How are end-users consuming music in 2024, and are ‘audiophiles' on to something?

Описание: Lecture given by Jes Kerr from Kerr Acoustic at Anglia Ruskin University on 20th February 2024.

In 2024, the range of methods by which end-users are consuming music is more diverse than ever before. Continuing advancements in technology make music more accessible than it ever has been, but does this come at a cost? Not too many decades ago, most homes had a dedicated hi-fi system for the sole purpose of music playback, typically from a physical, uncompressed playback medium. Today, this is no longer the ’norm’, and the majority of domestic audio playback takes place through a hybrid system or portable device (TV Sound bars, bluetooth speakers, etc) and is streamed via a compressed format. Commercial music producers and mastering engineers know this, and most often will factor this into their decisions when creating new music. At the other end of the spectrum, audiophiles who invest great care and attention to detail in building a high-end music playback system for their homes are viewed by many, both inside and outside of the professional audio industry, as esoteric and extravagant. But are their investments ultimately allowing them to get closer to experiencing and understanding the artistic intent of the music? And to what extent is the sonic quality of new music releases compromised through decisions that are made during production with more mass-market consumer playback systems in mind?

Jes Kerr is a loudspeaker designer who graduated from Anglia Ruskin University in 2015 and went on to found Kerr Acoustic, a high-end loudspeaker brand which has found commercial success both in studio and high-end consumer markets.

https://www.kerracoustic.com/

This lecture was organised by the UK section of the Audio Engineering Society, which holds lectures every month in various areas. For more information, please go to http://www.aes-uk.org/