UNFAITHFUL

posted by James Reel

    Good audio is on the way out, because standards are being set by vast herds of consumers who can’t tell the difference between high fidelity and low, or who maybe can detect a little difference but just don’t care. This has compromised audiophile efforts for decades. Remember the RIAA curve, which made music sound better on low-fi equipment but worse on hi-fis and was applied to most commercial LPs? Remember the decapitation of the frequency range in the early CD specs? Now we’re stuck with iPods and iTunes, which provide quality comparable to what was available in 1928. Shouldn’t standards be set by people of taste and discernment so that they may be satisfied, and giving the less sensitive a chance to elevate their taste? What purpose can any of us have if, instead of aspiring to a higher level in all things, we are content to wallow in mediocrity?