How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

[esldude]

5 hours ago, GUTB said:

Yeah, the Emotiva speakers are probably awful. Notice how they will have a room at audio shows but somehow not manage to have a system set up.

Never noticed that.  Never been to an audio show.  I have listened to Emotiva gear in the systems of audiophiles.  Their natural habitat.  

[esldude]

8 hours ago, davide256 said:

hmm, that's actually scary. Walking dead rock musicians coming in to the home for a reprise of their great performances of the 60's and 70's.  Wait,

I'm not sure I could tell live or dead with the Rolling Stones.

Sure you could.  Have to key in on Keith.  

[GUTB]

1 minute ago, esldude said:

Never noticed that.  Never been to an audio show.  I have listened to Emotiva gear in the systems of audiophiles.  Their natural habitat.  

 

I doubt any audiophiles have Emotiva.

[esldude]

Just now, GUTB said:

 

I doubt any audiophiles have Emotiva.

As per the norm, you'd be wrong. 

[AudioDoctor]

1 million dollars...

[AudioDoctor]

15 minutes ago, GUTB said:

 

I doubt any audiophiles have Emotiva.

 

I often wonder from what authority you make these pronouncements...

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting."

I dont see anything about minimum monetary outlay required there...

[GUTB]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I often wonder from what authority you make these pronouncements...

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting."

I dont see anything about minimum monetary outlay required there...

 

The problem is the poor quality of Emotiva sound. 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

An audiophile friend had an Emotiva power amp for a while. It was ok.  I would say good value for the money

[semente]

8 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

 

They do have a signature sound some attribute to the crossover not being phase coherent and moving the tweeter one half wavelength forward in the 800 Diamonds (restoring phase in only one freq?) - also poor on off axis responses with 6.5" driver used too far into the HF.

Not sure about the Chinese construction being damning tho. Even my "american" Baldwin piano is made in China by Baldwin

In my opinion BnW has lost the plot, with the relaxed presence, peaky top end, and a first order crossover which is inadequate to low pass their Kevlar cones... $4500/pair rubbish.

 

Bowers & Wilkins 702 S2, cumulative spectral-decay plot on tweeter axis at 50" (0.15ms risetime).
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/bowers-wilkins-702-s2-loudspeaker-measurements

 

 

[kumakuma]

6 hours ago, GUTB said:

 

The problem is the poor quality of Emotiva sound. 

 

Have you ever owned any of their products? 

[AudioDoctor]

7 hours ago, GUTB said:

 

The problem is the poor quality of Emotiva sound. 

 

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction."

 

 

Is that big enough?

[esldude]

10 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction."

 

 

Is that big enough?

You left out neuro-typical before person.  

[GUTB]

52 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction."

 

 

Is that big enough?

 

Neurotypical

Audiophiles care about sound quality, hence thier enthusiasm. This thought only requires one logical step.

[pkane2001]

19 minutes ago, GUTB said:

 

Neurotypical

Audiophiles care about sound quality, hence thier enthusiasm. This thought only requires one logical step.

 

Is there really such a thing as a neurotypical audiophile?

[mav52]

53 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Is there really such a thing as a neurotypical audiophile?

I see it at times , its more like a Delusional Audiophile ?

[Ralf11]

yes, aka nutotypical audiophile

[gmgraves]

On 5/28/2018 at 1:12 AM, semente said:

Are you assuming that all live music is blasting away over 6 dozen PA speakers?

It can be hard to get away from it these days. I can't tell you how many classical concert performances that I've walked out of because I've seen stacks of "sound reinforcement" speakers piled up on either side of the stage!. I won't hesitate to ask for my money back when I find that SR will be used at a concert. I always use the same argument, and for me, it's key. "I have better speakers than these at home. If I wanted to listen to speakers this evening, I would have cued-up a high-resolution recording of the very music this ensemble is going to play tonight and stayed home. I come to live concerts to hear the sound of live instruments playing great music. I do not attend them to listen to a Public Address System! If you are going to us that P.A., I want my money back!" I usually get it too! 

[gmgraves]

12 hours ago, GUTB said:

 

The problem is the poor quality of Emotiva sound. 

I have auditioned and reviewed a number of pieces of Emotiva gear. Your dislike of the equipment is very much of a prejudice (based on the equipment's low price, perhaps). I found it to be more than excellent value for money spent. It might not compete sonically with Nelson Pass's equipment, or Audio Research, but it's more than a match for a lot of much more more expensive gear. And who would expect a $300 preamp to compete with a $3000 (much less a $30,000) preamp. The stuff is well made (especially for the price) using decent quality components, and I found the combination of the PT-100 preamp (built-in phono, built-in 24/192 DAC, built-in FM tuner) for $300 and the A-300 power amp (150 WRMS/channel) at $400 to be an incredible bargain, a bargain that sounds excellent - giving better than 90% of the performance of Krell, or any other comparable gear that you can name. Most customers would be thrilled with the combo. You know, most people think that high-end sound costs waaaayyyy too much. Here is a breath of fresh air that says that quality audio doesn't need to cost an an arm and a leg. So what does GUTB, the cost snob, say about it? It has "poor sound quality". I'd be willing to bet GUTB money that in a double-blind tests he couldn't pick out an Emotiva preamp/amp setup from a similar Parasound setup or a Bryston setup, or any other mid-level high-end amp/preamp combo. 

[gmgraves]

14 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I often wonder from what authority you make these pronouncements...

 

"An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting."

I dont see anything about minimum monetary outlay required there...

 

The thing about GUTB is that he has a very limited outlook on what an "audiophile" actually is. To him, you can't be an audiophile until you "prove yourself" by spending $200K+ on speakers, $40K or more on a preamp ditto for a power amp, and $20K+ for a disc player and a $100K for a record deck, arm and cartridge. He doesn't seem to be able to take into account that most people have mortgages, car payments, and a family of support. Most people don't have that kind of money to spend on audio equipment (or any other hobby, for that matter). 

Actually, in my experience, the only people I've ever come across who own that level of equipment aren't audiophiles at all. They are nuvo-riche entrepreneurs who, having built their mac-mansions in the hills above Silicon Valley, want to impress their peers with how much everything costs. They never play their stereo system except to show it off, and most of them have but a couple of rock-albums from the 1970s to play on it. If this is GUTB's idea of an audiophile, then, my friends, thank your lucky stars that you don't make the grade!

[semente]

39 minutes ago, gmgraves said:

It can be hard to get away from it these days. I can't tell you how many classical concert performances that I've walked out of because I've seen stacks of "sound reinforcement" speakers piled up on either side of the stage!. I won't hesitate to ask for my money back when I find that SR will be used at a concert. I always use the same argument, and for me, it's key. "I have better speakers than these at home. If I wanted to listen to speakers this evening, I would have cued-up a high-resolution recording of the very music this ensemble is going to play tonight and stayed home. I come to live concerts to hear the sound of live instruments playing great music. I do not attend them to listen to a Public Address System! If you are going to us that P.A., I want my money back!" I usually get it too! 

That is very sad news. I have never listened to a single classical music recital or concert that was amplified.

I did listen to an amplified Tosca once but it was outdoors... terrible experience.

[Nordkapp]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

 in a double-blind tests he couldn't pick out an Emotiva preamp/amp setup from a similar Parasound setup or a Bryston setup, or any other mid-level high-end amp/preamp combo. 

This is ridiculous George. You are actually going on record saying that Emotiva is no different sonically than Parasound/Bryston?  My God. Are those JC1 Parasound monos garbage too? 

[Nordkapp]

Emotiva is basically equivalent to Pioneer. Not exactly high end. 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

5 hours ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Is there really such a thing as a neurotypical audiophile?

 

Ahem......Some audiophiles are of course above average ? .

 

 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

 

The thing about GUTB is that he has a very limited outlook on what an "audiophile" actually is. To him, you can't be an audiophile until you "prove yourself" by spending $200K+ on speakers, $40K or more on a preamp ditto for a power amp, and $20K+ for a disc player and a $100K for a record deck, arm and cartridge. He doesn't seem to be able to take into account that most people have mortgages, car payments, and a family of support. Most people don't have that kind of money to spend on audio equipment (or any other hobby, for that matter). 

Actually, in my experience, the only people I've ever come across who own that level of equipment aren't audiophiles at all. They are nuvo-riche entrepreneurs who, having built their mac-mansions in the hills above Silicon Valley, want to impress their peers with how much everything costs. They never play their stereo system except to show it off, and most of them have but a couple of rock-albums from the 1970s to play on it. If this is GUTB's idea of an audiophile, then, my friends, thank your lucky stars that you don't make the grade!

 

This is sadly true in many cases. I agree GUTB does nothing to further the plight of a better audiophile image but at the risk of stating the obvious we shouldn't paint all audiophiles with the same brush. If audiophile means anyone interested in high quality audio/ music reproduction then presumably everyone on this website is an audiophile (or close to it). In that group there exists snobs and reverse snobs. Both make me cringe. The real separation tho between audiophiles as I see it comes down to how one assesses "fidelity" playback which in turn comes down to the great divide; trust your ears vs trust your measurements. IMO each has their place.

 

 

[Ralf11]

just measure your ears