What steps forward were actually steps backward?


I'm always fascinated to read about how many "upgrades" were improvements, and that very few were actually disappointing and could be considered a "downgrade". Are we all so knowledgeable and incisive that all our hardware purchases are always for the better?

Who is willing to admit that their "upgrade" was a "downgrade"?
128x128nrenter

Showing 1 response by tobias

Steps backward in disguise, based on marketing and lies:

Solid state amplification
Acoustic suspension speakers
Digital

In 1970 I went from a kit-built Dyna SCA-35 to a transistor integrated whose name I've repressed. Now I'm back with tube amps, I realize I lost the music for thirty years.

I never did find the amp that could make bass sound tuneful rather than thumpy on my AR2ax's.

For over ten years my music-loving friends drove me crazy with CD hype secondhand. Why couldn't they hear the weird dynamics, the acid highs, the decay falling into the bitbucket ? The technology is only just coming right. It's a shame to think of the recordings of the early digital period. Even today, younger music lovers think badly-made CDs and yucky MP3s are normal.