Issue 100    June 2013

Our 100th Issue Celebration!
Editorial By Alan Sircom

  Welcome to the 100th issue of hi-fi+. The world of hi-fi – and magazines – has been through some radical changes since that first issue rolled off the presses at the end of the last century, and there have been plenty of 'The Sky is Falling' cries of woe along the way, but now in 2013, we are seeing recovery in all sectors of audio.

Looking back over the last 14 years, I don't think anyone would have predicted the place audio is in today. Yes, people were beginning to use computers in audio, but the rise of Apple as the world's music provider and the fall of the studios was simply not foreseeable, at least not to those of us outside the boardrooms of the big studios. And yet, this has had its benefits – the unsigned movement, coupled with the far lower cost of professional recording equipment as computers replaced tape, mixers, processors and the rest, has democratized the music business. It has also had its downsides.

What's fascinating today is, no matter how put upon by fashion, by economy and by music trends, the drive to pursue the goal of better sound has not gone away. Who'd have thought in 1999 that, at the very point where music was becoming nothing more than a downloadable data file, people would set aside iTunes and Spotify for the good ol' record player? Yes, some of LP's rebirth is down to fashion, some of it is down to teenage rebellion, but most people buy vinyl today because "it just sounds better." Even that ‘lost generation" of millennials who abandoned loudspeakers for headphones are not immune from the pull of better sound quality, and many spend hundreds or even thousands making their headphone rig sound sublime.

It's likely the next decade and a half will be just as fascinating and just as unpredictable as the last. Will people still be listening to vinyl in 2027? Will they have their music beamed straight into their heads? With the rise in 3D printing, will reviews simply be a series of printing instructions, sparking a return to hi-fi's DIY days? The exciting thing is... no one knows. Best of all though, to mark our 100^th issue, we're giving away more than the magazine has ever done before. We are giving away 100 subscriptions, and there are 100 pairs of excellent Final Audio in-ear monitors and even a fantastic Music First Audio Classic V2 passive magnetic preamp that must be won.

Here's to issue 200!

Alan Sircom, Editor hi-fi+