The world of hi-fi used to be relatively simple a couple of decades ago. For consumers and manufacturers, it was predominantly hardware driven. You bought an all-in-one system or kitted out a rack full of separates, fed them a CD, tape or record, and hit play. Your biggest problem was a scratched CD, a chewed-up cassette or the cat taking a swipe at your turntable’s tonearm.
When it came to hi-fi software, we didn’t really have much to worry about – CD control code and electronic switching on stereo amplifiers was about as demanding as it got, and even then you were unlikely to come face to face with anything that would seriously affect the user experience. It either worked or it didn’t; it either sounded good or it didn’t. But that’s no longer the case…
Software can take the shine off
Now the situation is quite different. We are fully immersed in the digital age,
