In the days before Hertz, we quoted audio frequency responses in cycles per second. But when it comes to hi-fi, it's not just frequency that runs in cycles.
So many things in life seem to go in cycles. Things come into fashion and then go out of fashion, only to come back again, perhaps under another name, some decades later. I always like to consider myself a smart dresser and was considered by many people to be one of the best dressed men of 1969. The problem is - that was in 2008.
|
|
|
The Leak Trough-Line II FM tuner from the 1960s. Once considered extinct, now is often sought after as one of the finest sounding tuners ever made, especially upgraded like this one and fitted with the latest stereo decoder.
|
Anyway, back to audio. The turn of the 19th century saw the introduction of recorded music in the form of phonograph cylinders and later 78 RPM shellac records. Technology moved on and shellac was replaced by vinyl and this resulted in a huge improvement in audio quality. The rotational speed was reduced to 33 RPM and that, together with intelligent spacing of the groove, meant a significant increase in the length of recorded audio. By the 1960s, people could choose the quality of sound they wanted, from a mono auto-changer, to hi-fi stereo separates. Records were produced in stereo but were equally playable on mono systems.
Similarly, with home recorders, wire recorders were replaced by tape machines as technology advanced and audio recording could be undertaken in average quality mono at 3.75 IPS tape speed or hi-fi stereo at 7.5 IPS, but using the same audio tape. Reel-to-reel machines sat alongside cassette recorders that have a very slow tape speed and were originally only suitable for use as dictaphones. However, improvements in both the design of cassette recorders and the quality of cassette tape meant that they too could form part of a hi-fi setup. Later on, special audio tapes were made for the audio enthusiast and the tape machines had adjustable settings to cater for this new range of media.
In parallel with all this, radio progressed from AM to FM and FM stereo. Once again, the same FM transmissions could be received on cheap portable mono FM radios as well as hi-fi stereo tuners - the consumer could choose.
|
|
|
For more than four decades, when it came to playing music of your own choice, purchasing a record was generally the only option for most people.
|
Then came digital! Based on the techniques that had been developed for video recording, Digital Audio Tape (DAT) allowed home digital recording and "indestructible" CD media was sold for commercial recordings. These digital formats offered the benefit of having no background noise on recordings and this bode well for a new era of "studio quality" audio becoming available to all. However, the discerning listener soon realized that some compromises in audio quality had been made in order to make CDs easily produced and portable. It also became apparent that CDs were not as indestructible as was originally thought.
Moving on two decades, downloads of digital music could now be purchased. Sadly, the MP3 format was (is?) the most widely available, although higher quality FLAC formats can be obtained at an additional cost to cater to the audio enthusiast.
Originally, recordings were made available to the masses in progressively higher quality as technology advanced and the quality you heard depended on what equipment you chose to play it on. Now, quality is being traded for quantity and convenience. Hi-fi audio is considered to be a minority interest, with audio enthusiasts being charged a premium for higher quality media.
Are consumers no longer interested in high quality? I don't think so. We seem to have come full circle. Vinyl LPs are still very much alive and kicking. Professional analog tapes seem to be having a revival of their own. Additionally, higher resolution digital formats are creeping in. For example, MQA is a new method of storing recorded music in high quality in a file that's both small and convenient to download or stream. It looks to me as though we're back on track with quality becoming increasingly important. But, with the enormous range of audio formats available nowadays, what quality do people actually want?
When I pop out and walk down the road to post a letter, most of the people I pass - children on their way to school, cyclists on their way to work, and joggers on their way to becoming more healthy - are listening to music on earphones. It seems to me that more than ever, we do not want to be separated from our music whatever we are doing.
|
|
|
The original 1979 Sony Walkman was apparently created because Sony co-founder Masaru Ibuka wanted to be able to listen to music on long flights.
|
With the coming of digital audio, there has been an explosion of different types of available formats and a broadening of audio qualities. The choices have never been greater for the consumer. Alongside the analog formats that are refusing to die, we now have digital radio, which appeared in the UK at the end of the 1990s, Internet radio and streaming services in various digital qualities, as well as digital downloads for purchase, again in different qualities, including high-resolution lossless formats for the audiophile.
I believe that even the low bit-rate streamed files and digital radio are superior in quality to the low-fi music of yesteryear and are perfect for background music listening. Nowadays, we would not tolerate tape hiss, AM interference, or listening to music on a voice quality bandwidth audio device (excluding the music-on-hold we are treated to on the telephone). At the other end of the spectrum, we are now able to enjoy true "professional quality" hi-fi reproduction, thanks to high-quality vinyl and high-resolution digital audio, coupled with improvements in the reproduction technology.
However, there is still a place for different audio qualities as they are appropriate in different situations. Just like the people listening to "Music While You Work," the low quality afforded by AM radio was perfectly acceptable to the listeners at the time as non-intrusive background music.
Back in the 1940s in the UK during World War II, the BBC General Forces Programme broadcast "Music While You Work" twice daily in the UK. The belief was that the productivity of workers could be raised by playing a non-stop medley of popular music during the working day. The program turned out to be so popular that it transitioned to the BBC Light Programme after the war, and it continued to be broadcast until September 1967 when light music moved to BBC Radio 2.
Of course, with regard to audio quality, most people had a choice of one - the relatively low quality offered by AM radio with all of its interference issues and receivers that had a limited frequency bandwidth. Although higher quality FM radio began transmission in the UK in May 1955, it wasn't until the early 1960s that it really became a higher quality alternative to AM. FM slowly grew in popularity throughout the rest of the decade and especially when commercial broadcasting commenced in 1973.
When it came to playing music of your own choice, purchasing a record was generally the only choice for most people, with pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes being an option for the enthusiast. When the stereo 8-track cartridge was introduced in 1963, it could be considered one of the first portable personal music players. It was often fitted to cars to enable people to choose, for the first time, the music they wanted to listen to while on the move. With its tape speed of 3.75 IPS, it was not as good quality as an open-reel machine running at 7.5 IPS but it was certainly good enough for background music in a car.
It wasn't until the 1970s that high-quality pre-recorded Dolby cassette tapes offered a choice of media for the masses. This resulted in the first truly portable personal music player with the Sony Walkman being released in Japan in 1979. This heralded a change in music listening habits, allowing people to carry their music of choice with them and listen to it through lightweight headphones. This, of course, was followed by the release of the compact disc (CD) in the 1980s, starting the digital revolution.
|
|
|
Original Apple iPod advertising. The first iPod was released in 2001 and allowed users to have "1,000 songs in your pocket."
|
Nowadays, people who are walking, cycling, or indeed driving to work are not usually listening intently and analytically to music, but are enjoying the music to complement their environment. For example, when I have people round for a meal and a chat, I want any music playing to be firmly in the background so I can concentrate on the discussions. So, I don't have my hi-fi running full tilt in this situation.
Therefore, your choice of music resolution is now more to do with convenience rather than quality
.
