Slate article on Audiophiles

JackD201 · Feb 22, 2015

I fail to see the disagreement Kal.

Al M. · Feb 23, 2015

Kal Rubinson said:
I disagree. An audiophile is someone who is concerned with (and loves) good sound but it does not mean that he cannot love music (or other things) more. There is, I hope, more than one side to our lives.

That's what an audiophile should be, yes.

Whatmore · Feb 23, 2015

tomelex said:
Maybe they don't consider the quality of the glass, the speed the wine is poured, the color of the glass, whether it is cryogetically treated, the color of the bottle the wine is in, but yeah, the style of cork they do talk about. So, what would we think if they said that the wine tasted better when drunk from a crogetically treated glass that cost $50,000 dollars? Just some observations that came to mind....

so perhaps we deserve just a tiny bit of the ridicule we receive....

MrAcoustat · Feb 23, 2015

Al M. said:
I guess that makes me more of a music lover and less of an audiophile then. I like the best possible sound that I can afford for my music, but I choose my music for what it is, not for its sound quality. That is also why I listen to just CD, not to hi-res, since almost all of the music/performances that interest me are on CD only. I also happen to have zero CDs from Reference Recordings. I do listen mostly to classical and jazz, where good or excellent recordings are in the company of inferior ones, but unlike in pop/rock there are rarely ones sounding like garbage.

I am 99% redbook cd's, BUT when available i choose made in Japan cd's and i am very careful of what i buy,i listend to everything i can on Youtube before buying.

mwhouston · Feb 23, 2015

To me a audiophile is one who passionately loves music and strives to enjoy that music in the very best way they possibly can within their means available.

jadis · Feb 23, 2015

treitz3 said:
On to the clarifying.....still-one had mentioned that, "In reality very little music sounds bad on a good system". Okay, maybe I was a little rushed in my response. I can think of a plethora of music that sounds really, really bad on a reference rig. Earlier Heart albums, dogleg and underground Bob Marley albums made in a rat shack on a mountain, the infamous Adele, earlier Mic Fleetwood albums and I could go on and on and on for 3 pages just on what does NOT sound good on "good" system. All of the aforementioned and a plethora of other picks sound absolutely horrid (to me) on a reference system.

Tom

I am with you here, Tom. If only all my music sounded good in the various systems(upgraded and upgraded) in the past, I would have filled up my room with LPs. Like many many people, I started with albums or even cassettes of my favorites artists during my time. I played them on my Sanyo 3 in one console and enjoyed whatever music that comes out. But the more I upgraded, or changed to higher end gears, the more terrible lots of them sounded. So much so that I started to sell those I would never listen to again due to their horrible reproduction in those systems I had. Till now, that is the same story. Not too long ago, I bought a lot of pop records that I listened to in the 80s, and most to them sounded strident and shrill. I can never listen to those even to finish the cut, let alone the album. I was just telling a friend not too long ago that if all recordings sounded like Aloi Recording's (division of Linn) All My Tomorrows by Carol Kidd, then we would be having the cake and eating it too.

MrAcoustat · Feb 23, 2015

mwhouston said:
To me a audiophile is one who passionately loves music and strives to enjoy that music in the very best way they possibly can within their means available.

Agree 100% ( what ever rocks YOUR boat )

jadis · Feb 23, 2015

I remember my elder sister and my mother were music lovers. They loved to play music on cassettes and small record mono portable players in those days. I got into listening to music from those sources by them. But both never wanted to elevate the gears they played, to them, the portable boxes were enough. In my books, they never became audiophiles, in the sense that I did, when I kept buying gears to pursue a higher level of sound quality from whatever gears I had. So they were music lovers but not audiophiles, I am both.

As to audiophiles not being music lovers, in the strictest sense of the terms, I have not met one either. But, I have met music lovers who became audiophiles (skyrocketing gears) who then sold everything and went into another hobby. One went into coral aquariums, another into dog caring, and another into photography (all during the 80s). To them, audiophilia is a hobby, which can be picked up and abandoned and changed into yet another hobby. They may still be music lovers if they play music in whatever convenient set they want (that I'm not even sure of), but not high end gears (this, I am sure).

Joe Whip · Feb 23, 2015

I have met a few audiophiles who, based on my interactions with them and listening to music with them, gave me the strong impression that all they cared about was the equipment and not the music. Not many, but a few.

Kal Rubinson · Feb 23, 2015

JackD201 said:
I fail to see the disagreement Kal.

Upon re-reading, I agree. :b

bonzo75 · Feb 23, 2015

Joe Whip said:
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.

Hi Joe, this is interesting. I consider 2-ch pure audiophilia, and auro 3d MCH should be the way to go, just that I need my excitement of tweaks and foo which is why I am still on 2-ch. Also setting up an Auro 3d system takes a lot of space planning. The best system I have heard so far happens to be a 13.4 Datasat Diract Auro 3D system, with B&Ws, and I don't even like those speakers in 2-ch. The room was also a 7m * 3m crappy room. Totally tore apart my 2-ch principles

What are your plans on Auro 3d.

Joe Whip · Feb 23, 2015

HI Bonzo, right now I am waiting for the dust to settle on the whole objects based audio systems. What I want is either a pre/pro that does all three systems, namely Atmos, DTS-X and Auro without the need for expensive firmware upgrades, or a really good AVR that does. This unit must also support ALL of the standards for 4K as when I grab a 4K OLED in 2016, I only want to work on my room cutting holes in the ceiling, running wires, etc. ONCE. The HT room is not big enough (you can fit a 13.4 system in a London flat, wow!) for anything more than a 5.1.4 system, maybe a 7.1.4 system. Given that the primary purpose of the room if for movies, it will be tailored to movie sound. It will be interesting to see how Auro3D will be able to fit into that configuration. I will be in London again fairly soon. I will have to look you up.

bonzo75 · Feb 23, 2015

If you are in London, schedule a meeting in Brighton (1 hour to the guy's house from Victoria) and listen to his Datasat Auro 3d system. The guy's just a passionate freak and a genius. He set it up for movies but his system sounds great on chorals, opera, and full symphony orchestra.

Joe Whip · Feb 23, 2015

I know my way to Brighton! I doubt though that I will be making my way down there on this trip. Maybe in the summer! If there is such a thing in the UK!

mwhouston · Feb 23, 2015

For me the weighting is always tipped in favour of the music. I don't listen to gear unless I'm evaluating of listening for problems. Too many friends (I'm in the Melbourne audio club) listen to the gear and fail to appreciate the music. Generally you can pick them by what they listen to. Test and demo tracks or broken single trakcs played everytime you share listening time with them. For me it's whole CDs, performances or LPs. Even whole box sets at a single listening. I listen to music about 4 hours a day. I don't do anything else at all except sit and listen looking straight ahead with no distractions. To me anything else is hearing music. For example if you read and play music that to me is simply hearing and not listening. Not for me but probably works for others. As I have stated I have three fully equiped listening areas in my house and my gear is 90% DIY. I get great enjoyment listening to music through home grown gear. I may marvel at how good it sounds but the focus is always on the music. Currently listening to a new 500W Class D amp I finshed a week ago. I mainly listen to classical, a little jazz and a lot of opera. And a lot of LPs.

Joe Whip · Feb 23, 2015

Sometimes I listen sometimes I hear. It depends on the time of day and what other things I do. At night, after 10, it is always listening by mwhouston's definition.

mwhouston · Feb 23, 2015

Joe Whip said:
Sometimes I listen sometimes I hear. It depends on the time of day and what other things I do. At night, after 10, it is always listening by mwhouston's definition.

When building gear I have (in listening area number 2) FM Classical radio on and just hear as I construct. Just a further "audiophile" related comment; I don't think you can seperate the gear from the music if an audiophile. If it is just the music then you're a music lover. We have a number of these in the club. But most fall into the audiophile category. They are chasing good gear to get the best sound for thier music.

Whatmore · Feb 23, 2015

I would say that there are many amongst us who have stopped listening to music they like or not given some new music a chance because of poor recording. Conversely, they listen to boring dross because it sounds good on their systems.

When this happens, in my opinion (humble as it is), it's no longer just about the music.

Diapason · Feb 24, 2015

I'm not sure I agree that audiophiles are ridiculed more than wine-lovers or foodies or whatever else. In fact, I think the common theme on the ridicule front is that plenty of people can and do enjoy the same stuff without spending huge money on it. So, lots of people like drinking wine, but I often see those buying €1000 bottles ridiculed. Everyone likes to eat, but not everyone drops a few hundred Euro a head to eat at the top restaurants, and again I regularly see those that do facing the same sort of ridicule as audiophiles. The reason audiophiles get a lot of ribbing is because of cost, pure and simple. When the proverbial man-on-the-street sees cables advertised for tens of thousands of Euros, of COURSE they're going to chuckle. And if the best defence we can muster for such things is that they make a difference but you need to be an experienced listener to discern it, then such ridicule is utterly deserved IMO.

If I'm being honest, I think we audiophiles do ourselves no favours by banging the "it's all about the music" drum either. There are plenty of music-lovers out there who get by just fine with lo-fi stuff, and I certainly don't think I "enjoy" music any more than they do. I know the point is that the gear and the sonics are all in service of music, but I think we should acknowledge that the sound itself is an important part of our enjoyment. Let's own up to that. It's not the same as being a gear slut, or loving the toys merely for their own sake, but it's not *all* about the music either. I know that plenty of my non-audiophile friends despise the air of superiority that tacitly goes with the audiophile position, and I can certainly see why. It's perfectly reasonable for people to say "I enjoy my music just fine on my iPod" because they probably do. I've chosen to spend a lot of money on a system that possibly/probably brings me no more enjoyment than their iPod brings them. You can see why they wonder. The only worthwhile rebuttal is to just sit people down and let them listen. That's the real heart of this hobby, it's open to all and it requires no special skills.

Al M. · Feb 24, 2015

Diapason said:
I'm not sure I agree that audiophiles are ridiculed more than wine-lovers or foodies or whatever else. In fact, I think the common theme on the ridicule front is that plenty of people can and do enjoy the same stuff without spending huge money on it. So, lots of people like drinking wine, but I often see those buying €1000 bottles ridiculed. Everyone likes to eat, but not everyone drops a few hundred Euro a head to eat at the top restaurants, and again I regularly see those that do facing the same sort of ridicule as audiophiles. The reason audiophiles get a lot of ribbing is because of cost, pure and simple. When the proverbial man-on-the-street sees cables advertised for tens of thousands of Euros, of COURSE they're going to chuckle. And if the best defence we can muster for such things is that they make a difference but you need to be an experienced listener to discern it, then such ridicule is utterly deserved IMO.

Yes, cables for tens of thousands of Euros are ridiculous because obviously the audiophile buying them has no clue about efficient improvements of sound which for the same money can be much greater in other, more essential areas. Start with the source, for example. That they "make a difference" is no excuse. It's the significance of difference that matters.

If on the other hand you substitute tens of thousands of Euros for thousands of Euros then I'm in -- the cable buy that is.

Slate article on Audiophiles

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