Slate article on Audiophiles

Joe Galbraith

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still-one

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Good article. Too bad it will probably just fall on deaf or untrained ears.
 

Joe Whip

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Untrained ears? I really dislike that term. I have been into high end audio since the mid eighties. My father was an accomplished band leader in the area for 40 years. I attend many concerts every year all over the area around Philly and NYC as well as Europe and yet when I listen to really expensive stuff and disagree with the conventional viewpoint in the mags, I am told I don't really know how to listen or that I need to be trained to hear and if I did, I would appreciate how great the expensive stuff is. For all the complaints you hear from audiophiles such as Mr. Kaplan about how the general public views us, I get the same type of dismissive treatment from fellow audiophiles who can't accept my opinion of what I hear. The condescension goes both ways. I think we would be better served by encouraging people to experience live music and better equipment and make their own judgments about what sounds good.
 

still-one

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I think we would be better served by encouraging people to experience live music and better equipment and make their own judgments about what sounds good.

Well I believe that most of us would agree that is exactly how we are trained to identify a good sounding system.
 

Joe Whip

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Maybe, but I know too many professed audiophiles that never go out to hear live music or do so very rarely and frankly, at least to these ears, their systems, some very, very expensive, suffer for it..
 

LenWhite

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Feb 11, 2011
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IMO Mr. Kaplan is absolutely correct and I applaud him for calling out the naysayers! There's nothing silly about audiophiles wishing to listen to good music, well recorded, and well reproduced. One has to judge this from attentive listening being aware of the characteristics that distinguish well recorded, and well reproduced music. Unfortunately for the high end audio industry it appears the majority of people prefer portability and price over quality.
 

Joe Whip

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While I would agree that many, many people prefer portability and price over quality, it is also true that many do not see the point in sitting down in a chair, between two speakers with more often than not, a very narrow sweet spot, for the purpose of listening to music. My wife is one of them. She has plenty of music on her computers, sees a good deal of concerts but just sees no value in listening to music like I do at home, often for several hours at a time, in my chair. She likes music playing in the background while she is engaged in other activities. Same with my son, who is a musician. He listens with earbuds and with friends. He appreciates good sound but can capture the essence of music with lo-fi equipment. It gives him what he wants from the music at that time. So, in short, it is just not portability and price. It is up to the high end to convince who do enjoy music why they should listen like a typical audiophile. I don't think they really can. It is surely an uphill battle to be sure.
 

Whatmore

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Jun 2, 2011
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I think we are not being entirely honest with ourselves if we say that audiophiles are only interested in the music.
The gear is important....... there, I said it.
 

Joe Whip

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Other than a DAC to get into high rez and computer audio, my stuff is all 20 years old. It still sounds great. All I am interested in at this stage is great music. Have no interest in new audio equipment for 2 channel. Next year, it will be time for Atmos, DTS-X and Auro-3D in the HT room.
 

asiufy

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Jul 8, 2011
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Of course the gear is important!
There are people who just love music. And there are audiophiles, who just want to hear music in the best way possible.

I liked the article. I also don't understand why people are allowed to be "experts" on food, cars, music, just about anything, but not in music reproduction.


alexandre
 

Kal Rubinson

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May 4, 2010
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While I would agree that many, many people prefer portability and price over quality, it is also true that many do not see the point in sitting down in a chair, between two speakers with more often than not, a very narrow sweet spot, for the purpose of listening to music. My wife is one of them. She has plenty of music on her computers, sees a good deal of concerts but just sees no value in listening to music like I do at home, often for several hours at a time, in my chair. She likes music playing in the background while she is engaged in other activities. Same with my son, who is a musician. He listens with earbuds and with friends. He appreciates good sound but can capture the essence of music with lo-fi equipment. It gives him what he wants from the music at that time. So, in short, it is just not portability and price. It is up to the high end to convince who do enjoy music why they should listen like a typical audiophile. I don't think they really can. It is surely an uphill battle to be sure.
I do not think that convincing others that there is one right way to listen is the issue. I can accept that others, such as your wife, have other priorities that determine their behavior. As Fred said, "What puzzles me is why we audiophiles are so often the object of contempt."
 

LenWhite

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I think we are not being entirely honest with ourselves if we say that audiophiles are only interested in the music.
The gear is important....... there, I said it.
I'm only interested in audio gear to the extent it allows listening to well recorded music at the highest level I can afford. I guess that does make me interested in "gear", but I have little interest in continually changing audio equipment.
 

cooljazz

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Mar 21, 2012
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There is no right way to hear hi fi gear. the illusion is smashed via compression and pin point audio source (speakers) and its foolish to educate anyone as to why that sound is correct, it aint. If being an audiophile is enjoying listening to music on a system that sounds good to themselves, then are not most folks audiophiles.....

So does the illusion get smashed going into that little hole on each side of my head? It must surely then.

Actually, those two holes are smaller than my speakers. Maybe I need to change that....

CJ
 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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When a person collects paintings he either just hangs it on a wall or gets more involved and chooses the spot with the best light. If he is even more involved, he will strive to provide the best possible light so he can see the artistry. He will likely view the piece of art from the best angle and move back and forth while doing so when he is really into it. Heck, he might even hire a professional that does lighting for art galleries. Does this sound familiar?

Do people make fun of the truly involved art enthusiasts? I'm pretty sure it happens but we don't hear about it. Usually it's shrugged off as "Well, that's his thing." or something along those lines. The difference is that when it comes to music, music is so pervasive there's almost no escape from the muzak. Everybody's got an opinion.
 

MrAcoustat

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Jun 5, 2012
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I think we are not being entirely honest with ourselves if we say that audiophiles are only interested in the music.
The gear is important....... there, I said it.

Agree 100% if the music is not well recorded i will not listend to it,i did not invest in a quality system to listend to garbage, there is so much well recorded music WHY listend to garbage, #1 = well recorded music #2 = good looking gear. :):)
 

slowGEEZR

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Sep 20, 2010
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Frankly, I could care less what the general public thinks of me as an audiophile or audiophiles in general. It's their loss and ignorance, not mine.
 

MrAcoustat

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Jun 5, 2012
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Frankly, I could care less what the general public thinks of me as an audiophile or audiophiles in general. It's their loss and ignorance, not mine.

+1 :)
 

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