Podcast #1113: Vintage Stereo Gear

This week a listener asks if his separates from the 80s are as good as his more modern home theater equipment. We also read your emails and look at the week's news.

News:

• YouTube TV is Reportedly The Only Live TV Provider To Add Subscribers In The 2nd Quarter of 2023 (Cable TV or Streaming)
• 75% of Smart TV Owners Use Non-TV Viewing Functions
• LG Unveils New 'Magnit' Micro LED Screen
• YouTube offers new billing options for NFL package

Other:

• Best Ever Audiophile Speakers, for REAL!
• Soundbar Mouts from Monoprice.com

Vintage vs Modern Gear

We received the following email from Chris asking us to take a look at Vintage vs Modern Gear:

In your latest episode, you were discussing receivers. And I got to thinking:

Are the receivers of today drastically better than the component stereo systems of the 80s?

So if today, you put a component system from the 80s in the same environment as a receiver from the 2020s, could you tell the difference?

We have seen the resurgence of the turntable, will we also see the resurgence of the component stereo? Separate tuner, amp, equalizer, etc.

Can you explain a little in layman's terms the way the music is delivered today via compression and frequency reduction (Spotify, XM, Apple Music, etc)?

Meaning does the vinyl LP for example, go from -20 kHz to +140 kHz whereas streaming compresses to -10 kHz to +80 kHz, so you could get a better audio experience with vinyl?

Vintage Gear

Size and Weight - Vintage amplifiers are heavy by today's standards. In their heyday, owning one that weighed fifty to one hundred pounds wasn't unheard of. A majority of that weight came from the massive transformers housed inside. Those large transformers let the amplifier drive demanding speakers with ease and let the system run at a higher current.

Most vintage receivers used Class A/B amps, which were more efficient and ran cooler than their Class A counterparts.

Power - During the "power wars" of the '70s and '80s, manufacturers kept increasing how much power their amps could output, really pushing the limits of the amplifier technology of the time. For example, the Pioneer SX-1980 from 1978 cranked out an astonishing 270 watts per channel.

Electronics - a majority of amps were hardwired and didn't have an over-reliance on a circuit board, meaning they were more user serviceable if you knew what you were doing, and often cheaper to fix if you didn't.

New Gear

Performance - Class A/B amps sound better today than ever, given the significant improvements in transformer technology and component circuitry. Modern amplifiers have less distortion than older ones, and you get better performance for a lot less money.

It's a digital world - With modern amplifiers and receivers, you're gaining modern connections. From HDMIs to optical and coaxial connections, having digital inputs on your amplifier means you can hook up your TV, gaming consoles, CD player, and more. The sound quality is clearer and more precise. You can also use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and an app-based interface to stream your music for extra convenience.

Which one sounds better?

Ready for our non-answer? It depends. There are certainly receivers from the 70s and 80s that sound better than receivers built today. But you are talking about the high end products. For example, the classic Pioneer SX1980 is rated at 0.03% THD and back in 1980, it would cost you $1,295 to pick one up. That's about $5,450 in today's dollars. Yamaha's A-S501 is rated at 0.019% THD, and can be had for $549.

Vinyl vs Digital

Frequency response - Both can reproduce sound that is beyond what a human can hear.

It comes down to how the digital music is sampled and in some cases compressed. Low quality mp3 and AAC files throw away much of the recording so you are not getting all of the original. Let's put that aside because none of us listen to low quality music. There is a debate, however, about high quality mp3 and AAC (anything greater than 256Kbps sampled at 44.1KHz) vs lossless. I personally can't hear the difference and have done many blind A/B tests with those who claim that they can hear the difference only to conclude that none of my self proclaimed audiophile friends can hear the difference either. I won't say that no one can hear the difference reliably, but I will say that the number of those who can is very small.

When it comes to vinyl it's a preference for the sound. I prefer the clean sound of high quality digital. It's easy to take my entire library with me everywhere I go. Braden loves his vinyl. It's warmer and more nostalgic. One is not better than the other, it's a personal preference.

I am happy that I can now have an audio experience that was only available to people with deep pockets back in the 80s. Today, everyone can have a system that my 20 year old self only dreamed about. And you can take it on the go!