[SoulSyde]

You're wrong, I haven't over estimated the size and impact of the audiophile market.  In my line of work it is critical for me to understand marketing philosophies such as saturation and psychographics.  Further more, anyone with half a brain would realize that we're all of a bunch of analytical freaks on the fringe of the consumer electronics market that demand nothing short of the second coming of Christ from our cherished devices.  That being said, I just subscribe to a different philosophy than the average electronics consumer.
 
If you think about it, we're arguing the same point.  In my OP I stated:
 
"Is it me, or are manufacturers focusing too much of their efforts on cramming tons of features into phones...?"
 
I think we all agree that the "Average Joe" has stunted the growth in our beloved industry.

 

[Somnambulist]

It's the same for lots of things. How many people truly care about buying a TV based on image quality/calibrating it to look natural and accurate? Or save up and buy IPS monitors because TNs suck so much for colour accuracy/viewing angles. Mechanical keyboards for a quality typing experience? I'm just using A/V stuff here lol. I care about all that but probably do the 'good enough' thing with a lot of things, where others might care way more about that 'other stuff' than they do with what I find important. A lot of the 'other stuff' just so happens to be more important when it comes to making money for companies, things like looks/style/desirability/convergence and all that.

 

[estreeter]

Its weird - I can point you to forums where people are *obsessed* with image quality on their A/V gear, consumed by subwoofer specs and willing to spend up big on receivers, yet remain relatively uninterested in listening to music as an end in itself, at least in terms of the 2-channel sound we worship on HF. Priorities, I guess.

 

[dura]

Just read about the Apple figures; Iphone and Ipad sales through the roof, ipod sales seriously declining in general, feature loaded Touch does relatively good.
Ipods, no matter what you think of them, are by far the most popular DAPs in the worlds, so it seems indeed dedicated DAPs are on the decline.

 

[Bennyboy71]

As my ex-girlfriend got me a subscription to the middle-of-the-road populist What Hi-Fi magazine over here about a year ago, I've noticed that they have increasingly begun to focus not only on TV and Blu-ray reviews but also to shift from two-channel to home streaming and high-function daps like the Touch and iPhone etc.  There's no doubt that traditional home audio set ups are losing out to home theatre rigs, where audio is just one component of the picture (pun intended). Its the same for portable listening - music is just one of many things consumers seem to want their devices to do, and quite often the application / internet functionality takes precedent over audio quality in the press reviews and point of sale material in retail stores.
 
Society is getting more and more multi-tasking in these information overloaded times, but at some point you have to ask whether the cart is being put before the horse and whether manufacturers are trying to cram universes into small boxes.
 
Me, I use my work BlackBerry for email, my Nokia mobile phone for texts and calls, my Cowon J3 for playing music and my home stereo separtes and its two speakers for playing records and CDs and my TV for watching stuff on.   But I'm a freak like that.

 

[sashava]

I like to keep my DAP in shirt pocket;will any tablet fit there?never!
but wait!I remember times,when young people were walking the streets with big boom-boxes on their shoulders - it is a matter of trend,I think.

 

[Somnambulist]

Quote:

Its weird - I can point you to forums where people are *obsessed* with image quality on their A/V gear, consumed by subwoofer specs and willing to spend up big on receivers, yet remain relatively uninterested in listening to music as an end in itself, at least in terms of the 2-channel sound we worship on HF. Priorities, I guess.

Ha. All they'd need would be a quality pair of floorstanders (which they probably already have) and a good stereo amp connected via the pre-outs to their receiver too, unless they have one of these super duper duper receivers. Sad.

 

[zachary80]

I don't think the market died, but it definitely is a fraction of what it used to be, and I think we will continue to see fewer. Just searching the last couple days for a replacement for my Zune30 and iTouch (first gen) made me realize that most manufacturers have at least greatly reduced their product updates. After carrying around a Touch for a couple years, I can see why. I just don't want to carry a "dumb" mp3 player all the time. I think I'll probably end up just carrying a 4th gen Touch and having a 160gb DAP around for instances when I want more of my music collection.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Ha. All they'd need would be a quality pair of floorstanders (which they probably already have) and a good stereo amp connected via the pre-outs to their receiver too, unless they have one of these super duper duper receivers. Sad.

 
I guess if all you want is stereo sound, that would be a great rig circa 1985. I think the current de rigeur AV system features 11 speakers and 2 subs or something equally crazy - sure, the better receivers have a 'stereo only' mode for music, but its not the main focus of most AV enthusiasts. Its what makes them 'happy' rather than 'sad'.

 

[LFC_SL]

I think we are heading towards technological convergence in the future. Minimalist DAP + IEM is the way I go now. The future will be in the smartphone market. Not as if the likes of the iPhone have terrible SQ. I just see very little appetite for single focussed audio players excepting devices tailored for the gym. How much stuff do people really want to carry? The remaining competitors to Apple such as Sandisk, Sony and Cowon will head towards bigger multimedia devices that go beyond PMP into tablet territory. We see this already with the Cowon D3. They just need to hope the likes of Acer who are producing iPad rivals do not stick a headphone socket on!

 

[estreeter]

You mean something like this in tablet form ?
 
http://www.asus.com.au/product.aspx?P_ID=ZfpnPRZ5UxVOtrHJ
 
No matter how many times I read the spiel, I couldnt quite see where the hardware was to support their claims that this was a 'laptop for the audiophile'. Altec-Lansing just doesnt have the kind of brand cred we serious audiophile types want emblazoned all over our mobile devices
 
The new ASUS N61Jq is designed for audiophiles who desire multimedia entertainment while on-the-move.To further enhance and deliver the best audio experience, a marriage of both hardware and software innovations were required. SonicMaster audio technology was developed by highly-trained audio experts from ASUS’ Research and Development team, and fine-tunes sound energy, noise balance, volume and dynamic sound range, minimizes environmental interference and sound distortion, and enhances sound separation. Superior chamber design with outputs of 2.5 watts and measuring 21cc in volume, together with 2-channel Altec Lansing speakers deliver pitch-perfect audio quality that brings multimedia to life.
 
For mine, they would have been a lot better served building an external solution based on the Essence STX. You could sell that to *anyone* with a laptop/iPad.

 

[SoulSyde]

More evidence for my case:
 
"Microsoft reportedly kills off Zune hardware, will focus on software instead"
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/14/microsoft-reportedly-kills-off-zune-hardware-will-focus-on-soft/

 

[zachary80]

That explains why I didn't see any hardware refreshes. Right now I'm decently happy with my iTouch 32gb. Still want something over 120gb though to hold a decent amount of my collection

 

[tds101]

I would have LOVED to see a Zune HD w/a custom EQ - I'd buy 1 again. That's really all I wanted,...

 

[Maxvla]

Its weird - I can point you to forums where people are *obsessed* with image quality on their A/V gear, consumed by subwoofer specs and willing to spend up big on receivers, yet remain relatively uninterested in listening to music as an end in itself, at least in terms of the 2-channel sound we worship on HF. Priorities, I guess.

Most people are into the gear for the e-peen contest, but also just cause they are fascinated with tech stuff so the newer the better. The music comes secondary in many cases. I myself have this problem often, but when I find a new album that entrances me, the gear just melts away.