...in the early days of audio gear, surface-mount (SMD) components weren’t trusted.

 

Engineers preferred big through-hole parts because they were familiar, easy to repair, and felt more reliable.

If you could see and touch the component, it was easier to believe it sounded good.

As audio companies grew in the late ’80s and ’90s, business pressure changed things. Manufacturers needed smaller products, lower costs, and faster assembly. SMD components made that possible.

Machines could place parts quickly and consistently, and circuit boards got much smaller.

At first, some SMD audio designs really did sound bad, mostly because engineers were still designing them like old through-hole circuits.

 

But once layouts improved, SMD showed real advantages: shorter signal paths, better matching, and more stable high-frequency performance. Digital audio sealed the deal. Converters, DSP, and clock circuits simply worked better with SMD parts.

Over time, even high-end and boutique audio gear quietly switched to surface-mount designs.

 

Today, SMD components are everywhere in audio. The sound didn’t get worse, the industry just learned that good audio comes from good design, not big components.