ZEPP'TALKS: See 2020 in 20/20
New in 2020 Pictionary:
- 😮🎶🇹. 🇹
- 🇪🇱3️⃣4️⃣ 🇴🇷 🇰🇹8️⃣8️⃣❓🇾-🇪-🇸
Here's what the cheat sheet said:
Tributes are already pouring in for 2020's next debutants. For innovation, certainly. But being new, for the sake of such, doesn't quite score the points to pass into Head-Fi legend.
If we have to get this out of the way first, context is key. The situation, the times, in which something new finds its way to market is everything.
READ ALSO ZEPP'TALKS: The 'ask-me-anything' sessions
The new needs to achieve something greater. Unrestricted access to Acoustune quality for everyone, due to perfect fit. Options galore for Cayin's HA-6A to fit four different sonic tastes – that means pleasing four different people, or pampering four different headphones.
Relevance and purpose to the community, you'll find, are priceless.
There'll nevertheless always remain a rush to embrace the new. That frenzied dash has had people with older technologies looking anxiously over their shoulders. Some wonder if their balanced armature IEMs, tube amplifiers and CD-quality music can keep up.
READ ALSO Tube Glory
But that fear's mitigated when it's older technologies looking to their left and right, shoulder to shoulder with the new state-of-the-art. Not to the graveyard.
That's balanced armatures alongside electrostatic drivers, such as in AAW's Canary, and the Empire Ears Valkyrie and Wraith. The venerable BA, proven in its purpose for over a decade – offered a handshake as the past, the present, but also most certainly the future.
Context. Relevance. Don't underestimate them. How they fit into your everyday probably plays a bigger role than their overwhelming technical superiority. When lent to a new transducer design, the resulting mix is potent.
Development does improve the breed. And thanks to a superb blend of old and new, Head-Fi today is better than it once was. Will 2020 be a launchpad? We're feeling pretty good about that...