Are we the last 'Hifi' generation?

And, if they are students, coming out of Uni with £40k+ of debt unless they have a trust fund behind them.

I have 5 kids, three of them now in their late 30s and holding down decent jobs. They all love music but none have a single bit of hi-fi despite growing up with me. They do have Sonos / Ruark speakers and Spotify streaming accounts and do go to see live music.

Darko Audio's video on Future Fi is interesting

Is THIS the FUTURE OF HI-FI? (I think it might be) - YouTube

There is a little bit of me that could happily go down this route, sell everything except a small (say 100) records which have specific memories attached, and begin to focus on music not format. As I move towards retirement and then decrepitude, a pair of Dynaudio Focus 30s + Qobuz might really be all I need.

 

Unless people in their late teens, 20's are interested in music before the millennium or preferably earlier there’s almost no point for them ever to get interested in hifi as although there's still some good stuff being produced it all sounds like crap on a decent system anyway.

 

A lot of modern artists really care about production and sound quality actually

 

LOL!

 

Not some of the stuff I’ve bought recently in the last few years. Can’t even begin to compare to recordings done in the 60's. Even modern country music can no longer be relied upon for decent SQ.

 

Excluding some very compressed productions a very good system makes even average productions quite listenable IME.

 

It's honestly not a genre I know anything about but I read an interview with a star country record mixer a few years back in Sound On Sound. He explained that he would import every track he worked on into his standard template, never spent more than 45 minutes mixing a track and the first thing he did was strip out all the drum tracks and replace them with his own triggered samples! He'd found his formula and the wall of his studio was covered in gold records and Grammy awards.

I guess there are good and bad recordings to be found in every genre - as there have always been perhaps?

 

He says he bought Swervedriver 'Mezcal Head' in the seventies, which is pretty clever considering it came out in the nineties ;0)

 

I think there are some recordings coming out nowadays which sound great but a far larger percentage sound compressed and frankly poor even on a great system - Sam Fender's latest album was just the last in a long line of disappointments! I chatted to a famous record producer about this at length and he admitted that unfortunately engineers and producers nowadays feel a pressure from the record company to replicate what was on the demos. So a band gets some demos together - often recorded in somebodys house with poor microphones/acoustics or a cheap studio with poor sonics. The record company hear the demo and like it so they sign the artist/band. They then send them to a top flight studio with a top line engineer equipped with vintage fenders and Voxes and beautiful valve microphones etc. The engineer has to decide whether to record the band and risk them sounding completely different to their demos or whether to replicate the demo sounds to some degree and keep the record execs happy...

That came from the mouth of a producer who worked with McCartney, Whitney Houston, Oasis etc.

Maybe that explains why the new recordings I buy from older established artists (McCartney, Clapton, Knopfler, Fleetwood Mac) generally sound better than those from modern bands?

It's an interesting thought!

Birdseed

 

Funny, I purchased that album based on his recommendation. It came out during the grunge rock era. I’ll have to give that another spin.

 

@Birdseed007 I think that Sam Fender's last album is not that bad in terms of sound quality. It is indeed compressed but still listenable IMO. The brilliant lyrics go a long way too...

 

I believe the real difference is that an 80's/90's boombox/midi system or car stereo did not really give satisfying reproduction, hence an interest in hifi separates from high street shops at the volume end of the market. Today a good phone or computer plus BT speaker or headphones or the stereo in their car is all most people need / can justify since the quality is really rather good.

I have a decent system now but I couldn't say my enjoyment of the music has increased in proportion to the money spent.

Back in the day I never gave the local "hi-end" hifi store a second glance other than noting through the window that it was selling ridiculously expensive stuff by brands I'd never heard of, like "Naim".

 

shirley that’s the point, still listenable will not entice people to buy better hi-fi.

The difference between increasing the volume and having nuances come out of the woodwork and the feel of the music filling out and flying to the elevator effect of everything just going up together with compressed music is one of the few night and day experiences I have with hifi.

One box plus speakers or just speakers. Unless of course I’ve totally underestimated the strength of the vinyl revival.

Thankfully music seems to be still as much a part of people’s lives even if it’s quite a different situation to me rushing home at 7 on a Thursday night.

.sjb

 

Even a compressed record like Seventeen Going Under sounds way better in a very good setup than on an average one. It will not get many people upgrading what they now have to listen to it, I agree with you 100% there.

And there's so many well produced music nowadays even excluding Jazz and Classical.
The other day my teenage daughter was fascinated by how good Alt-J, James Blake or Arctic Monkeys can sound...

I must say that one box plus speakers or just speakers can be a hell of a good stereo setup!

 

My three kids have Hi-Fi and use it. (all in their 30’s)

The two eldest Granddaughters are indoctrinated already. Both have a great system, care of Granddad, and can identify a poor production. They have tuned ears.

I have deliberately and overtly training their critical ears since they were about 3-4 yrs. onwards. The parents have full knowledge of the ear-washing, and their full approval was gained (not in writing)

As for hi-fi shows, I am unable to comment.

 

My daughter (18) has a basic Rega turntable and can discern the the sound difference with a cobbled together system, but most often chooses the ease of use of her earbuds and iphone.
I am listening to my kit just now, vinyl/CD/pre/power supply/power/cables etc..., lots of beer vouchers spent, but more often can be found in the kitchen streaming from my phone to the "radio" (wireless??). We are all a victim to convenience. But then what I want is MUSIC where and when I want it. Too late, perhaps, having spent loads on stuff.. Current system after 40 years is as far as I will go.
Although I might get a DAC to stream from my phone... but tbh it sounds shite compared with vinyl and CD.

 

who really cares when we are dead. my 15K system will prob go in the skip... just saying (am a glass half empty and no kids kind of person)

 

Coincidentally, the editorial from this months Hi-Fi Plus.