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    The Computer Audiophile

    Editorial: What's Wrong With You?

    I'm not a fan of writing editorials because this site isn't about me or any ministers of information. It's about the community and everyone who has helped, over the last 11 years, create what this site is today. Perhaps a couple forum posts have irked me enough to need this cathartic outlet. 

     

    Anyway, what's wrong with you? If you listen to people online or at audio shows you'll think you need medication quickly. Since I started this site I've often wondered what's up with all the audiophile hatred, judgement, and categorization. It usually takes this form:

     

     

    1. Audiophiles like gear more than music.
    2. Audiophiles don't listen to music, they listen to gear.
    3. Audiophiles are always looking for the next piece of gear.
    4. Audiophiles are foolish because ...
    5. There's music audiophiles and gear audiophiles.

     


    Wait what? Why do people care? I submit that if you're judging people by their motives for increasing their own enjoyment in life, if you're categorizing groups of people based on what they enjoy, or if you just dislike audiophiles, then you're the one with issues. There's nothing wrong with issues, I have plenty, but stop projecting yours on to audiophiles. 

     

    The ole gear loving audiophile "just doesn't like music" thing. Again, who cares? I don't care at all if someone is happy collecting HiFi gear. Jay Leno owns 150 cars including a 1994 McLaren F1 valued at $12,000,000. Oh the horror. What a loser, he must just love cars and not the experience of driving them like all the people with pure motives for purchasing cars. Only kidding. Who cares if he has 150 cars and some that are priced outrageously? I bet it isn't the same person who cares about audiophile motives because cars are cool man (said tongue in cheek).

     

    When I first started writing about HiFi I was told by a publisher that he knew a guy with six CDs and a million dollar system. This million-dollar-system-guy was the butt of many jokes and was even blamed for many problems in HiFi. Heck, this specific publisher had an infatuation about guys like this and always talked about himself as being "in it for the music man." As if there should be a podium for music loving audiophiles that anyone else who enjoys this hobby equally or more shouldn't even look at. 

     

    In fact, the snobbish level of people who view themselves as superior audiophiles because they like music more than gear is no different than the people who just rail against audiophiles for the heck of it. 

     

    Then there's the infamous Alan Parsons quote.

     

    "Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment."

     


    Talk about pompous. Sure, we can purchase his works of art, but god forbid if we listen to them in a way he doesn't approve or for reasons with which he doesn't agree. Who cares if what he says is true for some people? Who is anyone to judge how others have fun in life. I feel very excited for people who increase their enjoyment in life through HiFi. Whether that's because of a gear fascination or music fascination of a combination of the two. If you're happy, I'm happy for you. 

     

    This also brings up the black or white issue. As if audiophiles can only be gear enthusiasts or the so-called better audiophiles, the music enthusiasts. Like politics and the endless objective / subjective debates, there's a continuum on which audiophiles land. On one end is the gear junky and on the other end is the music junky. Based on no objective data, I'm willing to bet most audiophiles fall more toward the center than the extreme poles. I don't care where one is on this continuum, but let's not succumb to those who like to categorize us as music or gear or music first, gear second. The world is gray, many of us like both well designed audio components and well played music. 

     

    Speaking go well played music, do you only listen to Scottish nose whistle recorded at 32/384 or DSD1028? If you're happy doing that, I'm happy for you. Wasting precious brain cycles to think about or judge someone in the Scottish nose whistle camp is the epitome of foolishness. Life is too short. Crank some Rage Against the Machine and move on.

     

    Oh shoot, I forgot Rage isn't a certified group for the other end of this preposterous judgmental spectrum. Like the dealer who laughed at me because I purchased MartinLogan ReQuest speakers to play Pink Floyd when I was fresh out of college in 1999. That's a great way to win over new customers and encourage a younger audience to value and understand dealer markup. Yeah right. That's perhaps a story for another editorial that I'll never write. 

     

    OK, lastly before I get off my editorial soapbox, why do people also care about audiophiles who value fine craftsmanship, made in country ABC production, and limited editions of products? When it comes to cars, watches, houses, or even alcohol that goes down the hatch only to be pissed out an hour later, all the elements of craftsmanship are highly desirable. It's even OK to love the bottle in which one's Booz is transported. However, when it comes to audio, if you like the big McIntosh meters or the copper D'Agostino amplifiers or the bling of Mbl, you're somehow a lesser audiophile not worthy of those who value music first. 

     

    I say bring on the bling, bring on the breadboards, bring on the Patricia Barber, and bring on the Beatles. It doesn't matter to me what you like or why you like it. I don't believe it should matter to anyone else either. Gear collector? Fine with me. Music collector? Fine with me. Both? I hope you live in a big house. 

     

    I'll close with a quote from Sheryl Crow, "If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad."


    P.S. Along similar lines is the judgement of those who spend "outrageous" amounts of money on HiFi components, by people in the same music first group (not all but some). Speakers that cost $250,000 or even $700,000. Amps that cost $100,000 or $250,000. I can hear it now, you can get better performance for a fraction of the price! Let me repeat, who cares? It's the buyer's money to spend however she wants. I certainly don't want someone going through all my receipts and telling me I could've purchased far better peanut butter for less money. I can't afford a million dollar system, but I don't care if you can. I enjoy finding bang for the buck products, but I don't care if you don't enjoy the same.

     

    P.P.S Where am I on this continuum? Smack in the middle. I love great gear designs, both inside and out, both cosmetic and electrically engineered, and I love music. I'll take Pearl Jam on an AM radio if that's all I can get, but on a beautiful HiFi system that sounds spectacular, all is right with the world. 

     

     

     

     

     




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    Jascha Heifetz called it “Hifooey”.

     

    For me, the test is, if I could go back in time, would I lust after great records or fancy tubes?

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    2 hours ago, ronfint said:

    Jascha Heifetz called it “Hifooey”.

     

    For me, the test is, if I could go back in time, would I lust after great records or fancy tubes?

     

    1 hour ago, Paul R said:

    There an be any question?  Great records! :) 

     

    For some people it’s tubes for others it’s tunes and for many it isn’t one or the other.  Either way, who really cares. 

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    The playback qualities

    3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

     

    For some people it’s tubes for others it’s tunes and for many it isn’t one or the other.  Either way, who really cares. 

    i think I'd let both pass, I wouldn't be locking myself up in a room in the 60s.

     

    Much more fun to be had in other places. Yeah baby.

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    4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

     

    For some people it’s tubes for others it’s tunes and for many it isn’t one or the other.  Either way, who really cares. 

     

    Nobody should, but if you went back that far in the past, there really wouldn't be any great equipment to use the tubes in, not by today's standards. The nostalgist sound we might long for would probably be very disappointing to us now, especially if it was the best sound available.  Also, no digital music at all. Thus, the only logical thing is to hunt down records and keep 'em until Roy Gandy gets busy in the 1970s. :)

     

     

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    tubes?  so far back there are no tubes?

     

    how about going far enough into the past, that there really wouldn't be any tube socks

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    I just want to add that I thought the amplifier in the picture at the top of this post looked really good, so I looked into it...

     

    90,000USD?  USED!!!!!!!

     

    I don't like it anymore. Not one bit. Nope.

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    5 hours ago, Summit said:

    I liked the editorial and can certainly get tired of some of the audiophile bashing and comments like audiophiles don't listen to music, they listen to their gear etc. But I suppose that “we” likewise can find some "ugly truth” behind those comments and also some adequate reasons why we maybe should care a little about how “Audiophiles” are categorized and how we are behaving. No smoke without fire so to speak. And Chris original question can be flipped 180 degrees and we could ask: What's wrong with many of us so called Audiophiles?

     

    To be clear I’m an audiophile and am not pretending to be Mother Theresa or anything, but still like to know:

     

    • Is it really necessary to purchase two of the latest FOTM, and every year?
    • Why does the big audio shows and its attendant focusing so much on systems that cost more than a house?
    • Why are HIFI magazines so obsessed about reviewing audio gear that cost more than a “normal” working audiophiles can ever buy? And equally important why do audiophiles like to read all those reviewing’s about DACs, AMPs etc that cost more than a new car?
    • Back in the day then I started out Quad and some other (often British) companies made good gear without the bling and fancy boxes, and took pride in it.
    • My main concern is how does the FOTM Audiophile lifestyle equal the goal of sustainable development? All other branches of industry are to some extent trying to “sweep clean in front of their own door”. I have seen very little about that in High End audio. Does for example any reviewer ever point out that this product is more “environment friendly” because it consumes much less energy, can be recycled and are made without any substance on the REACH candidate list and so on?
    • Maybe it’s simple and the bragging right of owning the latest, most admirable audio gear, is very important to many audiophiles and it doesn’t matter in the end if those big speakers won’t sound very good in your small room.

     

     

    Happy Easter

     

    LOL! I think the answer is pretty easy -  because it is FUN to read about, listen to, look at, talk about things most of us will never buy. Or can afford to buy to be honest, me included! ;)

     

    There is always some fun things included everywhere that are affordable. My jaw dropped when TAS had a review of an $800 AT turntable, but I was glad to see it there. It ain’t an AirForce but it is something I might buy sometime if I wanted to... 

     

    Best place to find reasonable and reliable reviews of affordable gear? Right here. 

     

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    actually, car magazines have run articles on Lada,Trabant and Yugo - C&D (car and Drunkard) even put a Yugo on the cover once; I'm not sure if Rod & Truck (R&T) ever did a spc. panel on it tho

     

    I do agree that high buck, aspirational cars can often be more interesting to read about.

     

    They are also good for development.  When Porsche made the world beating 959 super ca,r they sold a small number to well-heeled enthusiasts, and used the $$ and info garner to further their development of the "regular" cars.  10-20 years later a magazine compared the 959 to stock Porsche and it was equaled -- for a much lower price.

     

    Now, do audio co.s do that?  Some, yes.

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    I am not sure if it is that much different in the USA, but in the UK we a range of magazines that are clearly aimed to appeal to different markets.  If you want a hifi magazine, you could buy "What HIfi", which is likely to feature reviews along the lines of "Best budget earbuds" or "Our favourite speakers under £800", this kind of thing.  If you are more interested in the more esoteric kit, then "Hifi News and Record Review" might be more to your taste.  In fact, you might buy it for the record reviews, irrespective of what kit you might own or aspire to.  Plus there are a range of other magazines, all aiming at their own niche market.

     

    It is much the same with car magazines, if you want to read about the high performance or supercars, or just read reviews about more sensible choices to get you to work reliably every day, then one of the available magazines should fit the bill.

     

    So what about the UK's Hifi shows?  The Windsor show (now moving so will be the Ascot show) does tend to feature the odd system that costs the same price as a house, but we also have the Bristol show that features many systems at the more affordable end of the scale.  Manufacturers like KEF attend the Bristol show every year, they always take a big room, and they may demo stuff like the Blade and Reference series, but they will always include products like the LS50 in the demonstrations.  I have seen B&W doing similar, and manufacturers doing rolling demos, 2pm to 3 pm the cheaper stand mounts,  3pm to 4pm the more expensive floor standers, this kind of thing.  Maybe some manufacturers are using the expensive kit to tempt folk into the demos, then showing them just how good the affordable kit can be while they are there.  Why not?

     

    Then we have the Hifi Wigwan Show.  This is something else entirely.....

     

    https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/132773-wam-show-2019-photos/

     

    There does seam to be a tendency to drift into certain generalisations regarding audiophiles, audio magazines, hifi shows, hifi manufacturers and so on, but the world seams far more nuanced to me.

     

    As a final thought, I quite like going to hifi shows and listening to speakers that cost the price of a house.  I have no intention of buying a pair though. 

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    Okay okay I’m sorry to read that my post has been read as I would like to somehow stop people from buying or reading whatever they want. My rant was just a twist, or aimed to be, to the editorial: What's wrong with you? Thou a 180 degree screwball back at “us” audiophile, myself included.

     

    I know very well that we have different audio magazines, audio shows etc. for different pockets, and that’s great. My thought is still that the audio industry and most audiophiles are living like we had infinitive resources on planet Earth and no negative impact on the environment. I mean in the year 2019 is this constantly changing of gear for minor improvements in SQ really sustainable? I think not.

     

    Of course not all audiophiles are the same and like I said it’s supposed to be a twist but with a bit of a reality check at the same time. I know am not a very good English writer, so maybe what I tried to say didn’t come thru or at least not as it was intended.

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    23 hours ago, Summit said:

     

    I understand that those super expansive gear can be nice to see and read about ones in the while. I also get that some people may be interested in reading and looking at 100 000 USD gear they can never have, over and over again. I personally like to read impressions that focus more on good gear that I can get and which that match good together. It absolutely doesn’t have to be the audio equivalents of Lada or Trabant, more like a better Volvo, Toyota, Hyundai or WW etc.

     

    I'd like to see more of that too, but so far in the US no one seems to have made more than a token effort to run an audio magazine along these lines. That says to me there is at least a possibility they found it didn't sell very well when they tried.

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    what we really need is a magazine that tells us whether super expansive gear is really better in SQ or is just a Robb Report exercise in Thorstein Veblin's Theory of the Leisure Class...

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    3 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

    what we really need is a magazine that tells us whether super expansive gear is really better in SQ or is just a Robb Report exercise in Thorstein Veblin's Theory of the Leisure Class...

    Better is a subjective term that is different for many people. 

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    the (future) magazine can certainly discuss that concept

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    27 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

    the (future) magazine can certainly discuss that concept

    It has been discussed over the years here and probably elsewhere.

     

    Similar to the term "value."

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    12 minutes ago, Tin said:

    But as things are, my setup costs more than my car, and my watch is broken and I can't be bothered about it.

    I love it!

     

    It's all about priorities in life. To my family, I am crazy to even look at a speaker cable that isn't sold at Ace Hardware for $10 per roll. However, I think some of them are crazy for paying $600 per round of golf at Pebble Beach. 

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    it's about the pebbles...

     

    re value - I'd think value would relate more to the increment in SQ per $$ (or per unit of DIY hassle, etc.)

     

    to get at "better SQ" - I'd recognize that better is really a multi-factorial concept, and different people rate those factors differently - e.g. getting the max. bass extension is not always well correlated with Bass slam", much less "getting the mid-range right" (my fav Brit. Fi term - and they are right...)

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