Where good listeners and wine-tasters are similar is they develop a vocabulary that is well defined and describes what they are looking for. Much of what you remember of what you tasted or heard has to do with remembering what you said or thought about it in those terms. Without accurate descriptions within a well understood vocabulary, it would be very difficult to remember or describe to someone else what you heard or tasted. People who dislike audiophiles often scoff at the words that are used to describe a system and don't care to try and understand what is trying to be communicated. To an ignoramus of a subject words like pace and rhythm or pencil shavings and currents don't mean anything. I do know that when someone uses the expression pace and rhythm to describe a system I'm not dumb enough to believe it actually changes the tempo of the music, nor is he. On the other hand, I've never eaten currents or blackberries but I wouldn't ridicule someone who thought a beverage made from grapes would taste as such.
John
No, I don't feed them from tins. But, they do know when a fresh bag is being opened compared to one that has been open for a couple of weeks. They do appreciate the freshness. They can also tell the sound of my or my wife's car compared to the hundreds that pass by each day on the street where I live.
John
I do think the definition of the audiophile should be further defined, and extended. Far too meny think of them as "fools" with plent of money, who will pay $2,500.00 for a six foot length of cable (be it speaker wire or interconnnect) in order to vastly imporve what they hear. 😕
I have always thought the word ment a person loved music. And was in pursuit of reproducing said music in his or her home to the highest standard possiable. I do feel the words space, air, detail and ambiance are not tweeko phrases. I also believe in the words noise floor, and measured response. Also, I will never pound anyone who feels they hear additional detail over what I preceive.
Because that is like taking away the joy an individual feels when he or she listens to music. Science takes a back seat to joy. 😎
Good luck attempting to prove that what a person is hearing is NOT what they actually hear.
Although the link I supplied does show how we can be tricked by our ear/brain combination.
I have always thought the word ment a person loved music. And was in pursuit of reproducing said music in his or her home to the highest standard possiable. I do feel the words space, air, detail and ambiance are not tweeko phrases. I also believe in the words noise floor, and measured response. Also, I will never pound anyone who feels they hear additional detail over what I preceive.
Because that is like taking away the joy an individual feels when he or she listens to music. Science takes a back seat to joy. 😎
Good luck attempting to prove that what a person is hearing is NOT what they actually hear.
Although the link I supplied does show how we can be tricked by our ear/brain combination.
IIRC, you used to live in Hawaii, so running from lava is an incentive to be quick.
Not in my dictionary, and not in my experience. To me it means a person who is obsessed with playback equipment.
People who love music will listen to it despite the equipment it is played on. Some of the people whose critical opinions with regard to music I most respect have systems that would be derided here.
w
And your system Bret .... ? Waki you 2 .. give us a heads up on your evaluatory setup ...
I'm trying Sy............. keep a watch ! ...
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In a couple of decades of watching this sort of question, it invariably results in the asker simply finding fault with the respondent's system and by that method trying to rule their responses invalid.
Most of my gear you would not have heard, heard of or experienced so your opinion on it would have no validity based upon your own MO.
I also don't see your system listed.
See my follow up post (to the one you quoted) to Pano for further on my feelings on this.
audio = sound
phile = love
Eeewww 😱
phile = love
Ergo, people who love playback equipment will listen to it despite what is being played on it?
Eeewww 😱
I agree. My partner could not have cared what gear she was listening on provided it was adequate to hear what she wanted to hear in the performance, which meant her old car stereo at the time. I think it was her classical piano training - to her the gear was just the pretty box that the gift (music) came in.
I also used to buy LPs off a guy who had 18000 of them, several modest 80's style rack systems distributed through his house, and according to his daughter (maybe 10yo at that time) told me that her dad always had some music playing on the stereo in the room he was in. For such a young person, she had an incredible knowledge of classic rock performers, albums, histories that I gather she collected by osmosis as he was always talking about what he was listening to and he had a genuine love of the music and performers. He could not have cared about the gear per se (I tried to interest him) but he was well up on basic TT set up, cleaning care etc and that was enough for him.
That to me is a music lover. Audiophiles are far more interested in baubles and circle jerking.
It seems that way, looking at some of the selections I see as demo discs, which also appear to be played ad infinitum by some 'phools, eg Snora, FBR or Bad Jazz at the Prawnshop.
Let's not create another false dichotomy, like CD/vinyl or degrees of DIY. Psychology starts taking the fun out of it 🙂. I like music and playback equipment. Each individual can determine his or her own OCD sweet spot.
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What is this a.wa? An attempt to conform to the stereotype I just posited?
Touched a raw nerve, eh?
Music is about ingenuity, invention, spontaneity, sincerity, skill, humour, enthusiasm, delight, sorrow. Things that pass largely unhindered through even the poorest reproductive systems. This is why people bought 78's all those years ago, despite that the bass wasn't too good, and why even now they're still listenable. It's why a machine can generate something that superficially resembles music, but isn't
Very often the best music is completely ephemeral. You're missing the point if you focus too acutely on the reproduction.
w
Ditto. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. The unction of the "music only" lovers is stale. If that were the case, they wouldn't care about gear, they wouldn't even own a Bose wave radio. I know many professional musicians like that.
If it's really all about the music, give up the recordings, go listen to real, live music. I did for 15+ years. But I like the gadgets and tinkering with them. It's part of the fun. It's not the same as real music, but it's a lot of fun.
Yeah, but where do you go to hear Maria Yudina play Beethoven or Daniel Shafran play Bach?
John
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Yep, pretty much...the word audiophile does not have the words "anal" and Pendantic" in it anywhere.
A quality set of headphones will beat the response of any speaker in any uncontrolled room.
Wow, people have created their own dictionaries 🙄
I think I will stick to real definitions found in approved dictionaries.
As for having the most respect.... Subjective opinions are like something else we have and everyone has one but only a few truely can back up their opinion with real science. I respect those that can and the rest is just noise.
The speakers, room placement, room treatements make up for 99% sound quality so I will respect the people that spend $$$ in that way. For reasons that make little real world sense some will spend more on eletronics then speakers and the room though so I have to wonder what they really know about soundwaves and what really matters.
Brett,
agreed, but isn't that true for most of 'the gathering' here, both GEB and non-GEB ?
My g/f is a true music lover, she wanted one of those all-in mini boxes for the kitchen/dining room (even went as far as asking for permission
) I wouldn't be caught dead listening(*) to it, and H may freeze over before i'll install an 'anal-pile' set in a kitchen.
It's pretty hard to still keep focused on the actual music, the longer one spends most time and attention on the techy fetishism act.
(* in particular when she start to sing, with volume set at wall-trembling position, praise be she does the 'feud' routine maybe once a month)
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Strange. I keep reading about these people, but have yet to meet one. The gearheads I meet also have vast music collections. My collection is tiny by comparison, about 1200 albums.
Now if we're judging by whats get played at shows or in salesrooms, that's not fair. It does tend to be a lot of the same stuff, or same style. Way too much Diana Krall. 🙄 (I've been guilty). But that 'cause your trying to sell stuff and looking for well produced recordings that show off the system. Also music that is a reference. (Nora Jones, again). I don't think those folks listen to that stuff much at home. I have three "Best Audiophile Voices" CDs bought for demo. Never play them, can't stomach them.
Now in my showrooms, Ill play anything I like during the slow moments. Nick Cave, Charles Trenet, Bela Bartók, Joan Sutherland, Elvis, whatever. I used to rush over to change it when someone came into the room - but they usually said "no, no, leave it on, that's cool." "Hey, you're playing real music in here." I even played an entire Firesign Theater album when SY and Pete Millet stopped by. (rest assured, no drugs or alcohol were harmed).
Can't say I've ever heard cliché "audiophile music" when visiting an audiophile. OK, maybe once (Leonard Cohen). Even at shows it's not the majority.
So there is a lot of selling of the idea of the equipment worshiper who plays only a few tired discs. He gets insulted and derided. But I'm not buying the idea, I haven't met one of these guys. Maybe I just don't move in the right circles.
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