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In Reply to: MP3's, iPod, iTunes etc. may eventually lead to further casualties beyond Atma-Sphere posted by Thom Y on October 18, 2004 at 13:32:03:
You have a point, however amps like these are for people with refined listening skills, people that buy iPods would never buy a high-end amp, even if they were no iPods and in fact, it may inadvertently help the industry.
Follow Ups:
> people that buy iPods would never buy a high-end amp..Um, I have to take issue with that. First and foremost, the iPod is a music source.. much like conventional cd players and turntables. I've witnessed more people using an iPod to drive a car stereo or small home system, than walking around with the buds in their ears. Sure, the iPod of today is somewhat limited, in terms of the formats it will play (lossy formats, mostly MP3 and AAC) and the output options offered, but this will surely change - sooner, rather than later. As small hard drives increase in capacity, it will become more and more practical to use the lossless codecs such as FLAC and SHN to compress music. And while the current iPod offers only a basic headphone output, there is nothing preventing future versions from having not only this, but line, and coax/optical digital outputs. Gosh sake, my new $69.99 DVD player has these output options. And those who know (and care) will use these new features. Take a look at the Rio Karma, if you want to see a forward-looking portable music player.
The day is not far off (months, or several years) where you will own a piece of electronics, the size of your current CD player, which will contain terrabytes of both lossy and lossless compressed music, of multiple formats, all available at the touch of a remote button. The music will be played out from the unit's internal DAC and line amp, or streamed flawlessly to the off-board DAC of your choice, through the transport medium of your choice. Take it as simple fact, this is how things are going to go; no, vinyl will never die.
But I'd like to address one more point. There are a plethora of MP3 players on the market today, and the iPod is perhaps the most expensive (and featureful) of the lot. Your iPod customer is your classic botique buyer - and the potential hi-end buyer of the future. No company that hopes to survive for the next decade can afford to write off this group as a ship of fools.
There, I've said my piece.
Yes, and I explained myself further in a later statement, what I should have said was they were not in direct competition with each other, but I did further state, that it could help the industry, see my later statements.
dave wilson suposedly used an ipod in the last ces demos
well, I am the exception ... I have two iPods ... I listen to primarily alternative rock, indie rock, rock, alt.country with some classical/jazz as well. Yet, I am now finding myself buying a high-end tube amp to get more out of this music than my iPod and Shure in-ear monitors will allow.
When I said that people that buy iPod will not buy and amp like Atmas-Spere I meant right away or at first, you know, should I buy a iPod or go for a OTL amp? you know what I mean.
But after awhile as there taste grows, they will expand, want more, they'll hook it up to their computers for music, then they'll buy a integrated, and so on and so on.
Getting to a OTL is usually a long evolutional thing :
You're not really the exception, this is what I would have expected.
You ever hear the saying, no matter how much things change, it always remains the same, an iPod is today's transistor radio of the 50's and 60's, boom box of the 70's and 80's and portable CD players of the 90's.
Don't forget, the iPod is not a bad musical experience - especially with Etymotic headphones...
I do own these fabulous listening devices.
might have to give em' a try . . . with this source.
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