The Greatest Shift in Hifi is Happening! Good or Bad?

Comments · 840

• MR

  @MrAk749 · 1 year ago

  The ultimate flex in Sydney Australia in the 80's was a stacked hi-fi in the lounge room sitting proudly next to the leather bound edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Happy days :-)

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• TO

  @TorontoJon · 1 year ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbdAat_7cQ&amp;t=38">0:38</a> Years ago, I realized that my attraction to separate components wasn&apos;t purely for better sound quality, but was due to viewing those separates as a kind of industrial sculpture that one could stack to build a great sound system while also making those components feel like architecture and &quot;sound-generating skyscrapers&quot;. :)

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• TS

  @Tsarumayne · 1 year ago (edited)

  Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat at Schiit have done TONS to get people into budget, affordable good quality stereo gear.

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• TE

  @texasbassranger · 1 year ago

  I decided to get back into components a couple of years ago. The system I bought in 78 was the Phase Linear 400b amp and the 4000 preamp. I had that system for 24 years.<br><br>When I decided I wanted a simple receiver and turntable with speakers recently, I found an Onkyo TX-4500 MKII in a thrift shop for 75.00. I found an outlet, plugged it in and it lit up, so I bought it.<br><br>A buddy of mine started to rag on it immediately. He had a killer Pioneer system from the 70s and made constant fun of me for my choice. That Onkyo needed work, mostly a recap and some solder trace touchups. The guy I found to service it told me this receiver was solid gold.<br><br>When I said it would never compare to a Pioneer, he sent me pictures of the interior components.<br><br>The majority of them were badged Pioneer. That shut my buddy up.<br><br>Books, covers and all that.

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• DE

  @deelah77 · 1 year ago (edited)

  the most important thing to the future of hi-fi and possibly, ultimately, music is to see devices from Eversolo, SMSL, Wiim, etc at Walmart and Target. IMO these are gateway devices to the broader world of hi-fi and ultimately separates and such. But as of now if you want music in your home and you go to the dept store in your town, a JBL bluetooth speaker or (!!) Bose is your only option. That has to change

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• TH

  @thadbiser · 1 year ago

  I miss the warm glow of VU meters on a huge silver face stack.

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• WU

  @wumpyaz · 1 year ago

  Your first comments about the doorbell are absolutely spot on.

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• BR

  @briantracy1324 · 1 year ago

  I&apos;ve been using a Fosi BT amp in my restaurant with some mid range speakers ,, sounds way better than it should. Way better than you&apos;d expect background music in any business.

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• WH

  @whyitmatterstome · 7 months ago

  Montgomery Ward, and most major department stores, also had something called &apos;lay-away.&apos; They would hold the product you desired, and you would go in to the store each week or month and make a payment. This is how I bought nice things when I was a kid.

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• DA

  @danleedev · 1 year ago (edited)

  As a kid, I always coveted separates. &nbsp;When I had &quot;some&quot; money, I bought Kenwood&apos;s separates setup. &nbsp;It came with a pair of 3-way towers that sported 12&quot; woofers. &nbsp;Loved those white cones and the walnut finish. &nbsp;I used commodity, unbalanced stereo audio cables with RCA connectors and commodity speaker wire, 16GA, screwed down into the terminals. &nbsp;It sounded nice. &nbsp;Then when I had &quot;more&quot; money, I bought a then-aged Onkyo setup of separates; 5-way towers, again with 12&quot; woofers. &nbsp;I thought it sounded a bit nicer. &nbsp;Then, one day, I got a pair of B&amp;W DM610&apos;s, unexpectedly, as a throw-in with an Onkyo class D integrated home theater unit. &nbsp;Uhhhh...wow. &nbsp;The difference was night and day, and I finally realized how deep the audiophile rabbit hole must go. &nbsp;I ran those for a number of years and it was great.<br><br>Then I found your channel. &nbsp;I watched and listened and wondered. &nbsp;Last week I took the plunge and bought a Fosi ZD3 and a pair of of Fosi ZA3&apos;s. &nbsp;I put the ZA3&apos;s in mono and connected them up to the ZD3 with XLR cables. &nbsp;I ran thick, 3 foot, 12GA runs into the cables with plugs. &nbsp;The whole thing was about $600 all in; all Amazon. &nbsp;The difference is very, very noticable. &nbsp;It reminds me very much, in both character and degree, to my recent move from LED to OLED for my screens. &nbsp;Just like blacks are deep and precise on the OLED, space and silence between the sound ranges and instruments are incredibly clear and contrasted on the new kit. &nbsp;Sound on the old gear almost congealed into something I now hear as low-resolution and overly coupled. &nbsp;This new equipment produces sound that I can move my listening focus around in, like walking a stage, closer to the instruments. &nbsp;It&apos;s not, as they say, a difference of degree, it&apos;s a difference of kind.<br><br>TL;DR: If you&apos;re a traditional integrated class D amp user, thinking of picking up a Fosi ZD3 and a couple of ZA3&apos;s, do it. &nbsp;Wire the gear together with balanced XLR and short 12GA runs to the speakers to be sure. &nbsp;You won&apos;t believe how inexpensive it is to be truly surprised by your music, all over again.

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• RA

  @ravynsage · 1 year ago

  Good point about balance control. &nbsp;I have slight hearing loss in right ear and it drives me crazy not being able to slightly tweak channel balance on most of these.

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• CH

  @Chris.Brisson · 1 year ago

  I was going to leave a snarky comment (as audiophiles so often do), but then I realized I&apos;m listening to this video through a Fosi BT30C driving a Pyle subwoofer.

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