Being a member of many audio fora as well as personally being involved in this hobby for 50 years it is apparent that there are 2 types of audiophiles as defined so well in Wikipedia......
An audiophile is a person who has a great interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the recorded musical performance, or even more important. The ratio of an audiophile's spending on software (music) versus hardware (audio components) is a rough guide to where they stand in the audiophile spectrum.
Reading through the threads here, there is no doubt in my mind that indeed we have 2 types of audiophiles here as described in the above definition and quite likely a 3rd which is a combination of both. There are countless members here whose audio system is always in a state of flux and changing to the point where IMO it becomes difficult if not impossible to appreciate the music because it becomes far too analytic as they search for the Holy Grail of sound. Then there are others who just appreciate music for what it is and have vast collections of music. Their systems remain unchanged for many years and they love what they have. And then there is the 3rd group who in their quest for the Holy Grail assemble a massive collection of music.
I suppose we have another group here who are analyzing the music trying to make bad music good as a sign of a good system. This leaves me somewhat senseless from a lack of understanding but I guess there are always extremes of anything. This to me is not audiophilia but a weird form of DIY where everything in a system needs to be modified, changed, soldered etc to make it sound right.
I must admit that for many years I belonged to the first group as I tweaked my system to where it is now. Over the past several years however I have a smile on my face and toes are tapping when I listen to my system. I have given up chasing the elusive and truly love what I have. I have said over the past few years that the only thing I want to add is a MAC based computer music server as well as a persistant thought of returning to vinyl (which most of my friends, including myself think I am nuts) but that's really it.
So what say all of you? And be honest. Have you reached Audio Nirvana or do you have restless energy to continue to swap equipment in and out of your system
There are countless threads here where members have speakers coming in and going out faster than the moving trucks can bring them as well as constantly changing DAC's, transports, cables, preamps and amps. Changes are made so often that I have wondered if they are enjoying the music or merely analyzing components in their system. Sometimes more than one change happens at the same time so I cannot fathom how they figure what they heard different from each component due to the sweeping same time changes in their systems. This to me is not enjoying the music but rather a quest to have experienced most every component in their systems. How many used components do we see like this for sale on Audiogon. It's components in and components out in blistering fashion.
My mantra over the years has always been, "did I hear something better or just something different. If it is better, then, how so?"
Audiophilia or audiofoolia
An audiophile is a person who has a great interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the recorded musical performance, or even more important. The ratio of an audiophile's spending on software (music) versus hardware (audio components) is a rough guide to where they stand in the audiophile spectrum.
Reading through the threads here, there is no doubt in my mind that indeed we have 2 types of audiophiles here as described in the above definition and quite likely a 3rd which is a combination of both. There are countless members here whose audio system is always in a state of flux and changing to the point where IMO it becomes difficult if not impossible to appreciate the music because it becomes far too analytic as they search for the Holy Grail of sound. Then there are others who just appreciate music for what it is and have vast collections of music. Their systems remain unchanged for many years and they love what they have. And then there is the 3rd group who in their quest for the Holy Grail assemble a massive collection of music.
I suppose we have another group here who are analyzing the music trying to make bad music good as a sign of a good system. This leaves me somewhat senseless from a lack of understanding but I guess there are always extremes of anything. This to me is not audiophilia but a weird form of DIY where everything in a system needs to be modified, changed, soldered etc to make it sound right.
I must admit that for many years I belonged to the first group as I tweaked my system to where it is now. Over the past several years however I have a smile on my face and toes are tapping when I listen to my system. I have given up chasing the elusive and truly love what I have. I have said over the past few years that the only thing I want to add is a MAC based computer music server as well as a persistant thought of returning to vinyl (which most of my friends, including myself think I am nuts) but that's really it.
So what say all of you? And be honest. Have you reached Audio Nirvana or do you have restless energy to continue to swap equipment in and out of your system
There are countless threads here where members have speakers coming in and going out faster than the moving trucks can bring them as well as constantly changing DAC's, transports, cables, preamps and amps. Changes are made so often that I have wondered if they are enjoying the music or merely analyzing components in their system. Sometimes more than one change happens at the same time so I cannot fathom how they figure what they heard different from each component due to the sweeping same time changes in their systems. This to me is not enjoying the music but rather a quest to have experienced most every component in their systems. How many used components do we see like this for sale on Audiogon. It's components in and components out in blistering fashion.
My mantra over the years has always been, "did I hear something better or just something different. If it is better, then, how so?"
Audiophilia or audiofoolia
