Home  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  Audiophile Shows Partner Mags  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

Issue 170    April 2019
Celebrating HiFi+'s 20 Years Anniversary!
Editorial By Alan Sircom

 

Hi-Fi+ Issue 170 April 2019

 

  A lot has happened in the last 20 years. Skimming through the pages of the last 169 issues of Hi-Fi+ may not give you a map of the geopolitical landscape of the world (except in the broadest possible terms), but it does give you a very strong idea of just how much – and how little – high-end audio has changed since the end of the last millennium. While not all of those changes are good, we're possibly in a better place today.

At the end of the 1990s, the hi-fi industry was in a state of flux, and not in a good way. Home cinema was coming to dominate the market so drastically, it was wondered if there would even be a hi-fi industry by the middle of the 2000s! The state of music replay was at a difficult tipping point, too; LP and cassette were dismissed as irrelevancies by the music business, who focused on CD and CD alone. SACD was still a year or so away, high-resolution didn't exist, and the combination of Napster and the first MP3 players all pointed away from high-quality being a function of future formats.

In fact, what happened was transformatory. I remember being invited to a launch by Apple of a new product called the 'iPod' – at first, we dismissed the iPod, then we criticized the iPod, and finally we realized we should love the iPod... just as it became the iPhone! Far from being the nail in the coffin of audio, it was a much-needed kick in the pants!

 

Hi-Fi+ Issue 170 April 2019

 

Were it not for the iPod and the impetus it created, I suspect the whole downloading and subsequent streaming industry would be several paces behind where it is today. One could even argue that the vinyl revival was a reaction to the ethereal nature of iTunes-based music. Whatever the reason, though, music is back in fashion and the joy of music and the sound it makes remains an important part of many people's lives.

We're happy to have seen the changes for the better in audio over the last 20 years, and we hope the same holds true for the next 20 years.

Congratulations go out to Sandra Snowdon of North Yorkshire who is the lucky winner of two sets of the outstanding Shunyata Research Delta NR power cables worth £1,540.

 

Errata: in last month's column, we congratulated Mr Ray Lukie on his winning a pair of excellent Neat Acoustics Iota Alpha loudspeakers, but in fact he won and received a pair of even more excellent Neat Acoustics Momentum SX3i loudspeakers instead. While apologies for the confusion, congratulations on the win... again!

 

 


Alan Sircom, Editor Hi-Fi+

 

 

 


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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


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
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

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