We all love hi-fi. At least I hope you do if you’ve made it onto this article. But, as any fan knows, hi-fi comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, and not all of us love them equally.
These range from giant floorstanding speakers that would look perfect in Liberace’s gallery, to dinky grey boxes that look equally at home in server rooms as they do in a lounge.
And there's nothing wrong with that variety.
I know there are plenty of fans of the more flamboyant school of design. And to be clear, I do love some of the cooler looking products on the market – I still think there’s a thesis to be written on why Chord’s 1970s sci-fi prop-looking DAC designs are so darned appealing.
This year alone the “wow-factor” school of design was showcased particularly nicely by some of the separates we saw at the High End Munich Show in May.
Highlights include the space-age Chord Ultima Phonostage, devilish Mark Levinson 600 Series (which comes with a colour screen and red LED light flourishes) and transparent Audio-Technica AT-LPA2 turntable.
These all look lovely and, considering their price and target audience, I get why they need to be eye-catching.
So it makes sense that many, including our hi-fi and audio editor, Kashfia Kabir, like that more amps and just-add-speaker systems now have colour touch screens and modern design flourishes. To be fair, the screens do undeniably make systems and streamers more pleasant to use in certain situations.
But for me personally, I’ve always preferred a more subdued “server room” aesthetic in most instances.
Why? Mainly because I’m a middle-aged, boring millennial – specifically the “Great Recession” generation that most people are blaming for "cringe Millennial Grey” décor and the ongoing popularity of Coldplay.
Take the newly launched Cambridge Audio MXW70 Power Amp or WiiM Amp Pro we just reviewed as an examples of what I mean.
If you stripped the branding from either of the tiny grey boxes’ chassis you could easily mistake both for being Mac Mini desktop computers.
The grey even matches the tone of my home's "cringe" colour scheme.
Sure you could call that boring, but for me they’re a great example of substance over style and an age-old adage I learned playing bass in various (bad) cover bands over the years.
Specifically, one that a veteran organiser told me when we he saw us rehearsing, and me making the standard 20-year-old mistake of overplaying, in a bid to show off my “skills” rather than keep time for the rest of the band.
“Son, you’re the bassist. Unless you’re Jaco Pastorius or Stanley Clarke, no one should know what you’re doing until you stop.”
I can’t help but feel the same sentiment applies to hi-fi.
Like me trying to peacock attention away from our lead guitarist and singer, I want my hi-fi to remember it is there to make my music, not itself the centre of attention.
And that’s why, while I endorse and understand variety is the spice of life and that some people justifiably will favour more eye-catching hi-fi, I can’t help but hope we see more small, awesome sounding, minimalist-looking separates continue to appear.
MORE:
These are best stereo amps we’ve tested
Our picks of the best speakers
We rate the best music streamers for hi-fi fans
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