[jodokast]

I just got back from my trip from Taiwan and have phatty jet lag. Was bored, so I decided to writeup this short article: http://www.gamingin3d.com/articles/2002/

In case you haven't noticed, many websites have been releasing 2k2 glances including hardware and software (games mainly). I was wondering though.......wouldn't it be cool to have the same thing for us - but in regards to audio equipment, or mainly headphone gear? I wonder if Stereophile has something like this.....I don't know, I don't read it.


The high-end audio world seems driven by trends and popularity (to an extent), so it would be exciting to see what ppl think were the highlights of the year. What do you guys think?

I'd have to say the new CORDA-2 as well as META42 take best new contenders in the amp area. Comments?

 

[wallijonn]

Jodo,

The headphone biz is a much slower pace industry than PCs and all of their gadgets. So we tend to latch on to pretty pictures and specs (which are liberally sprinkled throughout the forum).

As it is, headphone manufacturers are lax to put out new products with bleeding edge technology since they can not justify large sums of R&D monies for a "niche" market with very "poor" returns on investment. The record companies (software distributors) have a death grip on their products, which dictates form over function. Prices are fixed with very little advancement in acoustics or content. As it is, they have flooded their market with product to the point where no one knows what one is buying. Seldom is there a break out hit, and the industry now mirrors the motion picture industry that has 1 or 2 "blockbuster" movies a year, and produces garbage the other 99% of the time. How many DVD movies do you own, and how many times do you watch the same movie? In the motion pictures' industry, they too use technology to repackage the product into a more palatable product (Dolby, THX, DDSS, computer generated graphics, etc.). Sennheiser is presently travelling along the same road as Audio Technica. Will it be a better product than their historic products in their inventory or will it be a case of repackaged "same old, same old"?

As to PCs, it was the gamer which bought 90% of the new technologies and which spurred new PC sales and all of their attendent "toys". Now that softare companies have switched their allegiance to consoles (which is their right to produce for a market which has the largest return on investment), the market for PCs has collapsed. The PC will therefore soon take the ulitarian position of your toaster or microwave, mainly used for email, product purchases, and printing out the occasional map to grand-ma's house. What product will justify 3, 10 and 100 GHz processors? Even cable modem sales have collapsed, many people failing to find a justification for having to pay twice to receive content. (Record companies charging $10 a month to download music, game companies charging $20 a month to play games, etc. Multiply that by 5 record labels, or two games, and the justification for spending that amount of money goes right out the window. Do you have and pay for the 5 HBO channels, 3 Cinnamax channels, 16 football cahnnels, etc.?)

Meanwhile many people here have more than one copy of a piece of music, more than one set of headphone, amplifier or cd/dvd player. As a "hobby" the enthusiasts here are the background force that is keeping the headphone industry alive. Sony would be content to sell you a $10 headphone for $100 and dictate your taste (as an example).

 

[DarkWolf]

Walljonn makes some good points. But it would still be cool to see people think the highlights of 2002 were for the head-fi industry.

And about games, I don't game much these days anyway, but I don't like consoles.. Some games are great on them, but most games would be way better on computer. Especialy first person shooters, who's dumb ass idea was it to try and aim with a little thimb stick? What a bad idea. Oh well.... Halo is comming for PC, I'm sure they won't let you play with xbox users online, but if they do..

 

[kelly]

I've only been on Head-Fi for one year so everything was a highlight.

 

[jodokast]

hehe true, but kelly doesn't everything seem like a lifetime online?

 

[wallijonn]

DW, Quote:

Halo is comming for PC...

Hahaha. When it comes out, will anyone buy it? It had better come out before DoomIII and UnrealII. By the time it comes out, do not be surprised if Halo III has come out for the XBox. Somewhere someone actually believes that Duke Nukem will come out on the PC. Even one magazine has set a release date of 2030. Me, I'm still waiting for Prey...