I'm not young anymore (49) and I agree that cheap equipment is indeed a gateway to more expensive and higher quality stuff. My dad was much into music and HiFi when we were in Germany and he had a gorgeous Grundig separate component system with a Dual turntable and huge Canton speakers. It rocked! I learned to love music since my early days and had lots of stuff starting with portable cassette decks/Walkman, going through a Sony compact system (turntable, tuner, dual cassette deck and amp), evolving to Marantz amp and CD player with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond IV speakers with money I earned from working in my school summer holidays... And when I finished high school and started working I always kept some money to improve my experience. Had many interesting Rotel, Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer amps and CD Players, mostly British speakers (Tannoy, Wharfedale, Mission and B&W) and I think this is such a great hobby that always helps me relax and have a better mood.
my opinion to , how could i relax if not after work take a refreshing bath and seat on my sofa and while drinking to a very fresh sweet and natural juice (i stop drinking alcohol when i made 50 i´m 12 years without touchin`nothing , well not being true i touched some botles of wine that were ofered to me in the christmas but only to cook i use alcohol, i was drunk from my 14 birthday to my 50th and i heard maybe thousands of times that it was harder than leaving hard drugs , i felt frightened, as it cost me a lot to leave heroin and cocaine, this last mainly cooked to smoke but alcohol is everywhere i go, but from one day to another i stoped and all i saw in movies was just hilarious those A.A. wtf are they doing there, if one loves more drinking than living well don´t live, just drink till your liver makes a good foi-grás, pitty to not be around to taste it
Young people today mostly listen via phone, headphones or Bluetooth speakers. My two sons have an example from me of what a decent hi-fi system means and sounds like. Occasionally they want to listen to something, especially trap, so the subwoofer shows how capable it is... when the wife is not at home, of course😅. I don't know how it will be when they grow up, maybe it will stay somewhere in their memory and they will come up with a hi-fi system...
@UTILITARIANTVUK You could get them as the tower system in the wood (chipboard/vinyl) cabinet, or the less swanky version as just the standalone (plastic) midi. To be honest the likes of Sanyo, Sansui and the likes all did them...and they were all a bit shit...Sony were better quality...but still the same lower end stuff at heart
Innovation is key. And I dont see this coming from China yet. But China's efficient production/manufacturing/assembly make hifi accessible to mere mortals.
I'd love an affordable 5.1 AV Receiver (perhaps Class D). In early 2020 the cheapest one was a Yamaha at £179. Now you can't get any new ones for less than 350-400 quid. Perhaps Fosi Audio or Aiyima can save the day.
It is already so. Class D has something to do with it. No big transformers...... In the 60/70's people had the same questions about Japanese stuff. Grts. from Holland.
Good vid, mate. Thanks to Chi-Fi, you get way better for way less (in real terms) than you did 40 years ago. The funny thing is though, because so much stuff has become so much cheaper in real terms, for most people now, spending £200 on a piece of audio gear is the same as it was 40 years ago, even though it is way less in real terms. I think people expect too much for too little now. Btw, I also remember enjoying looking through catalogues from Kays, Gratton, Littlewoods etc. I must admit, it was the big sections they had for ladies underwear that got the most attention 😍
I had a Fidelity UA4 record player with plastic speakers in 1981, and I made my own wooden cabinets aged about 15. Huge improvement! And now like you I now have Linton Heritage! Always good to use the inflation calculator, my system (Linton speakers, Technics SL100C turntable, Marantz CD60, Marantz model 50 amp, Denon DNP2000 network streamer used as radio and DAC) cost £5k. I got out a 1978 Tandy catalogue and on the front is a Tandy "Realistic" own brand system with speakers, receiver, turntable, cassette deck. £750, or £3,978 today.
Thanks for the comment. I'm putting a system picture gallery together on my Facebook page. It would be great to have a picture of your set up on there. facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560240852317
Went straight from FM radio and Type II Chrome cassettes to MP3, skipping Vinyl and CDs entirely. The sound quality I've had the past 5-10 years with FLAC, DACs and decent headphones / speakers is leagues better. Wonderful hearing instruments and vocals you've never noticed before in your favourite music.
I actually don't mind those bsr mechanisms. They are the singer sewing machine of the audio world. Just pumped out the same thing for decades and they were found in just about everything ( I guess pre cec Japanese turntables). The last one I had was pretty sweet late 60's Sanyo combo thing with turntable, tape deck and big silver face receiver. But yeah I tend to grab those if I chance upon them. It's usually just the grease in them dries up so you only have to clean them and lubricate them. They were totally made to be service friendly. I had another bsr, it was in this old Phillips stereogram. Older again same thing though but with metal cogs, the later ones had plastic cogs.
I agree! You can get high-end audio for 600€. Used in mint condition. Rega io amplifier, Wiim mini streamer, SMSL SU-1 DAC, Klipsch R-51M . Rega io made in GB!!!! Sounds fantastically good! Add another 100€ and you get a new Fiio K11 R2R DAC. R2R DAC for 160€ That's incredible, isn't it?
Nicely done ., your experience pretty much mirrors mine and many others. And that inflation calculator always shocks me . I just bought old AR speakers for $5 each. (We need a time travel machine to send stuff back to 1980 to our younger self). Thanks
My journey into hi-fi began with a Sony CD boombox back in the early 1990s. From there, I purchased an Aiwa 5.0 surround system in college. That led to a few HTIBs over the next decade or so. fast forward to about five years ago and I put together a $3000 home theater system. I know that is still quite modest compared to what many have, but it is certainly a lot better than the $100 Bluetooth speakers many young people settle on these days. Sadly, it will probably cost me almost $5000 to put together the same system today. I also have a couple of chi fi systems in use around my house.
I completely agree with you! And I think this perspective taking can be applied to a lot of different topics. In other words, we are continuing to experience relatively amazing progress.
Have to say I am pretty happy with my SMSL AO-300, it’s not endgame but it’s a jack of all trades round the back with a very accurate and sweet sound signature for £260. Anybody who missed these on Prime day for £168 missed out big time.
I think chinese cheap amps are very good for people who cant spend a lot of money, but they not sound good as a good class ab of course. I recently bought fosi za3 just for curious and im impressed with good sound but, will this hot little amp lasts longer lifespan?
Cost-effective products do not only give the opportunity for more people enjoy good sound, but also push the conventional compaies make better and more affordable products.
Llistening to this really made me smile as your journey was much like mine (they were the days), I had a fidelity portable (plastic and mono) record player I think I was about 10 in 1974, I loved it at the time (but it was shit). I started work in 1980, I then got a waltham music centre from Woolworths, at least it was stero unlike my record player. it actually caught fire after a few months. Woolworths gave me my money back and I got an amstrad like you. I was soooo disappointed when i got it home it sounded worse than the Waltham, if you listen carefully you could hear it falling apart it was constructed so poorly. I then saved up and got myself a little nad amp and jpw speakers and my hifi journey began. Dave Bowie Rebel Rebel was my first purchase in 74 which is cool for a first single, however I did buy some Boney M as well, so not so cool, well Daddy cool.
Congratulations on your channel. For me, it's one of the best. I learned a lot about turntables and cartridges with you. I also have an At LP3. Thank you. In a video, you said to ask for topics that we would like to see analyzed. I propose the following, a test between the Linton and some bookshelf speakers with subwoofer. Why? Let me explain. I have a qacoustics 3020 with wharfedale subwoofer 8" (600 euros). If I upgrade to Linton without subwoofer (1000 euros), is it worth the 400 euros difference? In other words, if you have bookshelf speakers with subwoofer, is it worth upgrading to Linton? Thank you.
Haha lad, you’re amazing and have a great attitude! Keep doing what you do. 34 years old here and and a amateur audiophile (don’t know if that makes ma youngster still 😉)
This was instructive and edifying. It makes me appreciate the system I have even more. I wouldn't want to live back then when hi-fi was crappier yet more expensive. Long live the modern era...
Hi amazing video I’m currently looking for some advice I’m running the following Aiyima t9pro WiiM mini Polk es15 speakers my question is would a smls su1 dac improve the sound??? Plugged into the t9pro Thanks
@@rchobbiesuk9492most people seem to think the su1 is worth the price. However, if you’re unsure if it’s better than the dac you already have you could buy it on Amazon. If it’s not a big enough improvement for you Amazon have a 30 day no fuss return policy on audio equipment, even for cables etc. you don’t even have to pay return postage. I hope this helps! All the very best!
My hifi journey is very similar to yours bsr turntable and crap speakers but I had a major advantage my late brother in law brian god bless him was a hifi nut garrard turntable sme tonearm quad amplifier quad speakers and he stopped me wasting money took me to his dealer I got a linn lp12 sansui au 101 amplifier and spendor bc1 speakers I still have them all I also have a valve amp I have a laugh at most modern gear which is detailed but lifeless buy the way saw the clash in Stoke on trent climbed in though a toilet window assisted by Joe Strummer
The price of the equipment really isn't the point anyway.. Pure HiFi mythology. Besides you really should stop listening to equipment and start listening to music - what''s that you say ? Music is just AI these days ? Anyway, your KEFs , Quads, Missions, Audiolab gear are more than likely made in China. The Chinese pretty much own BritFi, to use your terminology.
Where do you get your information? Britfi as you put it is going strong and still made in Britain. Linn, Rega, Cyrus, Sugden, Exposure, Nottingham Analogue,Wilson, Trichord, Rothwell, Tom Evans, Leema and Goldring spring to mind that’s without mentioning speakers. I am sure that I have missed some but you get my point. Nothing wrong with Chifi though if you don’t want to spend too much you can find some excellent products.
Not just BritFi, but everything. Almost all low to mid-end stuff is made in China. If you buy, say, the entry model active speakers from a reputable German company, they're made in China, and if you buy the mid to high end ones, the speakers are made in Germany, but the plate amp is still Chinese. It's just how it works today. And not just today either. 20 years ago I got a really beefy hybrid amplifier "from" Germany, 2x200W, 12AX7 preamp, oversized transformer and 22kg in total. Really good for 1000 EUR. Made in China. If it was made in Germany, it would've been 2000 instead. Of course I never complained. 😂 As long as quality control is done properly, there's absolutely no problem with it. Chinese producers get you what you pay for, and have been for a long time. Still cheaper than anything else.
@@davidcarr2216 again where are you getting your information? Goldring are British formed by 2 German brothers who built their factory here in 1933. Wilson Benesch are again definitely British and their factory is in Sheffield literally a couple of miles away from me. What do you consider a cottage industry? Most of the brands that I mentioned are large companies employing many people.
From Stereophile mag: "The E-series Goldrings are one of those "designed in the UK, made in Japan" products. According to Jonathan Bennett, marketing director for Goldring/Armour Home Electronics, these cartridges are "based around an Audio-Technica generator but with some modifications and improved spec." Yes, Wilson Benesch are based in Sheffield.
