Mr. WidgetThat's got to be about 50% of this forum.....
I think the perception of the audiophile by the uninitiated is a guy who isn't particularly successful with members of the fairer sex
Widget
Mr. WidgetThat's got to be about 50% of this forum.....
I think the perception of the audiophile by the uninitiated is a guy who isn't particularly successful with members of the fairer sex
Widget
Dome, I think you really do know who you are...
I suppose I am a bit of a technophobe, though I certainly have embraced my iPod with lossless files and a good DAC.
Econophile... I don't think I'd ever be mistaken for one, though I drive a diesel VW and often hand make my Christmas gifts.
Am I an audiophile? Yep, and not ashamed to be called a lover of audio. I am one with zipcord speaker wire and a mix of new and used gear. I do love music, listening to live and recorded as often as I can, but I have to admit my record collection is my next area to focus on in my playback chain.
Widget
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
Mike Scott in SJ, CA
Drive 'em to the Xmax!
Perhaps a definition of an audiophile is required:What is an audiophile?
:Quote"We play my solid 256kbps VBR MP3 of "Heroes" off my iPod; it sounds like shit. Free of pops and crackles, yes, but completely lifeless, flat in every way. This is the detail that matters: Audiophiles are basically synesthesiacs. They "see" music in three-dimensional visual space. You close your eyes in Fremer's chair, and you can perceive a detailed 3D matrix of sound, with each element occupying its own special space in the air. It's crazy and I've never experienced anything like it.
It is within this 3D space where the audiophile lives and operates, and spends all his money. Fremer himself is the first to admit that it would only take $3,000 to $5,000 to build a system that will be deeply satisfying to most music fans. On a scale of 1 to 100 completely of my own devising, let's put this system at around 85. Now, imagine that you've tasted 85, and you want to go higher; you want Bowie's cries of kissing by the wall to inhabit the most perfect point in your system's matrix, and Bryan Ferry's back-up fly girls on "Avalon" to flank him just beautifully. That, friends, is where you might end up paying hundreds of thousands.
Our little scale, unfortunately, is logarithmic, in that going from zero to 85 doesn't take a lot of effort or money, but going from 98.6 to 99.1 by swapping out a $2,600 AC power cable for a $4,000 one becomes a justifiable end. We did exactly that, and I strained to hear any difference at all (more impressions of our test will follow later in the week), but to Fremer, the difference was abundantly clear—not necessarily better with the more expensive cable, but different, a warmer, fuller sound, as Fremer described it. Here's the breakdown of his current listening-room hardware:
The point is, people like Fremer can not only hear the difference, they crave it.
This obsession with tiny differences explains Fremer's fevered defense of analog music sources over digital. "
I think you know Ian. (What a audiophile is) It's a person take care a little more than most regarding the quality of sound.
Perhaps a definition of an audiophile is required:What is an audiophile?
Hello Ian
That paragraph is exactly why the term Audiophile gets peoples backs up. You don't have to spend $100,000 of dollars to get there. It's a mind set that can't be defined by dollars, fashion or what have you. The only point that matters is this
They crave it is what makes the distinction not how much money they dropped getting there.The point is, people like Fremer can not only hear the difference, they crave it.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
I am not sure that we all crave improvements or even differences in sound, but everyone on this forum spends an exceptional amount of time and effort in the reproduction of music or movie soundtracks even if we don't spend piles of cash doing so... though that is relative. $200 for a pair of speakers is chicken feed to some and a real extravagance to others.
Widget
Hello Widget
Crave may be the wrong word but the point is we enjoy doing it. The focus should not be on the amount of money it takes to get "there". The article start's off saying that most would be happy with a 3K-5K system. Then goes on the say that to get X point you may have the spend 100K's and then goes on about switching out power cords that cost as much as the 3-5K system.
Why is most of the content aimed at justifying the cost and not about the hobby?? The implication to me is to be an audiophile you need to spend money. That's complete BS, you can't use the amount of money someone spends as yard stick on their passion.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
Let me twist the question. What happened to the Japanese audiophile production? It seems production has shifted to 100% mass production, while in the 1970s, big Japanese brands were also producing some of these great audiophile products that we would be lucky to hear.
"Although Technics' own response graphs show a sharp fall after 22Khz, frequency response is said to extend to 36Khz."
http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SB-10000.html
I agree completely that the amount spent is a terrible metric for gaging one's passion. We have customers who are very wealthy who have a half a million dollars worth of curtains in their homes... are they passionate about drapes? Of course not, they just buy what seems appropriate for their home and to their income level and what they are shown by their designers.
I'd suggest the article drifted towards the cost as it is the easiest metric to convey passion in a short article. I doubt that the author intended the message to be that an "audiophile is one who spends ridiculous amounts of money on audio gear." I think we'd all agree that Stereophile is directed towards audiophiles, and while they make their living recommending expensive gear that pays for expensive advertisements, they also have articles on restoring old Advents, and the sonic virtues of some of the old pieces of audio gear from the golden age of Hi Fi... these pieces are for those of us who have all of the passion but who aren't interested in mortgaging the house for a pair of Wilsons.
Widget
I've been reading Stereophile 4 or 5 years now and while they do have a column called "The Entry Level" , that has only been a development in the last year or so and mostly in response to all the reader feedback complaining about the writers living in an audio fantasy land.
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles
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