Globe-Trotter collaborates with The Analogue Foundation to revive the 'ultimate listening station'
This column has never shied away from pointing out (and mourning) the demise of ‘proper’ hi-fi equipment due to the onslaught of low-fi portable playback.
For the past 15-20 years, the purist audio brands – those obscure makers of separate components including speakers, amplifiers and sources including CD players and turntables – have been fighting a losing battle against the growth of streaming, downloads, earbuds and convenience over sound quality.
Without warning, along came the vinyl revival, with an unusual, unintended consequence beyond the obvious notion that “analogue is cool again”. What none could foresee was how the mainstream would embrace both decent hi-fi equipment and the iconography of the record deck as an image of hipness, or metropolitan chic - it’s everywhere.
Think of all the brands with no apparent basis for seeking out hi-fi partners; manufacturers whose offerings have no music playback element. Companies as disparate as crystal jewellery specialist Swarovski, insurance brokers and online pre-owned wristwatch vendors have used images of record decks and vinyl LPs to suggest hipness-by-association.
An actual collaboration which is more likely to reach those with the wherewithal to buy high-end audio gear is a recently announced joint venture between respected luggage maker, Globe-Trotter, and The Analogue Foundation.
The latter was founded by Japanese audio specialist Audio-Technica, known for headphones and phono cartridges, Grammy Award-winning producer and studio engineer Russell Elevado and the music group Soundwalk Collective.
The Foundation has held talks and events in Paris, London, Amsterdam and Barcelona, with local artists and musicians who “embrace the analogue lifestyle”. Its goal in working with Globe-Trotter is to bring you “the ultimate listening station”.
“In a world where everything is going digital, Globe-Trotter and The Analogue Foundation both appreciate the quality and richness of analogue, placing value on craftsmanship and design, and according due importance to the object itself in recognition of its power to evoke memories and form a personal attachment to it,” says a statement issued by the pair of brands.
They wax gloriously about analogue’s sonic superiority over digital. “The analogue listening experience is one you won’t forget in a hurry.”
An audiophile couldn’t have said it better: the high-end audio community has been preaching this for the 35 years since CD arrived. Now is the time to rejoice if you bemoan the sound of current audio norms.
To be unveiled on February 1st at music café and bar Spiritland in London’s King’s Cross, the Globe-Trotter X Analogue Foundation Listening Station will be on display in the bespoke lounge at Globe-Trotter’s Albemarle Street store from February 19th.
It will be, for many, not just the first time they have heard how good a decent hi-fi set-up can sound. It may be, too, the only opportunity to hear such astounding sounds, at a time when hi-fi specialist retailers with inviting listening rooms are vanishing at the same rate as typewriter or VCR vendors.
“Mixing life’s greatest pleasures – good music with a good drink” is the come-on, an opportunity for visitors to play records selected by The Analogue Foundation, via a customised turntable furnished with a selection of Audio-Technica phono cartridges.
The exceptional AT-ART9 magnetic core moving-coil is just under £1,000, with a choice of Audio-Technica headphones including the circa-£2,000 ATH-ADX5000, which any audiophile will tell you is serious kit.
What a turnabout: here we have a 120-year-old luxury brand offering recognition to the geekiest of geeks. Audiophiles form a subculture that makes computer gamers look like David Gandy. What this collaboration heralds, then, is the Revenge of the Nerds. Expect to see piles of abandoned earbuds….
Globe-Trotter, 35 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4JD; globe-trotter.com
