Are High End Sound Systems Worth The Price?

[DudeAsInCool]

In a recent column, The Consumerist notes their is a web debate between Slate Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and the The New York Times on the value of a high end sound system in the age of the mp3.

Anthony Tommasini sums up the quandary succinctly: "...over the last decade the ranks of true audiophiles have been thinning, in large part because of the growing popularity of MP3 players and iPods. These nifty devices enable you to store thousands of hours of your favorite music and take it with you as you bop through your day. You can listen while shopping, while jogging or even, depending on your job, while at work. No one, not even devoted users of MP3s or iPods, claims that the sound reproduction on these technological marvels is equal to that of the best home CD systems. After all, they work by eliminating some of the digitized sound bits to open up storage space for multiple compressed files of music, rendering the sound a little thinner. Still, for consumers, easy access has trumped high fidelity."

Do you agree or disagree?

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

If you're an introvert like me, you'll totally disagree. While not having any upgrades in the past couple years, I still use the old power hoggers to crank the physical media. I've been doing much more audio files than cassettes, but the old audio tapes still find themselves in a player now and then. And I still listen to CDs regularly. Which means I purchase them. I am a collector and damn proud. But why am I defending myself here? This is a music site, not a p2p site.

Anyhoo. Break the china, piss off the neighbors and scare the dog. My Fishers are nearly 20 years old and still kick ass.

[DudeAsInCool]

I have an expensive Sony system but mostly listen to stuff on my computer.

[vernarial]

I have an expensive sony home stereo system. Not one of the new little home stereo systems, not some of the tiny home theatre systems, but a full size stereo. I got it with a few of my first paychecks when I started working 15 years ago. I run the audio out of my computer into my stereo, that way I can listen to all my mp3's on a real stereo.

[method77]

I too have an expensive system but listen to the PC. I have a good system on the PC as well. I have to agree with the article though. People prefer compact ways of listening to music instead of hi-fi systems nowdays.