and no destructive interference issues. All the issues with driving bass in speakers just... don't apply with sealed headphones. It's basically perfect bass. The only thing you don't get is the full-body shaking sensation that massive speaker bass provides. But that's not even audio. That's more like amusement-park ride stuff. (Not to say it isn't great too.) I mean, tell me what you think of the frequency response below 200 Hz here: https://storage.googleapis.com/headphones_com_blog_files/app2ndgen8.png https://storage.googleapis.com/headphones_com_blog_files/app... (from https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/apple-airpods-pro-2nd-gen-impressions https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/apple-airpods-pro-2nd-g...)
      - majormajor 1y ago
        I have AirPods Pro (and like the B&O EX much better, personally), but I wouldn't use them for bass-heavy stuff even compared to over-the-ear ones, let alone a system with big woofers. It's just not the same as filling a room, and not just in an "amusement-park" way.
        crazygringo 1y ago
        > but I wouldn't use them for bass-heavy stuff I mean, it's whatever you enjoy, but it's definitely got nothing to do with the frequency response or clarity. If you want to "fill the room" for bass-heavy stuff that's more of a psychological thing. I personally like the bass-heavy stuff way more on the AirPods Pro precisely because it's so much clearer, without the muddiness. Because there's nowhere near the level or distortion, reflection, etc. you get with room speakers.
  - 1y ago

majormajor 1y ago

> The audio business has merged with the "home theatre" business. The pursuit of audiophile quality was always a boutique/niche market. That's not really what they meant - most people do not have "home theaters" they have a soundbar or a couple of bluetooth speakers.

crazygringo 1y ago
Although on the other hand, if you listen with AirPods Pro streaming 5.1, you get a better surround sound and audio experience than 99.9% of speaker setups. For just a couple hundred bucks. Even beyond the audio quality and spatial processing, the noise reduction is magic that speakers can't do. It's amazing how much more detail you can hear when the sound of the HVAC is removed, the hum of the refrigerator, the rumble of traffic. Not to mention the total elimination of sonic reflections off your walls and ceiling that muddy the sound from speakers, unless you're applying treatments.
- baq 1y ago
  Nobody is saying headphones can’t deliver a good experience, but you can’t cheat physics when going below a couple hundred hertz.
  - crazygringo 1y ago
    Not sure what you're saying -- you know that in-ear sealed headphones (like AirPods Pro) have phenomenal bass? There's no leakage path, and no destructive interference issues. All the issues with driving bass in speakers just... don't apply with sealed headphones. It's basically perfect bass. The only thing you don't get is the full-body shaking sensation that massive speaker bass provides. But that's not even audio. That's more like amusement-park ride stuff. (Not to say it isn't great too.) I mean, tell me what you think of the frequency response below 200 Hz here: https://storage.googleapis.com/headphones_com_blog_files/app2ndgen8.png https://storage.googleapis.com/headphones_com_blog_files/app... (from https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/apple-airpods-pro-2nd-gen-impressions https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/apple-airpods-pro-2nd-g...)
    - majormajor 1y ago
      I have AirPods Pro (and like the B&O EX much better, personally), but I wouldn't use them for bass-heavy stuff even compared to over-the-ear ones, let alone a system with big woofers. It's just not the same as filling a room, and not just in an "amusement-park" way.
      - crazygringo 1y ago
        > but I wouldn't use them for bass-heavy stuff I mean, it's whatever you enjoy, but it's definitely got nothing to do with the frequency response or clarity. If you want to "fill the room" for bass-heavy stuff that's more of a psychological thing. I personally like the bass-heavy stuff way more on the AirPods Pro precisely because it's so much clearer, without the muddiness. Because there's nowhere near the level or distortion, reflection, etc. you get with room speakers.
- 1y ago