Hello, this is Jason.

Anyone who has known me for any measurable amount of time knows I am a huge music fan. I have followed and collected music for as long as I remember. The first records I remember buying were K-Tel compilations of what ever rock/pop hits were hot at the time back in the late 70’s. Then with the early 80’s I started buying more full albums and talked my parents into joining the Columbia House Club. I remember getting tons of cassettes through them. I remember being torn with buying records which sounded far more hi-fi, or to buy the cassette since it was very portable. At that time I had a stereo that didn’t have a cassette deck, but had an 8-track. I did have a boom box which was great as I could take my music outside with me or to a friends house, but I was never satisfied with the sound quality.

Back in the 80’s it was a special treat for me to go to a hi-fi store or anywhere that sold stereos for that matter. I would often bring a cassette of an album I was really into at the time and put it in the tape deck and be in awe of how much nicer it sounded then my boom box or stereo at home. Back then hi-fi was something to be marveled at and I would often ask for this kind of components stuff for Christmas.

The quest for greater hi-fi was something that kept going up into the early 90’s, but now in 2010 it’s pretty much dead with the exception of a small niche group of people. When I was young everyone had a stereo/hi-fi setup, but anymore with the RIAA ruining the music industry and mp3s being so popular, people aren’t interested in it like they use to be. On top of all this record companies have decided that since every one is listening to music on their portable devices or in their cars that they should mix it as such. Now everything sounds loud and compressed. On the indie label side of things lots of people are doing home recordings which is great. Major record labels are losing out and bands are proving they can do without. On the down side the records sound ok at best. Mic placement is often off and they often suffer from being a little loud, but not as bad as the huge record companies. Last but not least; everything is mastered digital these days. I will be the first person to stand up and say that digital reproduction such as a CD sounds light years better than vinyl. I know this goes against the grain of what is popular in the hi-fi world of today, but I can show it on paper as being true. Where digital recordings fail is in mastering. I really prefer analog mastering. It’s better for future proofing as you aren’t locked down by the specs of digital which are solid. (What is in the recording is all you are going to find. Nothing more can be discovered through new more hi-fi equipment and remastering.)

With all that being said; I really hope to see the day when there are real break throughs in hi-fi again and not a lot of placebo effect marketing. Vinyl does have a nice warm sound, but that sound is distortion. It also suffers from wear and you can never escape wow and flutter. Please hi-fi scientists. Give me something new and something new to excite the people into what use to be an exciting hobby.