Is this where home audio is going??

Russell Dawkins · « **on:** 29 Sep 2016, 05:31 pm »

...from a current kickstarter campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1238747394/the-vamp-stereo-speaker-bring-back-the-sound?ref=NewsSep2916s2

It seems that vintage speakers do have a future, but sound quality is not particularly addressed. It would seem to be an extension of the same phenomenon that started with the Walkman and led to the plethora of mp3-playing devices—convenience trumps sound quality.

bummrush · « **Reply #1 on:** 29 Sep 2016, 05:52 pm »

O god, sums up my thoughts

WC · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Sep 2016, 06:06 pm »

Looks like a little green box with a Bluetooth receiver and a digital amp running off of batteries. No output specs on the amp. These may work, but I would not expect much in the way of sound quality out of this.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Sep 2016, 06:27 pm »

To the rest of my family, home "audio" is:

1 - earbuds
2 - iPhone speaker (yes the built in one)
3 - a bluetooth speaker

I feel like a failure as an audio guy!

Then again, my kids know all the words to:

1 - Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier
2 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
3 - Rebecca Pidgeon - Spanish Harlem

So maybe I am doing OK after all.

For me, the only time I listen to anything other than my main setup is on trains/planes (iPhone with Westone iems) or at the BBQ (iPhone to bluetooth speaker).

Interesting product, but not for me ultimately.

smk · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Sep 2016, 07:31 pm »

It's a start. At least there will be some good looking boxes.

Folsom · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Sep 2016, 08:11 pm »

Hopefully it'll encourage them towards something that doesn't suck.

JLM · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 12:45 am »

Convenience over sound quality has been with us for a long time. Thinking of the first hand held transistor radio (1954) or the first car radio (1930).

There are reasonable good small (desktop) speakers. Talisman by Serene Audio (single driver, 8"x5"x6") and A3X by Adam Audio (2-way 10"x7.5"x6") come to mind.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 12:59 am »

Quote from: JLM on 30 Sep 2016, 12:45 am

Convenience over sound quality has been with us for a long time. Thinking of the first hand held transistor radio (1954) or the first car radio (1930).

There are reasonable good small (desktop) speakers. Talisman by Serene Audio (single driver, 8"x5"x6") and A3X by Adam Audio (2-way 10"x7.5"x6") come to mind.

...and convenience cannot be ignored! If I had to choose between access to the limited number of albums I could easily afford before the internet and in what was high fidelity for the day and access to what is presently available, but on mp3, there would be not a moment's hesitation on my part. I will gladly 'suffer' the imperfections of the mp3 process in the interest of such immense choice of music to listen to.
Also, I think the difference between even 160kbps mp3s and 24/192 PCM digital is orders of magnitude less than the difference between speakers—even expensive ones.

CSI · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 01:04 am »

Convenience has always trumped SQ. That's just the way it is. But there's no need for despair. Convenience equals mass market and the larger the mass market the more potential audiophiles there are. Audiophiles will always be a small part of the market (just as for wine drinkers, auto enthusiasts, etc.) but we should not be unhappy that the market takes real, perfectionist driven, advances and uses them to improve the common stuff. We should rejoice. That's how we got good sounding ear buds, high performance battery operated portable devices, and lots of other stuff. Enjoy your rare vintage wines in the knowledge that you helped make cheap table wines much more drinkable.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 01:16 am »

Quote from: CSI on 30 Sep 2016, 01:04 am

Convenience has always trumped SQ. That's just the way it is. But there's no need for despair. Convenience equals mass market and the larger the mass market the more potential audiophiles there are. Audiophiles will always be a small part of the market (just as for wine drinkers, auto enthusiasts, etc.) but we should not be unhappy that the market takes real, perfectionist driven, advances and uses them to improve the common stuff. We should rejoice. That's how we got good sounding ear buds, high performance battery operated portable devices, and lots of other stuff. Enjoy your rare vintage wines in the knowledge that you helped make cheap table wines much more drinkable.

Well said! And cheers!

rajacat · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 01:21 am »

I prefer quality over convenience. No point in having a fine system if only mp3s are available. I don't even like mp3 on my car system.

dB Cooper · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 04:18 am »

Quote from: CSI on 30 Sep 2016, 01:04 am

Convenience has always trumped SQ. That's just the way it is. But there's no need for despair. Convenience equals mass market and the larger the mass market the more potential audiophiles there are. Audiophiles will always be a small part of the market (just as for wine drinkers, auto enthusiasts, etc.) but we should not be unhappy that the market takes real, perfectionist driven, advances and uses them to improve the common stuff. We should rejoice. That's how we got good sounding ear buds, high performance battery operated portable devices, and lots of other stuff. Enjoy your rare vintage wines in the knowledge that you helped make cheap table wines much more drinkable.

It would be helpful if the audio shows would reflect that. The mean price of the systems I tallied up from last year's Capital Audiofest was just under $60K if you back out the least expensive system at the show (Odyssey, $7K excluding any front end) and the most expensive (KEF, $220K for the speakers alone.) Young people today have zero interest in that. This ties in to another problem: Much of the music today's music consistes entirely of synth instruments, so there is no original acoustic event to have "fidelity" to. So the type of system depicted probably is where home audio is going.

WGH · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 04:45 am »

Quote from: dB Cooper on 30 Sep 2016, 04:18 am

Much of the music today's music consistes entirely of synth instruments, so there is no original acoustic event to have "fidelity" to.

Much of the world's music is electronica, we are all dinosaurs and soon to be extinct.

Click for some tribal dance music - Mexican style
http://www.vice.com/video/mexican-pointy-boots

Folsom · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 04:49 am »

I've heard a lot of audiophile quality electronic music.

WGH · « **Reply #14 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 05:05 am »

Quote from: Folsom on 30 Sep 2016, 04:49 am

I've heard a lot of audiophile quality electronic music.

Yello and Daft Punk come to mind.
The end of high end audio has been predicted for years, it'll never happen in our lifetime.

JLM · « **Reply #15 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 11:52 am »

Seems to me, we're already witnessing the transition from "real" (unamplified) music to various forms of synthetic (totally artificial) music and how our speakers are designed to reflect it. Speaker technology/materials really haven't changed much in the last 50 years, but what has changed is the voicing of the speakers, less musical/mid-bass body and more spritely.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 12:28 pm »

This exciter stm a NXT appliance product,
Bluetooth just to catch iphone generation,
narrow bandwidth.

undertow · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 Sep 2016, 03:21 pm »

Look unlike many on this website 99.9% of the people out there have no clue, or don't care, or really truly cannot hear the difference, and definitely will not go out of their way to spend the money or time.

Fact is I realized that most people listen to an Mp3 file in a car with a decent system, or headphones it does eliminate much of the
variation we experience in home audio.

Almost cannot tell the difference of format switching from MP3 to FLAC, unless the volume really drops off with the weaker MP3 which even then in closed acoustic environments like Cars, and Headphones is far less an issue, and a far easier environment on music eliminating nearly all the airspace, and acoustic issues we battle sitting in a dark room with a sad glass of wine trying to experience that sonic nirvana.

But at home I can switch between MP3 and FLAC of the same song, same file on the fly, and you can immediately tell the impact.

However, most people don't care about recreating that live venue, or complete dynamic response you heard at your first live rock show.

In the end we end up with simple, cost effective, and consumer driven audio products. Not exactly the highest quality, or detailed technical capabilities on the acoustic level in a real sized room at home.

It does still amaze me with all the products we have already to do the same thing over, and over in audio, or video that somebody with kickstarter can find enough fools to throw some money at them thinking they are getting a new, and better concept all of a sudden!

jarcher · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 Oct 2016, 01:09 am »

Godamnn - this is wrong on so many levels. Who are the retards giving these people money? They already made they're goal. Stick this crappy cube between any two speakers - doesn't matter what kind or if they match. And with magnets no less - that should improve sound even more - God knows it can't get worse. Are people really this stupid now? As if there aren't already thousands of other Bluetooth capable amplifiers already out on the market.

Pretty soon we'll be filling landfills with these noxious plastic cubes vs speakers which can at least be recycled to a greater degree. This is truly progress.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 Oct 2016, 01:32 am »

I dont see a decent technology in this putrid planet, only 5th class technology, as junk combustion engines and battery cars.