“Wired, better than wireless” – Myself

Do I consider myself as an ‘Audiophile’ ? Oh surely yes. I come from a time when SACD was nascent but still it gave splendid 5.1ch audio output. I am a 90s’ kid. I still own a limited edition Samsung HD-DVD player which supported SACD. (Yeah, HD-DVD. I understand the feels).

So, I did have an exposure to some great music. But 80s’ still is the best sounding decade. Be it on cassettes, vinyl, laser discs etc, these years were great. Okay, here I will admit that I like ‘Euro-Synth’ pop along with all other kinds of music. Roxette, ABBA ahem.

In this 2000s’, I used to read a magazine known as ‘AV-Max’. It contained plethora of articles detailing new consumer electronics, entertainment systems, etc. This got me into more of audio equipment and trying out various different file formats. These magazines were the courtesy of my father. However, this is another story to tell in a different blog post.

My dad is still very fond of retro music. I learned a lot about setup of audio equipment, cabling, deciding on Optical Vs. COAX and the rest from my papa. After setting up, the audio turned about to be amazing. I had witnessed DTH. I couldn’t go back to stereo. My mind was blown in audio heaven. There was a demo DVD for ‘Samsung Displays’ and ‘Home Theater’ equipments. It had DTH recording of TOTO’s 25th Anniversary Concert. This was filmed in Amsterdam. I hadn’t known about this band before. But the moment, Africa (one of the most prominent tracks by them) began playing, I experienced something which amazed me. The escalating crowd, the cheers, bass, the keyboard, David Paich and the band, just bliss.

“I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way,
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, It’s waiting there for you…”

-Courtesy – Toto – Africa (Live In Amsterdam)

-PoddarProject