Home  High-End Audio Reviews  Audiophile Show Reports Partner Mags  Hi-Fi / Music News

  High-End High-Performance Audiophile Review Magazine & Hi-Fi Audio Equipment Reviews

  High-Performance Audio Reviews
  Music News, Show Reports, And More!

  Celebrating 29 Years Of Service To Music Lovers

 

Enjoy the Music.com
Hi-Fi World

November 2019
Decisions, Decisions...
How do you decide what to choose?
Editorial By Noel Keywood

 

Hi-Fi World November 2019

 

  How do you decide what to choose? This month we bring you an almost bewildering option – the fantastically modern Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo loudspeakers (£3500) on p10 that demand a Roon music server and an iPhone or iPad as a means of control, or the traditional but superb Spendor D7.2 loudspeakers. The Formation Duos may seem expensive but their price includes amplifiers, making them an all-in-one streaming system. Yet you need an iDevice and – say – a £400 lifetime Roon subscription to make it all work.

The Spendors (£4500) meanwhile deliver reference standard sound quality and once purchased may last a lifetime with no more input in terms of cost and the need to physically upgrade. With iDevices in the picture, as with the B&Ws, that will never be the case, I know from long and costly experience on Apple's treadmill of expense and enforced redundancy, talked about by Martin Pipe in his column on p71.

How many computers have we all owned and been forced to junk simply because they were pushed into redundancy by software updates? This problem will always count against the use of computers; it is possible to include interpretation systems like Apple's Rosetta, but it isn't going to happen. I am now wrestling with a new Mac and its T2 security chip that will not allow it to address an array of old Macs I prefer to keep as original record for legal reasons.

 

Hi-Fi World November 2019

 

No wonder then that computer sales are in steady decline; I love 'em but worry about being tied to 'em for the enjoyment of music. Not everyone thinks likewise (my son!) and there is good argument – that I make in my column on p65 this month, that the new world costs less. Even I don't believe it, but the sums speak a truth greater than simple belief!

The complexity of modern software systems and the confusion they introduce, of which I give a whiff on p34 in my coverage of Wi-Fi in hi-fi, is a burden I believe most people just do not want to have to suffer. I'm a geek, but when no one understands what is going on, the geekiness has gone too far. I have conversations with engineers buried in all this and their differing views show frightening: confusion reigns. A major reason being, I suspect, that code is being modified, introducing copyright issues and the potential for legal action. Everyone keeps quiet as a result – especially on the 'net.

High fidelity is becoming split by the old and the new. We have it all in this issue. I hope you enjoy reading about it.

 

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

 

 

 


Subscribe!
Click here to subscribe to Hi-Fi World.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews


Show Reports
Capital Audiofest 2024
Toronto Audiofest 2024
UK Audio Show 2024
Pacific Audio Fest 2024
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos


Industry & Music News

High-End Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

   

 

Home  |  High-End Audio Reviews  |  Audiophile Show Reports  Hi-Fi / Music News  About Us  |  Contact Us

 

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.