How different is buying high end audio In 2018 than It was in 1978? 

I was a soldier stationed in Weather Germany in about 1972. I wanted a record selected as a record of te year by an audio magazine. It featured the Tokyo String Quartet. I don’t know if one could even get it in the US. I found it at a high end audio store in Stuttgart. Later I wanted to buy microphones for my tap recorder and went to the same store. It was Radio Barth. They wouldn’t even talk to me. I took one of their catalogs and picked out a microphone I thought I liked, from Microphone Baugh made in Heidelberg. I went by the factory when I was in Heidelberg. The only one The Who spoke English well enough to talk to me must have been an executive. He was very nice, said Radio Barth has it too easy and sold me the mics at their price! I still have them even though I never make live recordings now.

The internet interfered because it caused your audiobabble to be questioned by thousands of people spouting common sense.

As a kid in the 70s, I was super happy with my Sansui amp, JBL L100s, and a Technics turntable.

Everyone I've ever dealt with that lived in NYC (or New Jersey for that matter), were the rudest people on the planet. Just saying. Now I live just outside the city of Chicago and you DO NOT get that typical East Coast attitude in a small business or any business. If you did display that attitude, you'll wish you hadn't. I can't be the only person who has felt this about NY / NJ people. If so, my bad. Point is that this probably had nothing to do with high end audio.

Two weirdos complimenting each other. Stick your "warm analog sounding" amplifiers you know where.

40 years in audio...still ZERO clue how to use a lapel mic...wow

I bought my first (high end to me) receiver from a great little high end audio shop back in 1976 when I was 13 yrs old. It was a Sony STR V2 which I now realize was not high end. The great little high end audio shop is still here to this day and I now deal with Marc, the son of the man that started it. Now my gear is all Rega which includes a P6 turntable which I listen to mostly. Some may say Rega is not high end audio but it sure sounds and looks great to me.

I feel like this guy is out of touch with what the masses grew up listening. My dad wasn’t a doctor, lawyer or FBI agent, and what I grew up listening to made MP3’s sound high fidelity by comparison! 😂 Digital audio improved music for FAR more people than for whom it degraded it - it’s not even close. I remember when, as a young man, I could finally afford a CD player, and it was a Sony Discman (hardly high end 😅), and yet, it blew me away when I first listened to it. So... yeah, for the vast majority of us, digital audio was a huge upgrade. #outoftouch

Buying high end in the late 70's (Braun/ADS, Infinity, Kef, etc) did not have the extreme, arbitrary overpricing, snob contingent and snake oil that developed in the late 80's with companies like Wilson. Cost-is-no-object, but it didn't always mean superior sound. It was simply creating a niche for the deep pocketed, gullible and "alpha" audiophiles. $500 in parts in a $20,000 speaker. $1000 a foot cables, etc...and now, ultra-high end made in Asia for pennies on the dollar and sold at the same extreme prices.

Retail audio in 70s New York--two words :"CRAZY EDDIE"

In 1978, I was 14 and worked my ass off during the summer holidays in order to buy a Philips high-end cassette deck (N2521); during the autumn holidays to buy a decent Sony amplifier (T2650) and quality record player (Sony PS-X-3); and during the next summer holidays to buy the best loudspeakers my money could buy (a pair of Technics SB-5000). At the time, I read the Dutch audiophile fanzine (Jan Kool in 'Luister') and counted myself among the happy discerning listeners, who focused on listening to music (both rock music and classical music) rather than listening to hardware devices. Andy Singer might have looked down on my very young presence at the time, but I wouldn't have cared. I listened my own way through music, and through the catalogues, and through the available hardware. I vividly remember myself as a 15-16 year old listening to Bach's Matthew Passion on vinyl, and Supertramp's 'School', and John McLaughlin's 'Extrapolation', and Jacques Brel's 'Marieke' on my newly acquired simple-yet-effective equipment, and being totally happy with what I'd got. Ever since, I've been wary of snake oil "high-end". I hallowed the CD, as it is a clear improvement over the LP, and it isn't 'cold' or 'sterile' as some with more nostalgia and imagination than ears would have us believe. Yes, digital music gave way to the 'loudness war', which should be fought with a vengeance - but that isn't the medium's fault. And I challenge every self-proclaimed 'discerning listener' to tell a quality >256 kbps MP3 file from a vinyl recording. Double-blind test inform us that at least 9 out of 10 are unable to tell the difference. And yes, that probably includes you & me. I enjoy re-releases that are a labour of love, such as YES's "Fragile" on DVD-audio or Blu-ray; such as Herreweghe's Bach motets of 1986; or The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine'. 'Digital' is a great medium. 'Wow and flutter', 'needle overhang' and needle wear are issues of the past. Digital amplifiers are better, more versatile, and more reliable than ever. As is digital recording compared to cassette tape recording. Audio has come a long way since 1978. I love what I did back then, investing in good hardware, listening to good music. But there is no reason to glorify Hi-Fi 1978 over today's audio opportunities. Today is like back then: there's some good, there's some bad, and one needs their ears in order to make a distinction. Human hearing hasn't changed. Hi-end aficionado's still try to sell you snake oil. And you still do not need to be a millionaire in order to buy pretty decent Hi-Fi equipment.

$12000 HDMI cable. $6000 power cable. Need I say more. edit. I forgot gold plated optical cable connectors. Yes, this is real.

'78? I'd say 50 and 60s: McIntosh, Fisher, Scott, Dyna, Harmon Kardon, even Heathkits were more substantial and better than most integrated 1 chip amplifiers today. Check out an 'Audio' or 'High Fidelity' magazine from 50 years ago. Hundreds of components and manufacturers.

He is right but seems to have a customer repelling attitude. He means loss of business. I am seventy and I started in early 60’s when I moved up from a radio listener to a spool tape recorder listener (Akai). Later I had a good stereo system comprising of a tape deck, amp, preamp, and a turn table, I added a laser disc player too. Nowadays. I too frequently use ear phones and headphones for casual listening; this gets rid of room problems and I get uniform music anywhere in the house; more than that, I have volume independence as my wife is not disturbed. This gentleman is at a loss not selling stuff more due to such attitude and less because of kids buying in ear stuff. Such people have lost their touch. Also, sales people too are not knowledgeable enough. One salesman at BestBuy could not answer my question and disappeared, another had me take an appointment with some expert,but he too was not knowledgeable on positioning electronic speakers. Young people must be explained if they are inclined towards high end stereo and musicality. Contempt will send them take their business elsewhere. I have heard young men talking of vinyl, and lately I am seeing vinyl disappear from Goodwill and pawn stores. So there is a chance.

Wow the negative comments about this guy. I immediately caught that vibe 9 seconds into the interview. The Chinese have a saying, "man with no smile should not open shop."

Asking a audio store owner about the technical details of sound is like asking a McDonald's franchise owner about molecular gastronomy. 40 years of experience and he still doesn't have a clue about sound...

I feel someone should advise him due to his age his hearing certainly at the high end will be very poor, just like those MP3 and poor quality CDs. I hate the stylus crackles and pops. Vinyl does sounds beautiful but quiet passages irritate me. CD is a pleasure when the music reaches a quiet passage, certainly not poor. Some expert.

Thanks. Wish the old brick and mortar stores would come back but sadly they probably won't. Ordering audio by relying on other peoples opinion s is hard to do especially speakers.

Bs, bs, bs,... yeah, yeah, yeah,... tell me again how LP sounds better than CD. Expertise.... pfff

It is a lot like Watches: does a $10 K watch keep better time than a 10 dollar watch? Not necessarily.

He talked a lot but didn't say much.

It's a bit hard to trust an "audio specialist" (and I'm not referring to Singer here) when they then try to sell you a bog standard IEC power cable (kettle lead, same as used for a desktop computer) for £80 or £250 or whatever on some BS spiel about power - completely ignoring the rubbish TPS cable in the walls and aluminium transmission lines of the grid. This is still a thing, or was last I walked into a high street hi-fi shop. Pity the sales guy didn't know that I'm an electronic engineer and a bit harder to fool with technobabble than most. I admit that they had me on skin effect for a while, though, until I realised the frequencies to which it applies in any significant degree.

HYPE AND SALES. I enjoy the Audiophiliac Show on RU-vid very much, and I am sure I will continue to enjoy it, but this episode featuring Mr. Singer of "Sound by Singer" mercantile fame has provoked a concerned response from me. Mr. Singer impuned CD technology blaming it for the decline of the audiophile business suggesting that CD's are unacceptably bad audio. He said that MP3 files were "horrible". I, too, worked in high-end audio retail concurrently with you, and I had a good time while it lasted, but who can dispute that audio salesmen have a bad reputation that is often justified? And off-the-chain hype is a major reason why. Derogatory hype is the worst kind. In a "Stereophile" interview, Arnie Nudell stated: >>"Just to set the record straight, Paul and I don't find digital offensive these days. It's improving at such a rate that certainly we can listen to music with it and design loudspeakers with it. We like its consistency. We've found that digital will go down to pp-not quite to ppp. The fffs on digital now are better than the fffs on record. I'll argue that with anybody, because I have the master tapes of the record. Digital has come a long way, and I have a lot of hope for it, because it's the wave of the future."

I love Steve Guttenberg. I don't like Andy.

Folks, get a good, mid priced amp two mid priced speakers, a passive sub woofer. It will sound amazing

Steve makes more money than this guy now and he's butt hurt about it.

40 years ago fools were easily parted from their money just as they are now.

He forgot to mention that sound systems were really shitty, boomy and thrown at your face, at that time. The high end market was a virgin one. Nowadays, you can get very listenable mid-end systems for the buck.

High end audio stores make most of their money selling overpeiced speaker cable to people who don't understand science. A $20 roll of lamp cord from Lowe's works just as well as $1,000 monster cable, even with high end amps and speakers.

Two other factors: prices went through the roof as sellers chased the top 10%, until average people were shut out of the activity, and, music shifted from recordings of real acoustical events to electronic confabulations that only existed in the imaginary soundscape. If you buy HP's formulation that live music is the absolute sound, then there is no more absolute sound in music.

I walked into Sound by Singer about 2 weeks after Sep 11, 2001. I had just turned 18. I was on holiday from Australia, and a keen audiophile. Where better to check out high-end gear than NYC? When the holiday was booked, we had no idea that tradgedy would strike NY - of course. Andy is burned into our memory as “the incredibly rude, arrogant and snobby bearded guy” who we observed in-store. My father has stronger memories than I, as I was engrossed in the tech. Andy chose to belittle our “tourist” status and emphasise what he considered to be our subsequent inferiority. Anyhow, we remember you Andy. Tourists from the other side of the planet have memories. Being Australian, I couldnt really give a toss, because one specific loser doesnt represent the awesomeness that is NY and the US. Having said that, lose the arrogance mate. Its not doing you any favours. ...I’ve just come back to edit this comment because I had not read anyone else’s comment until after I wrote mine. Geeeez, glad I’m not the only one! It’s been 18 years, and I am now complete 😂

The MP3 generation gets picked on a lot for its inability to discern excellent sound reproduction or simply be satisfied with mediocre sound. Well, they likely got if from their parents! I grew up in the 60s British invasion----Beatles, Stones, etc. the Motown, Philly, and Memphis sounds, and near the end of the 50s doo-wop rock and roll. I heard ALL of it on AM radio! AM radio! That was the norm. How low can you possibly go? And home theater? We would go to a drive-in movie theater and they would have these cheap metal box outside-all-the-time, in-all-weather conditions "speakers" you would slap on your window. I saw "To Kill a Mockingbird" basically listening to a walkie-talkie at the drive-in. There was no hue and cry throughout the land about woefully inferior sound equipment. No complaints about AM radio. FM (for rock n roll) wasn't widespread at least in Texas until late 60s early 70s. The high end probably started around the mid 40s so when I was listening to all my sounds on AM radio during the 60s it already existed, albeit mostly a hobby. At the time I thought I was enjoying everything I heard. Ignorance was bliss as they say. "Hi-Fi" was that Magnox walnut wood furniture box console on the floor that your parents wouldn't let you play because you could screw up the needle when they wanted to hear Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis, or Perry Como. Again, my generation was already attuned to mediocre sound long before the MP3 crowd came along. Having little funds wouldn't have changed things much anyway. MP3s at least beat AM pocket radios and table top radios where you sometimes had to use your arm as an antenna!

This was a very interesting video to watch! Great content.

Also anyone who still believes mp3 is used as heavily now is wrong, AAC, ALAC, FLAC and MQA are the new standards, AAC at 320kbps while lossy, can be 24bit/192khz. The others being lossless carry PCM/LPCM equivalent information. The fact that RIAA standards limits most records to 40hz-15khz which means that they are automatically substandard to digital recording. We know that being able to record beyond the scope of hearing leads to less harmonic distortion, better dynamic range, and superior SNR. LP's just simply cannot compare.

2:40 He says: “The audio industry went to cd, which really lowered the quality of reproduction.” What? How can a newer and better technology lower the quality? And compared to what? Vinyl? Cassettes? FM radio? It’s true that you can describe analog technology like vinyl as ‘warmer’, but cd has increased the audio quality with a big leap.

When I was 20 (1985)I walked into the high-end audio place near my home in mid-coast Maine looking for a quality car audio system. The floor salesman at the time was a man who sold me a small portable tv/radio at an appliance store a few years earlier. He was with a customer and asked me if I needed help. I told him I was interested in high-end audio for my car, he laughed at me and said I couldn't afford to look at anything in the store. I tapped his shoulder and pointed to the front window at my Jaguar (which I bought with money I worked for) parked in front of the store. The sales clerk, red-faced, sheepishly tried to apologize, I was unimpressed, walked out and put together a very impressive sytem, without his help. Have managed to surround myself with a fine collection of very good equipment over the years without the help of pompous salesman or having to spend insane prices for my equipment.

Late 70s I walked into a "high end" audio store in Canton, OH open minded and willing to learn about audio. As soon as I told the salesman I had about $300 dollars to spend I was pretty much ignored even though there were no other customers in the store. Pre-internet, I was left on my own to learn and shop for myself by this snob salesman. I found a turntable, amp and speakers for my money and I still use and enjoy these to this day. Now, years later, that I can afford more expensive gear I remember like it was yesterday how I was treated by these audio snobs. If there even were audio stores around these days I have no need to buy from them with the many reviews here on you tube and the internet.

The comment at 5:45 is so true. I have a ‘good’ system that whilst not the best is a step up from consumer. When friends come over and listen they are genuinely amazed in good way. There’s no embarrassment about what they have but a realisation that more is available is fantastic to see.

There's a heck of a lot of 'snake oil' stuff nowdays associated with high end equipment. Back in the old days, there was real value in whatever one bought, unlike now that many manufacturers charge extraordinary amounts of money for components build like a 'tank' but sounding very ordinary. One has only to test some vintage bits of equipment to realize that 'old gear' was not _that_ bad after all..

Andy Singer’s reputation as an arrogant ass is well known amongst the audiophile community. It’s people like him that gives audiophiles the stereotypical snobby label. He snubbed anyone who wouldn’t spend over 10k back in the day (80s/90s). Ironically, IMO, it’s guys like him that turned off a new generation of audiophiles.

Not only are kids today listening to horrible equipment, it is by far the worst time ever to hear music, new music today is the worst. It all sounds the same, mostly girls voices singing the same lyrics in ever song. the 70's was the time for equipment and new music and concerts, it all started down hill in the 80's and has gotten worse every decade until now where it is so bad, it's depressing. Where will the new artist come from when so few now play an instrument? It looks bleak and sounds worse. The dynamic range disappeared with the switch to CD's, it didn't have to, that was the record companies doing, they deserve a painful death for what they did to music.

It wasn’t rebellion, it was convenience and affordability,the high fi industry priced itself out of business. Now it’s just a rich mans hobby, something to brag about to there rich guy buddies. Hey Bob how much for those speakers? Oh let’s see oh yea 65k. I truly became fed up with all the bull, and spent very little on a very listenable system. Find a good set up for yourselves and enjoy

As soon as he claimed that CDs LOWERED the qaulity of audio reproduction... I was out. Beats the crap out of a casette ANY day....

The snobbish attitude from some of these guys hurts the business. It should really be about the best presentation of the music, that's for everyone. These guys shouldn't be gatekeepers, or roadblocks. As an old git from 1978 I would say "welcome young listeners, it's a cool hobby, have fun, get into it, enjoy the listening experience"

Great video as always Steve! But I do not get what is dude's real problem?! Gear behind him is 3K+ each. His target market are not those broke kids listening mp3's on their mobile devices but mostly older fellas (like me :) with significant disposable cash to waste (not me :( ) on technology that is mostly from a last century. (excluding HUGE advances of DAC, streaming technology, lossless digital files and in some instances headphone gear). Hi-End companies are shooting themself in a foot with pricing targeting mostly people with a deep pockets and basements to set up their pricy gear and get away from their family. Some honorable exceptions are Elac, Schiit Audio, Parasound and handful of others that I missed. Another point is a lifestyle - people today are more on the move rather than staying at home, unless they are working remotely (from home). A sole existence of lossless digital files is a big thing for me personally as I can carry my portable player and headphones with me wherever I travel. My records and CD collection is mostly collecting a dust. So investing a small fortune in Hi-End gear is totally unjustifiable if one does not have a decent amount of time to enjoy it. And that so-called "vinyl revival" is utter rubbish! 90% of vinyl print-houses from the end of 80's went belly-up with intro of CD's and home-theatre later on, as Andy mentioned in his video, and those few remaining have launched print prices over the roof (read: supply and demand). I can not picture a teenagers or even people in their 20's or 30' starting to build their record collection and invest £20+ for a vinyl?! Obviously there are honourable exceptions but as a general rule, such is not likely to happen on industrial scale. Sure, one can easily build very good HiFi system for £700-1500 but a few fundamental questions are: a) Should I invest money in HiFi (plus ongoing expenses for buying a music) or buy a new laptop, game console or whatever else I am interested in? b) Do I have time to enjoy my music at home? c) Do i have the appropriate space in my home for a gear I want to buy? d) Is type of music that I love really benefits from the gear upgrade? Regarding the last point - unfortunately most of electronica recordings nowadays is such badly recorded that it almost makes no difference if I am listening it through my Mac audio output or Hugo 2! Sad but true :( So folks, enjoy your music in whatever format & gear it pleases you and have a fun ;)

to--Atane. So sorry to read what you experienced with this Singer ass. I know first hand how that treatment (of lack of any) feels. And don't be surprised if within his heart it wouldn't have mattered if he actually seen your money. "I'm elite, and I don't want you or your kind in my club." That's what is really going on. But I'm glad you found a store a little north and I hope it's working good for you. And to Steve Guttenberg? Maybe you steer the interview a bit?

Horseshit. CD's are fine. Right, as the dude from below says, "...stick it..."

Attitudes are different these days. HiFi sales was handed off from the engineers to the marketers. Today, we are technically capable of such great stuff. But instead, mediocre stuff is passed off as high end. People are dropping thousands of dollars on cheap plastic and low quality junk and they don't know it. Largely because even when they educate themselves, marketers outright lie about their specs. We need a big consortium of mid to high end producers educating people on what to look for and what to watch out for.

One thing I disagree with is his statement that mp3 sounds terrible. The initial low kbs. mp3 maybe, but the higher kbs. mp3, not true. The majority of people when tested in blind tests, can't even tell the difference. Don't get me started on the hi-res b.s.

What happens when these kids and their cellphones discover real audio and find out what they've been listening to is Auto Tune garbage?

I’ve been at this since around the late 80’s. My dad always loved stereos but was more of the stacked Advent camp. The longer this goes on, the more unnatural un-musical this Uber high end stuff has become. In all honesty, you’re not even buying extra expensive stuff because it lasts longer or Is more reliable. Thank god I discovered the new JBL line and got off this end high farce.

Not to take value away from most of the stuff he said but CDs lowered quality? C'mon dude...

There was high end audio equipment before '78. A Dynaco ST70 or Fisher 500 sounds better than a lot of what passes as high end these days.

This peckerhead lost me at 2:44. SMH

CD lowered quality of reproduction... give me a break. Another old school analog purist.

Jibberish

well the music(masters) today are recorded(captured) 98% of the times into digital....so the notion that he said the quality is lower is just a romantic/selling concept, where turntables "spund better"...they mat sound cool and of course different...but not at all true to the source!

Far too much bullshit and marketing . A good Dual turntable, NAD amp and some AR Speakers was good enough .But MP3 fucked hifi for almost ever .

2:43 ... CDs in NO WAY by themselves degraded the quality of audio. The main failure was the practice of compressing the sound until there was no dynamic range left in the recording. This had its beginnings in FM radio, but had also been with vinyl to cram more tracks on a record. I had a Donna Summer track ("I Feel Love") on vinyl with out compression and another copy on a greatest songs from various artist on a LP that had about 30 tracks. The difference was incredible. At some point studios began to compress almost ALL recordings, so the quality went down. Most of my system is Early 1970s components plus a CD player from 1984.

Most dealerships add very little value, that's why so many go bust.

Those high end speakers don't mean shit when everything is recorded these days to sound like every other artist,no matter what genre,music no longer has any soul to it.

Total salesman ...knows about as much about audio gear as a Ferrari salesman knows about cars.....

I used to sell some high end gear. The industry is full of elitist snobs. The irony is that it takes young ears to hear it and older trained ears to know what to listen for. By the time you know HOW to listen you simply cant hear as well as you used to. Learn about speaker placement, get a quality source and respectable speakers. That's most of it. Its a dying industry honestly.

CDs did not lower the quality of reproduction. Sure I know analog vs digital, but CDs were way better sounding than scratchy vinyl.

Jesus, Steve! How could you stand 16 years of going in to work and having to listen to this guy bloviating?

Well, there is a LOT less cocaine involved, for one thing...

As a kid in the mid 1960’s, I knew the difference between my hand held transistor radio listening to top 40 am radio at the beach, and listening to my parents classical records on their Magnavox console in the living room. Two vastly different musical experiences, but both equally valid for their intended purpose. The cassette Sony Walkman was replaced by the CD version, and later replaced by the iPod. Serious listening remains in my living room. The Magnavox was replaced many times by a a nice, very satisfying audiophile system. The challenge, imho, is to introduce the world of great music to the generation who sees it as simply background to the busy lives. The Magnavox was not so bad after all.

The music was better, no one was happy with just earbuds

I have a healthy dose of skepticism regarding what this guy is saying on the internet.

'before faxes' xD It's amazing how people not only get old but are also programmed to feel old. Tragic :/

Hey this is snob reviewer interviewing snob hifi salesman

I get having a brick and mortar hifi store these days is murder with the overhead, small volume, customers who shop endlessly and don't buy, or use the store to demo and then buy elsewhere (via internet usually to save a few dollars). I'm sure there are lots of other hardships a non-industry person like me doesn't even contemplate, especially here in the NY metro area. But the flip side is that unfortunately, all the stories about the super snobbery in specialty hifi shops is true. The giving the walk in customer the once over and then the instant determination as to whether they're even worthy of any attention at all or if they should just be ignored and hope they go away, the you're too dumb and ignorant to know what's good or what you already have is crap or whatever anyone else carries is garbage, the absolute privilege it is for you to even be in my presence attitude, the high pressure buy now or get out. All true. But I was lucky to have found a place I love and where I am happy to spend my dollars, and much free time. Before they even knew me they spent considerable time with me, allowed me to bring basically my entire system in to demo against some equipment they had, and to give me excellent advise, service and friendship ever since. Little did any of these other places know that although I look like I've got $40 to spend, I now have a system costing close $40K. I know for some that's insane lunacy money and for others it's a mere drop in the bucket. And there are certainly worse and better systems out there. To each his own. So the amount of money I've spent is proof of nothing, except I was willing to spend it and these other places could have had it, but for their lousy condescending arrogance.

My first system was simple but amazing sound. A Dual turntable with ADC XLM Mkii cartridge, a Crown IC150 preamp and Crown DC300A amp, and two 6 foot tall Magnepan Magneplanar electrostatic speakers. I would sit in a pitch black room, crank the amps way up and zone out on Dark Side of the Moon.

You lost me at "lost generation", what a load of bullshit is that?

I remember reading a tech magazine in the mid-90's predicting that everybody would be walking around with a "credit-card sized computer terminal" packed with all the information and entertainment they'd ever need, and thinking "that'll be awesome". Now we're in that future and I'm listening to The Three Degrees on records that are older than I am.

You don't need high end for Wrap music.

70's had good sounding stereos.

He doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis.

Hey chong where's cheech homie!!

I have been interested in music reproduction for 50 years. It isn't the $150,000 speakers that annoy me so much as the $5,000 power cable which Singer no doubt considers essential

He can pass on now, he clearly knows everything.

Rode makes some great microphones for video use. If you’re going to have a channel on audio reproduction, you really should put some more effort into your audio production. $200 would boost your sound quality immensely. And while we’re at it, a little variety in your camera angle and may some thought about lighting and background would go a long way too. This looks like a deposition.

"high-end" audio equipment was around way before 1978

Andrew's expertise is in picking quality high end components that complement his wallet when he finds a sucker to sell to.

Some CDs sound great, some do not. Some vinyl is incredible, some are not. It’s not rocket science. Not sure what this guy is rambling on about but god I hope to never get stuck in an elevator with him.

Why 1978? Audiophiles got their game on starting with my Dad in the late 50s with the first stereo records and Dynaco tube kits with Garrard turntables and 2 - 3 way horn loaded EV Knight (from Atlas Chicago) cabinets. By 1978 you are only a few years away from the death of high quality audio when the CDs came out and then all the audio stores Federated, StereoLab, Pacific Stereo, Cambridge Audio, RogerSoundLabs all disappeared virtually over night. Later the kids got MP3 crap and that's "good enough" has ruled ever since. It's okay because the music they play on MP3s today is garbage anyway with no discerning of frequencies unless they are ghetto sub bass crap.

He sounds like he loves himself, wonder if he’s now deaf

mp3's are bad mkay. So just convert them to flac, write the flacs to tape, and cut yourself some vinyl from those tapes. 1000% more depth and warmth to the sounds guaranteed!

For those that say Vinyl as a media is superior to CD, I propose a little experiment; If you have the equipment to do so. Take your Hi-Fi record player and hook it up to a PC with a nice DAC. Record the audio from your record to the PC in a lossless format such as .wav or flac. Burn that onto a CDR at a slow speed. Then play that CDR on your HI-end CD player. My theory is: If done correctly, all the warmth and tone that you like about vinyl should be accurately reproduced by the CD that you just created. Bonus points if you possess retail CD version of the album to compare and reference. Post your results. Maybe Slayd5000 could chime in on this.

You need to go back to 1965, that is were we had tube amps, tube preamps, reel to reel taperecorders. Measured thd, wow and flutter on turntables.

today music has become a disposable product. That's why the most record stores are out of business. There will be always a market for high end audio but its a small one. The masses like free music on there iphone than rather buying a physical copy of the same album on cd or vinyl. The little group that buys physical want a good audio system. I think that’s The sad true.

Got a cheap zte phone with Dolby Atmos equalizer using audio Technica headphones m50,I have to say it's pretty close to perfection in sound.I do still prefer my HiFi stereo but I only like to play it loud.

love this channel... growing up I would read audiophile magazines in awe of the beautiful designs and promise of incredible sound experiences... this channel and great videos like this bring all that goodness back... well done Steve!

Singers a bonehead.

I am tuning this out after he claimed that CDs lowered the quality of audio. Complete garbage.

Back in 1978 I didn’t know anything about hi end audio , I can remember A receiver that had 55 watts per channel and I thought I had the best amp anywhere,it was a Marantz . 🔈

One huge difference is that in 1978 high end gear was reasonably affordable and most audiophiles could aspire to own it if they saved. Now prices are so ridiculous that only the very wealthy can afford it. Back in 78 some of the best speakers sold for under $3000 pr. Now high end speakers can cost up to $300,000.

Not the best one yet . lets first say the late seventies is when I started selling and installing audio . It was also the tail end of HI FI not the beginning or middle . The peak of Hi Fi was from early to mid 70's . It was when Vacuum tubes were replaced with solid state at volume ( no pun ) it was when Direct drives drove ( pun) the industry . Luxman and McIntosh clinics were at their peak or what I call the variac wars . Hi Fi and anyone can debate it all they want It was killed by home Audio video not CD's. CD's if anything kept it going longer because it added high-end listening to car audio. Car Audio was used by many Hi Fi shops to subsidize their income during the 70's , Car audio during the end kept the doors open . The reason why Cd's are blamed for poor audio quality is because at the same time Home audio video introduced junk equipment and junk speakers systems . Let's stop blaming CD's ,Vinyl is not better and the proof is out there just do the research. The old saying was if you want to make a million dollars in Hi Fi you better start with two . The supershops also killed Hi-Fi because it was profit margins . To answer your question from someone with no dog in the fight . what has changed in the last 40 years is lack of credible information and the lack of stereo shops . Too much internet misinformation too many boutique speakers . If nothing else the 70's had about 30-40 hi-fi magazines compared to maybe 5 that we have today . Also the content was way different it divided stereo in classes , cost, models , and best buys etc now they only cover brands that pay them . Today's stereo magazines are no more than stereo ads . Stereo review and hi fidelity used to break it down into price ranges and classes best buys etc . Everything I have ever said can be verified . People for whatever reasons are trying to rewrite stereo history . I remember when Marantz was junk ??? I remember people trading in MC60 mc75's MX110's TD124's for pennies on the dollar SX1050 for 75.00 now the they cost more than current best in class equipment . No one and I mean no one wanted vacuum tube equipment and belt drives anymore . People are reaching new levels of foolishness . Vintage means risk, it doesn't mean quality . Biggest change people want and demand 99.99 % of their money back when they resell . You can blame eBay for that I guess ?

Unfortunately the styling today isn't as pretty as it was back in the 70's and 80's

Sounds a tad snobby.