Article: CA is now Audiophile Style!

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

Congrats and best of luck with the new improved AS.

 

Other names? Audiophile Way AW, If you rebranded as "cranky audiophile" you could have kept "CA" as the initials. I think I would fail in marketing,lol. What about "Aware Audiophile", I went to my AA meeting......nah, Audio Style is just fine 😀

[mansr]

3 hours ago, left channel said:

Overall, I like it the new approach. "Computer" is a bit limiting and very dated, I agree. What we discuss here is modern audio, period. But honestly, I find the word "Style" vaguely embarrassing. I can refer anyone in Silicon Valley to Computer Audiophile for information. But "Style"? Definition aside, some will take that to mean shallow, expensive, and pretentious. Not that I have a better idea. And the world is not all geeks and nerds, so OK, best of luck to you.

Chris' company has been called Audiophile Style LLC for as long as I've been using the site.

[accwai]

I really don't like the Audiophool part. I would vote for Audio Science Substance

[left channel]

Last time I was at Magnolia AV inside Best Buy, they had laser-printed a little sign touting a product for "Audiofiles". And no they didn't mean tracks or files of any kind. Sigh. 

[mansr]

5 minutes ago, left channel said:

Last time I was at Magnolia AV inside Best Buy, they had laser-printed a little sign touting a product for "Audiofiles". And no they didn't mean tracks or files of any kind. Sigh. 

It's a file for sharpening the spikes on speaker stands.

[Superdad]

As both a lifelong audio/musicphile and the proprietor of a brand fortunate to permitted to sponsor a forum on this ever-evolving site, I wish to voice a loud and hearty CONGRATULATIONS!  

 

Congratulations not just to the name change--Audiophile Style is fine and everyone will get used to it--but to the position that that CA/AS has earned in hi-fi industry as a whole.  And to owner Chris' sense of this and continuing drive to draw in more users--perhaps many younger and beginning--into this realm of audio technology components.

 

This stuff can be daunting for the uninitiated (heck, also for the mavens), but even simple site enhancements such as the new Questions & Answers forum exemplify the goal of evolving the site to allow the average person to find a relatively easy path towards getting great sound--be it in their living room, on their desk, in their headphones, etc.--from streamed or owned music files.

[Perhaps the near-future here will see some easy Wiki and/or topic content index tools that can be used to organize/distill a portion of the valuable, mostly-factual knowledge which gets shared on the forums every day.  It takes a lot of time for newcomers to get a solid sense of some topics when they are starring at a 200-page thread. ]

 

As I was beginning to say at the start:

Objectively, Computer Audiophile holds a unique position in the web firmament of audio magazines and forums.  I've read, followed, and sometimes participated in dozens of these over the years.  With just a few exceptions, sites either take the stance of presenting magazine articles and reviews, or blog-style reviews--or they are near exclusively a user posting forum.  Sure, some of the big "magazine" type sites have forums, but they are typically not very active.

 

It is no secret that CA's success was built on its highly active forums, with a level of discourse and information--about leading-edge products and tweaks to get better SQ--between members of above-average intelligence.   And the move of two years back to the current slick and feature-rich forum engine has certainly raised participation. (Funny, I remember all the howls and complaints right after the change--but would anyone want to go back?)

 

The forums are terrific and lead a lot of traffic here because people around the world--on other forums in languages I don't even recognize the letters of--share links to posts made here.  But forums are not for everyone, and I applaud the continued efforts to publish articles--about gear and music--particularly if they are interesting and written to a high standard.  I've yet to check our the new Audiophile 5 videos, so I can't give feedback about those yet. 

 

I'll wrap up this too-long reply (I've got work to do--even on New Years Day!) by being blunt:

As a manufacturer I irregularly survey the world's audio sites (at least the English-language ones) and sometimes use free web traffic analytics tools to get a sense of ranking.  And each time I do, I come away with the ever-stronger conviction that making this place home base--for both my personal and professional audio proclivities--was one of the smartest moves I made, just over 10 years ago! 

(Head-Fi.org is still the traffic gorilla over all audio web sites, but I'm not much of a headphone guy and their computer/source forums are not very focused, and seem less advanced.)

 

The truth is that I am a somewhat lazy and very time-constrained marketeer (and avoiding adding more staff though our success could support it). I have yet to make the time to produce a single advertisement, and still we grow our customer base around the world.  I interpret this as a result of a equal mix of people enjoying our products and finding us here on CA/AS.  I know which came first.   While my whole no-advertisement thing has sort of become a silly "badge of honor" shtick, I am anxious to ditch it, now more than ever, to support and ride the next wave with Audiophile Style in 2019! 

 

Many thanks to both management and members.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

--Alex Crespi

 

 

 

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, Hugo9000 said:

Are you going to change your username to The Audiophile Stylist?

 

I meant to ask about that too.  

 

Just checked, and thank goodness all prior forum and article URLs starting with computer audiophile.com still work!

 

53 minutes ago, jabbr said:

Yes because you don't want AS backwards 🙄

 

 

36 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

If you rebranded as "cranky audiophile" you could have kept "CA" as the initials. I think I would fail in marketing,lol. What about "Aware Audiophile", I went to my AA meeting......nah, Audio Style is just fine 😀

 

5 minutes ago, mansr said:

It's a file for sharpening the spikes on speaker stands.

 

You guys crack me up!  

(Despite all other rancor around here, I can always enjoy a daily dose of audio wit and humor from your sharp tongues...)

[4est]

I am not sure about the name, but I love the new fonts and/or layout. It seems easier to read and shows bold and italic better. Good job Chris!

[Doug A]

Congrats on moving forward. Something had to be changed. The computer audio category is withering. Not excited by the name. Style means all the things mentioned. Unfortunately, people interpret style  differently, when coupled with audio. It won't kill the site, but is an opportunity lost.

 

Wish you all the luck.

[The Computer Audiophile]

A quick note on the new logo. 

 

I wasn’t happy with using an existing font and tweaking it a little bit. So, I had the new name Audiophile Style hand painted by an artist who used to hand paint NHRA dragsters back when all the graphics were real paint, not vinyl. We digitized the original hand painted artwork to create the one of a kind logo above. 

[ajay556]

3 hours ago, NOMBEDES said:

Hoo Ray!  Death to the audio "computer"  I have never liked the computer part of computer audiophile......

 

 

Free at last, free at last.......

I agree  - I did not like being a 'Computer' only discussion website. As we know computer was never designed to be an audio source. The irony is Reel, Vinyl, CD which are specifically designed for audio where taboo. Good to see all sources are now up for discussion including computer as its finally becoming a true audiophile source.

[One and a half]

21 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

A quick note on the new logo. 

 

I wasn’t happy with using an existing font and tweaking it a little bit. So, I had the new name Audiophile Style hand painted by an artist who used to hand paint NHRA dragsters back when all the graphics were real paint, not vinyl. We digitized the original hand painted artwork to create the one of a kind logo above. 

Neat, now you can create the AS font and make $20 here or there?

[Marcin_gps]

Well done and all the best in 2019. 

 

Too bad that the term computer audio is pejorative for many. Hopefully they will change their mind by visitnig audiophilestyle

 

Regards, 
Marcin

[rodrigaj]

@The Computer Audiophile

 

You missed an opportunity. If you had added "The" in front of Audiophile Style you would have had TAS!

[wgscott]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

It's a file for sharpening the spikes on speaker stands.

 

Upon which to impale the heads of the evil "objectivists."

 

 

[wgscott]

7 minutes ago, Marcin_gps said:

Too bad that the term computer audio is pejorative for many.

 

Apparently, much more so than the term "audiophile."

[One and a half]

First thought, hmmm, then it grew on me, it's the same name for the main company where the bills end up, so makes sense. The name opens up to another world, the old one shoe horned the site into something quite narrow and specific, but music appreciation involves a lot more of the chain right up to the where it plugs into the wall and what music is available. It's important to find out if there are problems in other parts of the related chain that ultimately affect what we hear/listen and having many voices certainly helps that. Well, OTOH, some voices......

 

Congrats to @The Computer Audiophile, job well done!

[Superdad]

5 minutes ago, rodrigaj said:

You missed an opportunity. If you had added "The" in front of Audiophile Style you would have had TAS!

 

I have a feeling it was a conscious choice not to do so. 

[George Hincapie]

Honestly, the name doesn't work for me. But that doesn't matter, it isn't my forum 🤣

 

Happy New Year!

[mansr]

Just now, wgscott said:

Apparently, much more so than the term "audiophile."

They are complementary pejoratives.

[George Hincapie]

Also, can we have a sub-forum for cables?

[loop7]

I was actually wondering about the title (Computer Audiophile) last week and how it may be limiting but this new name will certainly offer all the flexibility needed moving forward.

 

I can only imagine how much thought and discussion went into a name change.

[Melvin]

2 minutes ago, loop7 said:

I can only imagine how much thought and discussion went into a name change.

+1

 

Nice article Chris. Re-branding can be quite risky but your big-picture-forward-thinking will no doubt prove successful. Congrats and best of luck.

[Dutch]

54 minutes ago, wgscott said:

 

Upon which to impale the heads of the evil "objectivists."

 

 

 

Those are out of audiophile style.. 

[wgscott]

9 minutes ago, Dutch said:

 

Those are out of audiophile style.. 

 

Hence the beheadings and impalings.