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DESIGNER'S RANT
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Ecstatic reviews of product which measures miserably. At least Stereophile does some very good measurements but it is a real stretch sometimes to read the review and then look at the test results. Leaves the reviewer looking fairly silly. Audio Ideas Guide has a better system whereby the guy (my friend Andrew Marshall) who does the subjective testing also does the measurement. He can tie the whole thing together rather than have the “Oops” factor with separate tests. Of course, most publications don’t measure at all which is a sad omission.
Eye candy. Stuff, and usually very expensive stuff, to make the product look like a higher end product when the money could have been spent to make it be a higher end product. From amps to speakers to cars this is a universal trend. This planet needs more engineers and fewer posers.
Very fancy digital product based on 1 or 2 generation old mass market devices. Difficult for the small company to be a leader in the digital realm. Check out the incredibly extensive DVD player tests on Home Theater and High Fidelity. Offering a product based on something cheaper and better may be profitable but it has no integrity. This comes under the banner of, if they will buy it, I will make it. This isn’t leadership, it is exploitation.
Format wars. These spasms of corporate greed are rife with highly variable production values, different implementations within formats and no start to finish strategy that involves the consumer. Maybe we are doomed to suffer 3 pointless format wars for every worthwhile step forward.
Of all the problems in the audio industry, the most intractable would seem to be music content. When was the last time you heard a new piece of music on the radio and rushed right out to the music store to buy it? Audio systems are getting better and better. Music production values are getting higher and higher. But artistic creativity seems to have taken a few years off. Let’s hope we get it back.
Still, despite all of the complaints, the world of audio reproduction continues to improve at a dramatic pace. Fewer people, it seems, have time to take advantage of the beautiful music that can be delivered in the home. We don’t have any shortage of time for tv or computer games. Maybe music doesn’t vie for attention as well as things which take control of your brain with short, intense doses of adrenalin. Pity because unlike those two activities, music whether played over a good or bad audio system, will improve your life if you let it.
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