New audio tech not always better than old

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I have had several Mp3 players and they are no where near as loud as my old walkman(Radio/tape player).
I would say about 30-40% less power and the high end is not that great either.
In the past they would post the amplifier specs of the ideal would be:
Audio output: 90mw or higher
Frequency response: 20-20,000hz
Distortion: .5%
I like all the new features but I want it to sound as good or better!
Does anyone else agree?

Generally. then again, Mp3 players are essentially designed to be used with earbud headphones, while a lot of older Walkmans were made for on-the-ear headphones. The Mp3 players may possibly have amp circuits that have been pre-attenuated to compensate for the horrible HF artifacts inherant to low bitrate Mp3 files.

I just wish they would post those specs so I can find one that fit's my taste!
I am very picky and want it to sound like an indoor rock concert anything else is lame!
I want it to reach 130+db or better!

Many break easily, if they are under £40 chances are they are not worth it. At the moment I have a Philips GoGear Vibe. Its fairly basic but I would recommend it. I do miss the days of cassette players and mixtapes, but then I also remember several prized cassettes getting ripped and mangled by malfunctioning walkmans.

The quality products that are available these days are clearly better than the quality products that were available 20-30 years ago. The issue is that people buy s**t.

The quality I get from both my home and car's audio system would have bordered on unattainable in 1990. And in 1990 I was using quality, too.

Generally speaking, yes, but the real issue here is consumer electronics, which basically since the 1950's has generally been engineered with planned obsolescence in mind. Cheap home electronics are designed to essentially be disposable, because usually something better will be on the market when whatever you have breaks or otherwise f***s up to the point of nonusability.

Professional and industrial grade gear is generally much better, but you pay more for it, and for the most part I know of nobody at all that makes ultraportable musical gear strictly for playback only.

Good home and car audio companies always post the specs of their equipment so you
know your buying quality stuff.
Not so with most portable audio such as Mp3 which is sad.
You used to be able to walk in to a Radio Shack for example and test out any walkman, cd player,headphones etc
and see if you like it before you bought it.
If all they did was post the full specs Power output,Freq range and distortion it would be easy to pick the best one!
I would gladly pay more for the most powerful and best sounding one!

Or just high end consumer gear. Don't forget though that in the 50s, inflation adjusted prices for common consumer gear were at or above the levels people pay for high end consumer gear today.

I have read somewhere that a lot of mp3 players get their maximum volume capped to prevent hear loss, I don't know if some of them got sued.