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Observations from the 💺rocking chair

Sarel.wagner

Sarel.wagner

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2023
Messages
502
Location
Centurion
Sitting here, contemplating stuff, funny how this goes. A few observations if you will, my personal views….
Vintage or modern, expensive vs cheap in price not value, analog vs digital, class A vs AB vs D, cable jewellery vs copper draad, tape vs vinyl, tubes vs transistors, CD vs streaming, electrostatic speakers vs pistonic type speakers and the list goes on and on and on…. Pick any combination you like, it’s always versus.

Some people throw money at the problem, some upgrade all the time. Some people have the ability to DIY out a solution. Everybody is seeking the ultimate for themselves when it gets to HiFi. Few people, a very few has found what they are happy with. If you read the forums, there is a lot of discontent and I think some of this stems from the obsession with gear. Higher and higher performance equipment, cables and sources to be able to reproduce music.

Then again, some people just listen to and enjoy the music, other the gear. I am a kind of draadsitter here. Let me elaborate. When listening to music, I do not want to listen to obvious faults like a voice coil rubbing or distortion, it detracts from my enjoyment. I do not want to hear the gear, just the music. When repairing/restoring gear, I do the exact opposite.

It’s like the interface to the music, the gear. Most modern equipment use some remote control, the pinnacle of convenience. Man, in 99% of the cases, it is a mass produce piece of plastic with bleh action on the buttons, or touch screen with zero tactile abilities. I recall fondly HP calculators of old, and pc keyboards…. Convenience wins it seems. But then again I enjoy the ritual of my old equipment, you have to get up and change the LP, swap the tape, change the volume etc. The ritual is part of the listening, altho cleaning LP’s I don’t enjoy. I do have new remote controlled stuff, but just like modern cars, they work but there is no connection. It’s like the teeny tiny buttons and screens adorning all modern things, you have to read and comprehend to know what the settings are. Like the rotary encoder with no markings, round and round it goes, no feedback, no LED indicating where in the 270 degree arc the volume is set to, since there is no stop, no arc to traverse and no set the volume to 11….

When it gets to enjoying the equipment for the sake of using it as the interface to music, gimme big knobs and clear markings and a detent if needed. Gimme a volume control that is silky smooth with clear feedback and oh a joy to fiddle with, something with heft but controllable. What happened to VU meters, or a tuning dial, nada and all in the mind of cost savings and programability, forget usability. Hem knows just wobble about and ya afraid to touch it as it feels like falling off, and that is not just on cheap gear. I am aware that on some not so cheap ger you get better, but on some just the same. And add to subtracting a few steps a few times a day to not get up and walk over there. Sold in droves….

Microcontrollers in everything, they cheap. So follow displays, tiny things that cannot be read from over there anyhow. The throw away culture since nobody bothers with schematics for anything past about the 90s, so no repairs either. Just buy a new one when the old one breaks a week past it’s warranty, just to make money, the planned obsolescence culture. Well us humans I guess suffers from planned obsolescence as well, in death.

More than half of my enjoyment in a strange way, stems from my orphaned equipment resurrected after being ousted as obsolete or not working and abandoned. I have a workshop full of test gear that was rescued and repaired, mostly old valve test gear and early transistor stuff. Same for a lot of HiFi gear, old and mostly 50s to 80s vintage, old classics. The sweet taste of success in fixing an orphan, it creates an emotional response.

VintagemyselfGroetnis
 
I think I am pretty much simpatico with your assessment.

I love music. It is my reason for breathing, if I am honest. I use it to find solace in a world that is decaying before my eyes. When I listen I am not looking for faults in the fidelity, I am looking for that place where I can open the doors to something that escapes my reality. As long as I am not aware of something that detracts from the experience, like you said, I am happy. For me it's a case of "push play, get high". No narcotics necessary. I guess I might be experiencing a high vicariously given the kind of music I listen to (currently playing Marvin Gaye's What's Going On masterpiece).

On the equipment side what I have is modest, all sourced second hand and except for one thing that I need to get fixed on my AV receiver, I am fairly satisfied. Yes, I would like a shiny silver retro thing or two with all the tactile protrusions and visual appeal, but in reality, as long as it sounds good to my ageing ears, I don't care what it's playing through. As long as it's playing.
 
Bottom line is that it has to sound good. It is subjective, but for me if the bass or treble stands out it is a no show. It needs to sound balanced and true to source (as far as possible). And a sprinkle of magic like a holographic sound stage also helps.
 
A remote if it has to be used (like the crappy DSTV unit) should be sensibly designed
But no, a Denon remote has 32 buttons and even then, additional functions can be accessed by pressing two buttons together

The Devialet remote also has some superflous buttons that you seldom use. At least the input toggle is a button by itself, as is the power button. Then the volume control is unmistakable

1695631188959.png
 
Of good design, I would think that has some heft, since I never used one. Also it stays put even if you press on the buttons and don't scoot everywhere or til when a button to the side is pressed....

Also on good interface design (HMI), what is that, how is it different from bad design? Glad you asked, no? It's a vs thing again, displays and menus vs knobs. Let's look at a high stress environment like airplane cockpits. There are certain things that have dedicated levers, buttons, knobs etc. other things are on menus on a display, some even have touch abilities but always there are tactile buttons.

Screens in aircraft are normally large in area so as to prevent multi layered menu systems, but that still requires reading and comprehension. Think analog watch vs digital watch display. The one gives visual feedback, the other one requires reading and comprehension. Even with digital displays, Boeing and Airbus for example use analog style steam gauges with a needle to indicate settings or % power or fuel level etc.

So let's qualify a bit here. I hold a patent for a new type of display that is really the first update and different way of showing data compared to the industry standard steam gauges, in more than 600 years. This creative process took more than 35 years, so lots of research in gauges, display technology and how we see fundamentals. This gave me a unique insight in HMI design. This process and paten itself is irrelevant to HiFi itself, so moving on.

Visual feedback, especially when further away than between reading distance and arms length, depends on easily identifiable indicators. This can take the form of colour coded lights, knob position, lever position, or movement in a VU meter. You can her the music at a certain level, that is also good feedback. But what source is selected before you select play? Or even better, at what level is the volume control set at before you start to play? How do you get feedback on this from a rotary encoder that can be turned continuously and there is no direct indication while the knob is not turned?

A lot nowadays is form over function, HMI is an afterthought. Because we can, and it is sometimes cheaper, does not mean we should. But the mass market and throwout culture and the best new thing has ahold of everything, including HiFi. So we get what sells, and is profitable.

MusingsGroetnis
 
An English friend in Lime Regis has a Meridian CD player he bought in 1991. One of the first machines said to be capable of 20 bit resolution. The remote was enclosed in a cast-metal case, held together with Allen key bolts. Super smooth operation. If you held down the PLAY button it would increase the playback speed, and not in a jerky way but properly buffered

His neighbour, who considered himself a hi-fi buff, bought a Quad 99CDP a few years later. All the bells and whistles he said. He brought it round to this Meridian owner and they plugged it in. Certainly a more forward sound, but too much emphasis in the upper mid range. They listened for a whole week-end

The next day the Quad went back to the shop

The Meridian is still in service. He has over 12000 CDs so will probably never change

I mentioned the word "streaming" to him. His response - "we listen to music here, not that over the air stuff"
 
chrisc said:
A remote if it has to be used (like the crappy DSTV unit) should be sensibly designed
But no, a Denon remote has 32 buttons and even then, additional functions can be accessed by pressing two buttons together

The Devialet remote also has some superflous buttons that you seldom use. At least the input toggle is a button by itself, as is the power button. Then the volume control is unmistakable

View attachment 2611
Click to expand...
images (1).jpeg

2 buttons work on my component - volume up & volume down...😝
 
Ja a really 💩 design that. All the buttons are the same size, no colour coding, no feedback. More of the same mindless design.

Groetnis
 
Thinking back over time, there was a lot of progress made in HiFi, Audio and Video, and a lot of things lost as well. Bakelite was the first commercial thermoset phenol based plastic, made artificially in 1907. Nylon and things like ABS was invented later. The philosophy back then was durability, exceptional quality, no compromise design and most things made from metal, like faceplates, knobs (or bakelite), levers and other components we touch, it’s all they had. Detail reigned supreme and feel was a most important feedback, things was smooth and with some heft.

Obsolescence design was not a thing. Things was designed to last a lifetime, the lifetime of the user, not the bloody warranty. No wonder, in general, the peak of HiFi and lots of other items, is considered to be the late 80s. Lots of innovative designs was invented back then and combined with good design, engineering as well as the stated philosophy, made for amazing products.

Not that innovation has slowed down today, or that good designs are absent now. Many things are now lightweight, made of plastic, made cheaply, does not last and ends up as waste, but way to soon. It’s like my iPhone 3, still works, battery still good. Think of it in this way, 34 iPhones was released since 2007. My 3G was release in 2008, so now 15 years old. The cadence works out to 2 iPhone new models released per year, on average. Talk about throw away culture and designed obsolescense! And the batteries, they don’t last for 💩

Like so many things, bean counters have taken over, reduce cost at any cost, and design and feel goes with all the cuts. A spiral to the bottom. It is like remote controls, the main interface to our beloved gear, what 💩. Plastic remotes with tiny lil buttons and a bewildering number of them to boot, and no feel, no heft and no feedback of anything. Or even worse a touch screen. There are of course exceptions, but only a few, and out of reach for most of us.

My day job, gainful employment for the past 9 years, who knows for how long still, the company is being taken over, involves computers and CPUs. Prior to that I was self employed, same basic industry for a few decades. Embedded controllers have ruined many a system, but enhanced many others, on balance a good thing for sure. I have build many such systems, and programmed them. Remember the Y2K bug, yea was involved in creating a PCI card to help solve that problem, or non problem. Embedded controller to the rescue.

Our own foibles and convenience cravings are ruining our lives. Remote controls reasons. I am guilty as charged your honour. I love Vintage everything, but do have a modern car, and freezer and some HiFi gear and some very modern test gear and a hybrid espresso machine, but also a vintage copper and brass one. Me for one, makes a connection with good quality designed products, but not with the throw away culture, what crap. My modern car is convenient, but I am not attached to that, no investment in it, just convenient. Of the vintage relics, boat anchors and a 62 model Beetle and a 57 Chevy pickup, now that is mooi and lekker, character galore and with plenty faults and compromises. But still way more fun, way more desirable and requiring much more investment emotionally.

Everything perfect, by it’s very nature is not. Everything flawed, therefore is better! Ritual in changing tapes, or a LP, that cannot be done with a remote, I have to get off my lazy ass, and partake in the ritual. Or no enjoyment, no instant gratification here.

MetbaiefouteGroetnis
 
Zapiti no more....
The company’s cloud service, which uses metadata to identify movies ripped from discs, and organize them on Zappiti’s interface, will be disconnected before the end of 2023, according to the email.

What does that mean for Zappiti owners?​

The Zappiti Video software will no longer work for the company’s media players, nor for Zappiti’s NAS device. Customers do have the option of creating an offline collection, which should continue to work even after the business closes down, but new movies won’t be identified anymore. According to the email, the Zappiti Explorer interface will still work, and people will still be able to access their movies via their NAS or the internal HDD. NAS owners will still be able to rip and access video files. “They will be able to keep their actual collection, but with no further possibilities for identifying the new movies on Zappiti Video.
From Audioholics.com

Another example and a gotcha, this is not about Zapiti at all, its about the concept of Microcontroller and software based products. Device crippled, if not bricked in total, by software and a cloud service. No thank you. You will not own it, ever, and should be happy. The French based company will be shut down, and your service and access to it as well. Analog and manual devices do not suffer from this, thank you.

WeesgewaarskuGroetnis
 
Funny dat, just another observation. The chase, the butterflies, knowing it is the best, most expensive, most desired or bestest at whatever....
When the NAD 3020 was selling like hot cakes, bought one new, still around. Also get a set of Yamaha HP1 Orthodynamics new at the time, they intrigued me. There are others also. Funny thing is mostly they fit my budget of the time. Nobody knew that the Nad would become what it is, it was cheap and cheerful.

Those Yamahas were like expensive, and so were my NS690 III, also still around, but saved up and eventually was rewarded with the quality. There were a few TTs and CD players but nothing exotic for the time. Also the usual Ortofon or Shure cartridges, nothing too fancy or exotic. There were a few Amps and Pre Amps and various speakers like Tannoy and AR etc. Some were sold, some were stolen, at least held on to some of em over the years.

The human mind and spirit is intriguing to say the least. The chase, for some, is likely more of a thrill than having the item of desire. But I suspect in all this, a little bit of the music, the emotional enjoyment, is lost in the chase. Blixem and don't tell me about the chase. A few of the items on my bucket list is old stuff, but they made an impression on me at the time. It's like the Yamaha NS1000 Monitors I am busy retiring at the moment, always dreamt of owning a pair, but way way more than I was willing to spend. It's like the Quad II amps I have been chasing for who knows how long, many years later, here we are.

This commentary on the state of our hobby today I guess stems from the insatiable fundies and their chase. My friends, enjoy the music, enjoy the moment, listen, connect and be happy. The music, not the gear, that is a happy place. It's like a hosepipe in modern society, you need pipes to get the water, but we need water so survive and prosper, it's like music for the soul.

HappyGroetnis
 
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Man, take-overs are such fun.... No time for anything else, sword over the head, colleagues no longer at their desks. Join a global they said, it will be fun....
Hoping to return to a bit o normality in the future.
tydloosegroetnis
 
Way at the top of this thread Sarel mentioned the ritual of manually managing older equipment. While I have to get up every few minutes to change an LP, for the past week or so I have had to rely on my NAD 3150 while the Predator is taking a break in anticipation of a much-needed service. I now also have to get up to change inputs. I have not really had to use the NAD's push buttons for ages, nor the selector switch. It's about 38 years old, give or take a year, but what amazes me is the very satisfactory click I hear and the feeling in my fingers when the selector switch changes from Phono to Tuner to Aux. It still feels solid, and works as it did the day it left the factory. This is classic hifi.
 
Sarel.wagner said:
Tactile feedback, by touch and via that satisfying click. You become part of the ritual....

Groetnis
Click to expand...
My family say that since I got a turntable again, I am much calmer - I tinker, clean records, inspect the wonder of the mechanics of my turntable, and read the liner notes of my LPs. I love the ritual!

All of this keeps my mind off the work that waits when I get back to my desk.
 
Maybe, just maybe I will be able to come up for some air soon, not real soon but soonish.... Rough waters sailed in more ways than one. The corporate takeover was November 2023, klippe gekou oboet, dem huge rocks. Got retrenched and the offices closed end Jan 2024. Some of us were lucky and got offered new but different contracts. Time will tell, who knows and my crystal ball is a bit charcoal grey.

But work we do, and keep on keeping on. As I mentioned, I was ne of the lucky ones, other are looking for new employment still. Lots to be thankful for 🙏🏻

Groetnisenmoeggewerkwantdaarisboggeroltydnie
 
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