A couple of weeks ago I had to replace my desk-top computer – a very nice, once top-of-the-line, 27” iMac. The machine worked perfectly. Indeed, it’s worked perfectly ever since I bought it. What no longer works is the operating system: not because it’s failed, crashed or otherwise collapsed; it’s simply no longer upgradable, meaning that it’s now no longer useable with current software that demands a more recent operating system. What it represents now is a glorified typewriter that can’t even connect to the internet properly…
Let’s be clear, after almost 12-years of constant use, my elderly iMac owes me nothing. But these days, that sort of operational shelf-life in digital electronics is the stuff of legend. These days, a computer or phone that lasts as much as four or five years is unusual, while the technology producers are constantly bombarding you with reasons to discard your existing commodities and upgrade them to the newer, more capable standard. Oh – and just in case you are lagging behind the crowd, they’re going to encourage you by denying access to the shiny new future to all but the latest, most capable devices. A lack of backward compatibility isn’t a new trick, but digital electronics (and the people who produce gears for bicycles – although those too are becoming increasingly digital) have taken it to a whole new level. These days, things don’t wear out, they just drop out – no longer compatible with current standards.
One way or another, we are all familiar with the rate of digital development. We have all experienced owning products that have been left in the digital dust as technology races towards an ever-retreating performance horizon. Why should we think that digital audio is any different? At Avantgarde they think it’s time to recognise that and factor it in to the way we look at systems and, particularly, cost allocation/investment in those systems. But to do that, we first have to revisit the whole raison d’être behind having a hi-fi system at all.
With so many younger listeners relying almost exclusively on headphones for personal listening, anybody expecting them to invest in a more conventional, speaker-based audio system is going to have to give them a reason to do so. At the same time, it’s worth appreciating that the notion of ‘live music’ (as opposed to recorded) has evolved too. Where ‘live’ used to mean real people playing real instruments, amplified or not, nowadays that distinction has blurred, with clubs and dance venues crossing over into the ‘live’ category.
The rise of hi-fi had a lot to do with its communal nature, getting together with friends, listening to and sharing the latest music. In the same way, with headphone listening being de facto a solitary pursuit, listening to music through speakers has had its communal aspect underlined – in bold. But the very nature of those club or dance-orientated systems, let alone live music involving live performers, cuts right to the biggest single challenge facing any hi-fi system – the dynamic range of real life. Spend time in any club or concert and there’s no missing the room-filling physicality of the sound. Whether it’s a banging DJ session or an orchestra playing full chat, you experience the sound on a total body basis, feeling it as well as hearing it. It’s to do with level and it’s to do with bandwidth – and it’s got little or nothing to do with way too many ‘hi-fi’ products – especially loudspeakers – that are on the market today. A stack of 110mm ‘bass-units’? Sorry – just not serious…
