If you could only pick one major advancement in Audio since the mid 80s what would it be?

[austinsignal]

Ha! Flipped my utopia right back to dystopia there @austinsignal

ah well - on the other hand, it has never been so easy to release music...

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

The way I see it, there are two types of people that purchase music. Those that want to listen to it and those who like to listen and own the media so they have something to hold, defer to and look at credits, photos, lyrics, stories, etc, without using the Internet, which can be a bit time consuming when you want instant gratification.

 

[mandrix]

FLAC. Where would we be without it? Whoever made this format are legends.

Just notch to another vote for "the marriage of computer technology and audio"

Josh Coalson.

 

[marpow]

These four programs used to rip discs for digital file playback is absolutely my game changer.
Make MKV
Music Media Helper
DVD AUDIO EXTRACTOR
SONORE SACD RIPPER

 

[ar surround]

The title is the question.

Steven Wilson

 

[cbmmm3]

no doubt, Dolby Digital

 

[MidiMagic]

The death of disco...

Booooo!

 

[MidiMagic]

The ability to make your own recordings on the same permanent media record companies use (CD).

Magnetic tape was not very permanent.

 

[kfbkfb]

One step back - perceptual coding (MP3 et al.) - then one step forward - discrete surround sound (in the form of Dolby Digital [LD, DVD/Blu-ray, Digital TV]) squeezed into a small "space", IMHO, the tradeoff of some fidelity loss for the possibility of providing discrete surround sound on DVDs (from day 1) was/is worth it.


Kirk Bayne

 

[jsulzinger]

The ability of Steven Wilson and Steven W Tayler to have access to historical recordings for remixing and release on hi-resolution surround formats.

 

[HomerJAU]

The DVD with DTS 5.1 which spawned DVDA with MLP 5.1was a game changer in the nineties.

 

[mikusguitarius]

De-mixing algorithms like Moises and what Peter Jackson's team developed.
Absolute game changer for remixing old recordings.

 

[cbmmm3]

 

[newslane]

Sonic Holography.

 

[barfle]

The way I see it, there are two types of people that purchase music. Those that want to listen to it and those who like to listen and own the media so they have something to hold, defer to and look at credits, photos, lyrics, stories, etc, without using the Internet, which can be a bit time consuming when you want instant gratification.

INdeed, when you just download a song, you never have the chance to learn about anyone who had a hand in producing the song, or about any of the equipment (including instruments) involved in it.

Yes, I enjoy having music on in the car, when my attention isn’t on the music, but when I’m paaying attention, itks nice to have more information.

 

[Victor Bisio]

CDs

 

[barfle]

The raft of computer-based editors and recorders.

I’m sure almost all of us made mixtapes on cassettes, pausing while we did our damndest to cue up records so there was a consistent gap between songs (and if you wanted a song off a 45, or the first song off an LP, good luck on that).

Now it’s pretty easy to arrange files on a thumb drive, or author a CD and burn it in your basement.

 

[Sal1950]

The mid 80s is meant to mean the use of digital formats. There are no wrong answers.

There have been so many in that period, since the intro of digital recording and playback,
the world of SOTA music reproduction has moved forward at a rapid pace. For me I'd have to
give the #1 vote to CD. For decades we audiophiles had prayed for a way to bring the sound quality of a original master tape into the home at a price we could all afford.
Then came the CD and all of a sudden we had music reproduction that was the equal of a studio master at our fingertips. So much since has come along that makes it so "easy peasy" to copy, etc that the "futures so bright I gotta wear shades" LOL.

 

[Horbus]

Well for me it's not just one advancement. Of course the ability of having loads of (stereo) music in FLAC format on a HDD for playback as well as spatial Audio. The latter is the advancement on top for me!

 

[par4ken]

Firstly honourable mention goes to the CD. While CD's did not provide "perfect sound forever" they came close. For those of us used to taking care of vinyl, caring for our CD's was no real problem. For others less careful, results would have varied.

CD recorders quickly appeared but were crippled by an industry hell bent on keeping control of the new digital media. As home computers became more common came the ability to make our own CD's unencumbered by any industry imposed constraints! We could also store music directly on our hard drives! My vote goes to computer based audio!