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In Reply to: RE: Tom Martin fires a shot across the bow of his own magazine. posted by DustyC on March 17, 2020 at 11:54:40
I enjoyed reading about the new Eikon IMAGE1 speaker system in the latest edition of The Absolute Sound. It's likely to be a forerunner of good sound for a good price that's easy to set up and enjoy. The Eikon Image1 is a statement component at this price point (for most of us) but I can see the concept evolving into a more affordable system that, as Mr. Sanders points out, will attract not only a new group of audiophiles but also those of us that will want to simplify our lives (and music systems) as we get older. It's going to be the new paradigm of what a decent stereo looks like.Tom
Edits: 03/18/20Follow Ups:
My apologies to Mr. Sanders for misspelling his given name.
...surely means that any analogue input must be digitised by an ADC in the speaker. Or do I not understand it correctly?
Surely that will upset those dedicated to analogue sources? Or what about those with very high end DACs, they won't be hearing their output but whatever the speaker engineer has used instead ( which manufacturing costing suggests may not be an in speaker dCS, totaldac or MSB equivalent)?
The speaker may end up with a flat in room response but there is a whole new can of worms to consider.
"We need less, but better" - Dieter Rams
My current amp converts all analog inputs to digital (including vinyl). The RIAA equalization is done in the digital realm. No complaints here.
The current crop of young listeners seems to be digital only in my experience.
Somebody that spent $20 grand on a phono stage will probably dismiss these developments but I think it's a good way forward.
Many DSP-based speakers have digital inputs as well, so the entire chain up to amplifier conversion stays in the digital domain.
Doug Schneider
SoundStage!
Yes Doug. So I just keep my transport and discard my dCS Vivaldi DAC because it is obvious that the $10 chip in the speaker is going to be just as good :-).
As I said, another can of worms.
KEF introduced this concept (albeit sans DSP) back in the 1990s. A huge success. Not.
"We need less, but better" - Dieter Rams
I don't understand - what's the can of worms?
BTW, active has long been considered a good idea, but audiophiles have traditionally resisted it for varying reasons. But with modern DSP, designers like Kii and D&D and others are putting elements into designs that couldn't have been done years ago. It's made it a very compelling proposition if real performance is what you're after.
Doug Schneider
SoundStage!
Digital processing is a given with these systems and in the TAS article Robert Harley mentions that vinyl aficionados may not be happy with having the analog signal converted to digital. So be it. But Mr. Harley mentions that the ADC processing probably wouldn't be a detriment for many vinyl lovers.
My attitude on the rest of the sources being digitally altered is that I'd rather have a speaker system that can broadcast a great sound in my listening space than the straight wire paradigm. I could be wrong but my hunch is that most of us have a compromised acoustic space and could benefit from a well designed active speaker system.
The other advantage Mr. Harley mentions is that the system allows for custom configurations that would allow the sound to be tailored for specific sources. If someone wants to hear exactly what is on a recording, that's fine, but we all know that quality recordings are not universal. I'd love to have the ability to customize recordings to suit MY listening space and personal sound preferences.
Plus, I like the idea of getting rid of a rack full of gear. Two speakers and a discreetly located source sounds pretty good to me. :-)
Tom
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