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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 7, 2016 21:44:25 GMT
What do you guys reckon, have traditional standalone / dedicated headphone amps become a thing of the past?
When I say "standalone" I mean a headphone amp with phono socket inputs and nothing else (no internal DAC / USB ports etc.)
It seems to me that the biggest "market" for headphone amps are the portable "on the go" types that cater for the i-generation who are not too good at communicating unless it's via a "Wi-Fi" hotspot using an electronic handheld "communication device".
Has the day of the dedicated, standalone headphone amp passed? (ie: Plugging your source / CD player etc. into it at home and listening to music).
I think the future (and the present) is pretty much about everything "on the go" (ie: having access to "social media" / music / films etc.) from the phone in your pocket. A very sad state of affairs indeed.
What do you think?
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Post by pcourtney1 on Jun 7, 2016 22:27:36 GMT
you maybe right, certainly the under thirties seem to be very much on the move with spotify, facebook, twitter, youtube, whatsapp in their face :-)
even I moved on from an X-Can v2 to my current setup - Onkyo ND-S1 and Onkyo A-5VL amp, still use the AKG K-340 headphones all the time though :-)
music per se is no longer the be all and end all for the younger generation, to them it's a bit dated perhaps, a bit eighties even, when CD was all the rage
they hanker for all the latest content on youtube to appear, this no longer means famous bands touting their run of the mill tunes, but anything and everything from all over the world, plus audiobooks and internet radio, where at the last count about 17,000 radio stations on air !
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 3:30:37 GMT
I've had a couple, and I lust after a couple more I will probably never get. But, there are some good valve amps around that aren't expensive.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 8, 2016 21:20:42 GMT
Read my original post and then reply..........
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 21:43:06 GMT
Read my original post and then reply.......... I don't get it. The Bravo Ocean I had had just an analog input, requiring some sort of preamp or DAC to feed it. People who use DAC/amps don't have interconnect cables between them.
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Post by mrpharmacist on Jun 9, 2016 5:02:48 GMT
What do you guys reckon, have traditional standalone / dedicated headphone amps become a thing of the past? When I say "standalone" I mean a headphone amp with phono socket inputs and nothing else (no internal DAC / USB ports etc.) It seems to me that the biggest "market" for headphone amps are the portable "on the go" types that cater for the i-generation who are not too good at communicating unless it's via a "Wi-Fi" hotspot using an electronic handheld "communication device". Has the day of the dedicated, standalone headphone amp passed? (ie: Plugging your source / CD player etc. into it at home and listening to music). I think the future (and the present) is pretty much about everything "on the go" (ie: having access to "social media" / music / films etc.) from the phone in your pocket. A very sad state of affairs indeed. What do you think? There are for me some headphone amps I'd like to at least listen to (Woo Audio, Blue Hawaii) but won't unless I have some miraculous windfall. Same could be said for a Wadia cd player or any number of Japanese tank-like overengineered players. Portable devices seem to have replaced some of the 'fetishisation' you had with standalone components. Personally I don't at all like listening to music on the move. If I'm out and about there's already 'music' out there eg train rhythms, water,gurgles of conversation, bar noise, passing planes etc waiting to be found
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 9, 2016 23:05:50 GMT
I still prefer the standalone dedicated headphone amp when sat relaxing at night , when out and about the android phone listening to mp3's with in ear buds is convenient but when it comes to proper listening to decent music I prefer the old seperate boxes and cables .
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 10, 2016 20:00:47 GMT
Exactly! I've never quite understood these people who wander about the streets listening to music, oblivious of what's going on around them, some cyclists even listen to music whilst pedalling. I like keeping my wits about me when I'm out and about and, like you, enjoy the music that is everyday life. I also detest these people that go on Holiday and spend their entire holiday looking at a screen (probably telling all their "friends" on facebook what a great time they're having)...... I saw a family of four sitting side by side in the Hotel lobby and all of them had a tablet in their hands, there was ZERO communication between them (unless they were communicating with each other online) and when I returned to the Hotel a few hours later they were STILL sitting there looking at their screens. The other thing that annoyed me immensely were these stupid people (mostly young girls) wandering about taking "selfies" of themselves....... those long stick things with the phone attached to them..... what the hell is that all about? Preening themselves in public with a big smile on their faces taking photos of themselves...... obviously to upload to facebook with some accompanying inane message like "Having great fun!". What with the the "music on the move" crowd and these self obsessed zombies glued to a screen types the art of communication is fastly becoming a thing of the past. I used my phone ONCE in the two weeks I was over in Bulgaria and that was to make a phone call..... the in thing these days seems to be to attach your phone onto a stick and wander about taking photos of yourself..... it's absolutely daft!. "What did you do on Holiday?" Took photos of myself. "Visit anywhere interesting?" Yes.... here's a photo I took of myself in the Hotel lobby: The world, seriously, has gone to hell.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 10, 2016 20:02:59 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 10, 2016 20:09:09 GMT
A seriously self obsessed person...... her suitcase must have contained a pair of knickers, a coat and essentials like selfie sticks / tablets / phones etc.
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 10, 2016 20:09:50 GMT
For me listening to tunes when out in populated areas drowns out PEOPLE If out walking in the countryside with birds singing no I wouldn't be messing about with a phone or listening to music , certainly never understood selfies . I find wildlife far more interesting than peoples ugly mugs
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 10, 2016 20:12:04 GMT
I did actually buy a selfie stick but have it attached to a tripod for doing timelapse video of the moon, sun rises etc
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 10, 2016 20:14:19 GMT
A seriously self obsessed person...... her suitcase must have contained a pair of knickers, a coat and essentials like selfie sticks / tablets / phones etc. WTF Do you think theres a box full of attachments for that stick ?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 10, 2016 20:33:47 GMT
A seriously self obsessed person...... her suitcase must have contained a pair of knickers, a coat and essentials like selfie sticks / tablets / phones etc. WTF Do you think theres a box full of attachments for that stick ? I don't know Leo BUT my "one" (solitary) attachment may have come into its own but the sad thing is....... these "selfie" types take great offence if you attempt to "talk" to them and tend to run to the hills if you show them your personal selfie stick
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 10, 2016 22:37:04 GMT
Just don't go trying to attach a phone on the end of the personal selfie stick
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leo
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Post by leo on Jun 10, 2016 22:51:12 GMT
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 11, 2016 19:10:49 GMT
I like that one Leo
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Post by mrpharmacist on Jun 11, 2016 23:20:02 GMT
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Post by mrpharmacist on Jun 11, 2016 23:26:43 GMT
WTF Do you think theres a box full of attachments for that stick ? I don't know Leo BUT my "one" (solitary) attachment may have come into its own but the sad thing is....... these "selfie" types take great offence if you attempt to "talk" to them and tend to run to the hills if you show them your personal selfie stick Some museums in the world ban the dumb things, likewise pro-style photography. Take a couple of pics, then stop already. Not London. Selfies are imagined to let people 'engage'. Or in other words, museums become dumb tourist sites with high numbers for the sake of high numbers because those high numbers wouldn't turn up if they couldn't create a simulacram of themselves being there
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 12, 2016 19:26:51 GMT
I don't know Leo BUT my "one" (solitary) attachment may have come into its own but the sad thing is....... these "selfie" types take great offence if you attempt to "talk" to them and tend to run to the hills if you show them your personal selfie stick Some museums in the world ban the dumb things, likewise pro-style photography. Take a couple of pics, then stop already. Not London. Selfies are imagined to let people 'engage'. Or in other words, museums become dumb tourist sites with high numbers for the sake of high numbers because those high numbers wouldn't turn up if they couldn't create a simulacram of themselves being there I think it's quite sad when people are taking photos of "themselves"..... nothing wrong with a good holiday snap but multiple photos of "yourself" taken by "yourself" smacks of narcissism as far as I'm concerned...... they all seem to think they are "celebrities" in their pathetic "social media network" of friends and probably think they are doing everyone a big favour posting stupid photos of themselves online. That facebook crap was the worst thing ever to emerge online.... it seems to attract all the wrong types who are so insecure that they have to upload hourly commentary on where they are and what they're doing.... who the fekk gives a damn? Do you still have those "Mistral" speakers? They proved to be a damned good buy @ £99..... they're still going strong as desktop speakers (being driven by a Musical Paradise MP-302 class D amp) and as near field monitors they're pretty damned good with superb imaging. The Musical Paradise MP-302 has been a bloody good little work horse too..... nothing special on paper but it has more than enough grunt to drive the little Mistral speakers. The only think I don't like about them is they are dust magnets (the Mistrals) but, apart from that, you can't knock the performance and the build quality is simply rock solid. Anyhoo...... off to take a selfie of me next to the Mistrals (yeh, right)
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