Welcome Ian!
How many years have you been out of the audio scene?
How "budding" are you? (level of interest, budget, what aspects of audio are of interest, what musical genres suit your tastes)
In the last 30 years digital has come (some would say wandered) a long way. CD quality streaming and internet radio have become very popular the with the advent of high speed internet service, probably surpassing ripped physical media. CD players are nearly a thing of the past. The current sound quality gap between entry level digital gear and top of the line has shrunk mightily as technology keeps rapidly changing. Much interest exists in high resolution formats, but most are still satisfied with CD quality as digital conversion technology continues to improve.
A new class of solid state amplification, Class D, has come on the scene and many would say has matured. Class D is lighter, smaller, more efficient, and cheaper. As always in audio, there are many hold outs who stick to their class A and A/B guns.
Vinyl, tube, and headphone gear continues along without any earth shattering changes.
Speakers haven't changed much. Around here lots of interest in dipole/open baffle designs. For traditional box speakers the latest developments are controlled directivity which helps reduce room effects and an uptick in interest in active design (which has been the standard in professional studios for decades). Active design inputs low voltage signals directly to the crossover before sending the signal to separate amps, one per driver. There are technical, sonic, space, and cost advantages to this approach. Not surprisingly Class D amps have found a home in many active designs.
There has developed a better appreciation for the importance of how speakers behave in residentially sized rooms and the need for proper room size/shape, physical treatments, use of DSP (digital signal processing) software, and etc.
Once you have 3 posts approved you'll be able to use the trading post and private messaging portions of Audio Circle.
