What's the "Next Big Thing" in Audio?

During my lifetime these major developments in audio were introduced:

• Stereo reel-to-reel tapes
• Stereo LP's
• Solid-state circuitry
• FM stereo broadcasting
• 4-track & 8-track tape cartridges
• Dolby noise reduction
• Stereo cassettes
• Quadraphonic (multichannel) tapes & records
• Compact Discs
• MP3's
• Streaming audio

(yes, I know I've left off some stillborn formats such as the Elcaset and DCC)

So, my question is, what is the "next big thing" in consumer audio? Is anything in the works? Have we pretty much reached the point where nothing really new is on the horizon and from hereon in existing formats will just be refined?

 

The next big thing won’t be a technological innovation. It will be the completion of an ongoing cultural shift back to the days before physical formats and physical collections. CD (and its variants) is the last collectible, physical music format.

 

It won't be physical media. So how does digital media take the next big step?

Who is available (artists)
What does the system need?
Consolidation?
Where are the files ?
When can we access them?
Why is it better?
How does it get implemented?
Better learning and AI predictability based on your preferences?

 

It might be modernized vinyl!

This new organization with a serious representation of the analogue industry is exploring new ways. BTW, Günter Loibl of Rebeat Innovation - the one developing Laser direct cut vinyl - was voted president, see Election of Vinyl Alliance board members

 

Roon is already on the front lines of this. Never had anything pick so much obscure music for me that I fall in love with. It just happens over and over again with Roon+Tidal and it gets better with every update.

 

Not that it would be huge or anything, but I'd like to see a robust selection of multi-channel streamable and downloadable titles along with the equipment to easily integrate this into existing systems. More multi-channel DAC/amp solutions. Devices that would take that incoming stream and output to something a receiver could work with.

 

Virtual reality concerts. A friend of mine invested in a business that is working on this at the moment.

 

Probably just the continuing polarization of music marketing and consumers: fanatics like us on one side, casual streamers on the other.

Marketing to the two groups will be similarly polarized and the products designed with the two demos in mind will diverge further and further. The iPod is probably the last truly uniting product or “thing” that appealed to everyone equally.

Now we’re at Roon vs Spotify. Mytek vs Amazon streaming boxes. VPI vs U-Turn. The folks interested in one are unlikely to ever have heard of the other and music/audio gear as aspirational products will continue to diminish, causing the “middle” of the market to drop out which it may already have.

Long way of saying “the next big thing” is probably this whole thing becoming more and more of a niche, which is fine by me.

 

Agree with some of the other general sentiments. It's not going to be a need for more or better hardware. Nor some new "format". Nor IMO silly stuff like digital cables, power cables, etc...

I believe the more sophisticated audiophiles will be diving into individual factors applicable to our own sound rooms and preferences. In particular, I believe it will be about ROOM CORRECTION and use of DSP for those who want higher fidelity and "better" sound. I suspect this will be more evident and prevalent as time goes on with such features embedded in more of the digital gear and software we buy.

This is of course until direct machine-to-brainstem interfaces become available . That would be the next "killer app" for audiophile!

 

Streaming is the next big thing. It will get much bigger!

 

Audiophiles will debate the relative merits of Apple's "iStem" versus Amazon's "Seed." But the mass market will default to Samsung/Google's "Tao."

 

Perhaps, but it's not new anymore. I'm thinking in terms of something new and significant, like stereo amps or stereo LP's or the CD.

 

In those terms, I don't think there will be any next big thing. The problems have all been solved.

 

I remember in the 70s wondering what the next big thing in air travel would be after the Boeing 747. As an infant I had crossed the Atlantic in a Lockheed Constellation, then again as a grade school kid in a 707. Then came the 747 and for a teen it was logical to expect this tech trajectory to continue.

It’s been more than 50 years (half of the entire history of flight) since we’ve had a “next big (tech) thing” in air travel.

Meanwhile there’s been something huge but not tech. TSA

Expect the next big thing in audio not to be a big thing in tech.

 

The next big thing will be selling your system to pay off corona inflicted bills.

 

I like this approach in concept- a broadcast / read / interpret/ correction loop for room acoustics does need improvement from what is today.
My thoughts are that today they do a good job at reading, interpreting and correcting based on some kind of frequency response curve- possibly a house curve.
The area that needs the most improvement is determining what kind of curve meets individual preferences. It sure isn't a flat one.
Then you open up the idea of customization and different settings and all bets are off.

 

Yes, please hurry this up. I'd like something surgically implanted which connects directly to my auditory nerve. This would bypass my failing ears so I can enjoy perfect sound forever, or until...

 

I think we are already in the “post-physical-media” world at this point. Sure we may go back in time and dredge up an old analog or digital physical media format for nostalgia but with advances in streaming, network bandwidth, and SSM storage I think we can put a fork in any of the big players coming up with anything new. I mean, why?

Hardware development will adapt for the new methods of media delivery whether physical, streamed or virtual and of course there will always be a market for “audiophile” level gear and high resolution reproduction so don’t worry....your hobby is probably safe for a few decades until all of the dinosaurs (like me) have ceased roaming the earth. Although at some point we may begin to stop talking “tube rolling” (I hate that term BTW) and instead argue about Impulse Models, IIR, FIR and such like we already are in the Luddite world of guitar amps. But I digress.....

I believe the next big things are Object Based Audio and Multi-Dimensional Audio (MDA).

Quoting from Mike Thornton’s article on the Production Expert blog:
Object Based Audio Can Do So Much More Than Just Dolby Atmos? We Explore.

“It is possible to use object audio to deliver content to the end user where they can adjust the balance between content elements.”

“Audiences want to enjoy our programmes everywhere. With mobile devices, they might start watching or listening to a programme at home and then finish the rest on the bus. Object-based media allows the mixer to specify different audio mixes for different environments - if people are listening on the move, with object based audio you can make sure that the sound is just right for them - whatever their surroundings.”

 

@Archimago I LIKE the way you think! The problem is that we are trying to use DSP to both “Fix the mix” AND the room issues using 2 channel source material. What I love about mixing in a live setting is that if I *think* the mix needs more guitar - I can push up the “guitar” fader.

 

The art influences the technology and the technology influences th art.

I remember when music videos were all lip sync'ed. The video was low quality, the audio was low quality, and the production was low quality.

Now there are people people doing amazing productions in their living rooms and posting on YouTube. Real people making real music, grass roots talent.

The limiting factor is the platform. The resolution is getting better but still too low and the commercials have become brutally bad. Too bad Google had to buy YouTube.

Streaming is over taking other mediums like cable and satellite.

So my prediction is that streaming will continue to advance. There will most likely be a yearly obsolescence cycle like past audio/video products.

 

After I posted this, because I coincidentally just read about the Vinyl Alliance, I started thinking more about it and I concluded that a further revival of vinyl is not that unlikely.

Everyone knows a turntable and a CD player, quite a few know mp3, but If I ask around hardly anyone knows a DAC, loss less-, compressed formats, FLAC, DSD, WAV, etc.. It is too confusing and abstract for the majority!

Furthermore people like to see and touch music players and audio carriers. It is simple to understand. And of course vinyl records can sound superb. Sure, you need good equipment, but the imagination and positive image is out there.

If they succeed to cut “lossless” LP’s by laser at a lower cost price, it could just trigger another analogue boom! ...or am I a hopeless romantic?

 

Room correction and DSP built into sound docks, home speakers and perhaps cars.
Cardioid response.

 

Streaming is it and it is now. However, it will keep changing and evolving.

One possibility is that with increasingly cheap cloud storage and bandwidth, labels might decide to cut out the middle men and offer their own exclusive subscriptions. Then, instead of one Spotify or Tidal subscription you'll be paying for multiple subscriptions and using different apps for evey label. This is already happening to cable TV.

Another possibility is that streaming companies will get in the production business and sign artists directly and exclusively, thereby eliminating the record label. Less likely, but I could see it.

 

Most of the items in your list is source related. We have now solve a lot of the issue with source. But not perfect, and not "live". I think a wide adoption of something like Dolby Atmos, but something that takes virtual source, going through some DSP, and emulate a real venue/environment. The tech is already there, but not wide spread. Ppl cannot heart the difference in sound quality anymore, hi-res is already beyond most ppl hearing, but they will for sure able to hear when the sound is processed to sound like a big venue, to really make it more "live".

 

Not sure if this really counts as next ‘big’ thing, but...
Near future, I think more and more ‘1 box’ systems, for digital only/streaming. One box units were always a poor hifi option in the past, however with advances in technology in the last 20 years, companies from budget to high-end are making better and better systems - from cheaper (but quality for the price) Denon/Yamaha units through to top of the range Hegel.