macgui said: [...] it's not easy or convenient for people to learn what to listen for to appreciate an improvement in sound and soundstage.
Which is okay. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Not everyone cares about the same things, and for some, the difference between "good" sound and "good enough" isn't a priority.
I'm not able to distinguish between good wine or scotch and cheap suff, and I hope I never can My unsophisticated palette allows me to get enjoyment from inexpensive offerings rather than cringing at the deficiencies.
apple ][ said: What ever happened to stereo sound? Do people just not care anymore?
HomePod has seven tweeters and a single woofer, so technically it's neither a full stereo speaker or a mono speaker. That said, the human ear isn't nearly as good at hearing separation in the low frequencies as it is in higher frequencies, so if you listen to a single HomePod it's going to give the impression of full stereo. In terms of separation, a single unit is easily on par with classic boombox style systems. The advantage vs a boombox or standard compact system is that the sound quality doesn't degrade when you move away from the center...because there is no center due to the circular design of the tweeters and beam forming.
Not stereo. Something more like reverb, but not stereo. Monaural sound that you can hear in both ears is not stereo.
apple ][ said: What ever happened to stereo sound? Do people just not care anymore?
HomePod has seven tweeters and a single woofer, so technically it's neither a full stereo speaker or a mono speaker. That said, the human ear isn't nearly as good at hearing separation in the low frequencies as it is in higher frequencies, so if you listen to a single HomePod it's going to give the impression of full stereo. In terms of separation, a single unit is easily on par with classic boombox style systems. The advantage vs a boombox or standard compact system is that the sound quality doesn't degrade when you move away from the center...because there is no center due to the circular design of the tweeters and beam forming.
Not stereo. Something more like reverb, but not stereo. Monaural sound that you can hear in both ears is not stereo.
HomePods do not just put out monaural sound with reverb. There is definitely directional separation going on.
It's funny how all of these "smart" speakers that have emerged in recent years are being sold as a single device and not a pair.
I have not tried or listened to the Apple HomePod yet, and I am aware that you can hook up multiples, but I assume that most people use only one of them, as they are not that cheap.
What ever happened to stereo sound? Do people just not care anymore?
I was listening to an older track from when stereo was all the rage and wondered if there is any attempt at separation in music production anymore. Other than headphones, most music is probably played through single-speaker setups.
What? Are you really suggesting stereo is out and most music is mastered in mono now? That’s absurd.
What? Did you not read his post? It's your 'conclusion' that's absurd.
Consider the number of 'feature' BT speakers sold for use with iOS devices. Very few of them will work with a second BT speaker, and fewer still will then become discrete Left and Right channel speakers. And of those BT (and AirPlay) speakers, they're usually small enough that if they offer stereo from a single enclosure, the distance between channels is so small, that without some DSP magic, they may as well be mono. So headphones (stereo) and single speaker (mono, stereo-ish) for playback, not mastering is common, convenient, and good enough for many.
Yes, I read their post. The idea that stereo separation in music production is no longer "all the rage" and that any attempt at stereo separation is gone in audio production is downright absurd. Just because some people play music on mono or narrow stereo field speakers has nothing to do with this, not sure why you'd link the two as your 'conclusion'.
Source: I have an audio engineering background and listen to a lot of music in stereo.
Comments
Which is okay. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Not everyone cares about the same things, and for some, the difference between "good" sound and "good enough" isn't a priority.
I'm not able to distinguish between good wine or scotch and cheap suff, and I hope I never can My unsophisticated palette allows me to get enjoyment from inexpensive offerings rather than cringing at the deficiencies.
Not stereo. Something more like reverb, but not stereo. Monaural sound that you can hear in both ears is not stereo.
Source: I have an audio engineering background and listen to a lot of music in stereo.