March 2025

Modern Recording And Replay Techniques
Enjoying great music and excellent equipment for playback.
Editorial By Alan Sircom

  Because recording sound (and moving images) have been with us from birth, we have a tendency to take them for granted. But, a combination of two things this month demonstrated just how much wonder we got from that first encounter with recorded sound.

In researching this month's feature about sources, we went right back to the mid-19th century. That first recording that was finally transcribed into sound in 2009; to ears that are used to modern recording and replay techniques, this version of 'Au Clair de la Lune' sounds like someone shaking bees in a tin, and the earliest surviving Edison recordings fare little better. But to the ears of someone of 150 years ago, this was sheer magic!

It's impossible for us to comprehend that, as the rise of technology has made us a little immune to wonder. Also, the ubiquitous nature of recorded sound today means it needs to be something really special to trigger such strong emotions. However, if you cast your mind back to that first time you heard what really good audio can do, you get a taste of that sense of wonder.

Once heard, though, it's hard to experience that in repeated listening sessions. Part of the paradox of being an audio enthusiast is we spend our lives trying to recreate that emotional first encounter, and finding it all too fleeting.

Which brings me to the second moment of wonder; listening to the dCS Varèse digital replay system. That reset me back to that kid listening to Keith's dad's LP12, or even to that time listening to a tape of The Doors on Uncle Les' Truvox reel-to-reel. Those moments of wonder do exist, and we need to cherish them.

However, this also got me thinking about how we get the sound of good audio out to more people. That moment of wonder is not an experience you can get at one remove; it's not something you can replicate in print or even online. Listening to the best audio equipment on a YouTube channel is clouding that experience through signal compression and whatever speakers or headphones you use to play that video. It has to be person-to-person. I guess, those of us in the Baby Boom grew up with parents who were part of that original 'hi-fi generation' in the 1950s and that interest carried forward to us because we could hear hi-fi in our parents rooms.

Unfortunately, that connection was severed in subsequent generations, and it needs re-establishing! There's great music and excellent equipment to play it on at all levels. It simply needs a few people to join the dots!

Congratulations to René Vet of the Netherlands. They win a pair of the fantastic Meze Audio Liric II headphones, worth €2,000! Well done!

Alan Sircom, Editor hi-fi+

Subscribe To Hi-Fi+
Click here to subscribe to hi-fi+ magazine.