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Other than music, why are you an audiophile?

I would hope that the first reason why anyone is an audiophile is that they love music. I’m going to assume we all have that in common. So the question is: Other than music, why are you an audiophile?

I’ve had an interest in audio and hifi for twenty years, but it took me a long time, and a fair amount of introspection, to come up with a good answer. My answer is personal. It may not be true of anyone else. Here it is:

Other than music, I’m interested in audio because I’m fascinated by EMERGENCE. The concept of ‘emergence’ has been around for at least a century. It has been used by philosophers and scientists to mean a whole that is “greater than the sum of its parts.” More technically, emergence is a relation between system-level characteristics and component-level characteristics. A system’s characteristics EMERGE from the characteristics of its components when…

(1) The system’s characteristics are DIFFERENT IN KIND from the characteristics of its components.

(2) The system’s characteristics are CAUSED BY the characteristics of its components.

(3) The system’s characteristics are DIFFICULT TO PREDICT from the characteristics of its components.

What does this have to do with audio? Everything. In an audio system…

(1a) The musical characteristics of an audio system are DIFFERENT IN KIND from the electrical/mechanical/acoustical characteristics of its components.

(2a) The musical characteristics of an audio system are CAUSED BY the electrical/mechanical/acoustical characteristics of its components.

(3a) The musical characteristics of an audio system are DIFFICULT TO PREDICT from the electrical/mechanical/acoustical characteristics of its components.

Hence, the musical characteristics of an audio system EMERGE from the electrical/mechanical/acoustical characteristics of its components. In other words, an audio system, taken as a whole, seems “greater than the sum of its parts.”

To me, the phenomenon of emergence differentiates audio, as a hobby, from many (but not all) other hobbies, where emergence does not happen. To me, the phenomenon of emergence is what makes hifi seem like magic, in that something beautiful and emotional emerges out of something mechanical and electrical. And that is why, other than a love a music, I am an audiophile.

Anyone else?
bryoncunningham
jult52
155 posts
 
Because there's no going back? I have been building up my system over the last year and it has really sensitized me to audio performance differences. I just spent a week at my mother-in-law and was gritting my teeth at the harsh consumer grade digital sound that I was hearing. The moment when I was able to listen to my main rig after the return home was precious - the sound caressed my ears.

Life often involves compromises and backwards steps but there's no reason for that bitter lesson to extend to sound reproduction.
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
It's a lot like sex...once you try it, there's never enough, and you're constantly looking for something better. Until you meet your soulmate.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Interesting post. By your definition I am definitely no audiophile. I am only interested in reproducing music to the highest practical standard. I have no desire to create anything other than what is on the track. Anything that "emerges" and which should not be there is not something to be treasured - it is distortion and should be eliminated, if possible. My respect goes to the music and the recording, in that order.

To use an analogy, the stereo and room acoustic treatments while painstaking are simply like the hospital equipment in a delivery ward - they are there to look after Mum and to make the best possible delivery of the Baby.

Music is the baby!

The gear simply takes care of the delivery...
tobuns
28 posts
 
I love music, of course, but I'm an audiophile because I also love the equipment responsible for the reproduction of music.

Generally speaking though, I like all high end or luxury products. Fine mechanical watches, high quality cameras and lenses, art, furniture, ect. I like the craftsmenship, I like the tech, I like supporting the small companies that are run by people passionate about their industry (I don't care if it's DA converters or a painters brush). I like the feel of luxury materials instead of mass market plastics. Not that I can afford to populate my life with top of the line products, but audio equipment I do feel is a worthwhile investment.

The frugal side of me is totally willing to buy something that cost more initially but doesn't need to be replaced 5 times over the course of it's life. When I was younger, the thought of spending $600 on a tripod was ridiculous, but when the first $40 unit broke, and was replaced with a $100 one that lasted a little longer, then a $150 one which wasn't quite right either, and so on up to the $600 one By then I'd spent $1000 on tripod(s) chasing the one I should have got in the first place. It's just cheaper and more enjoyable to have the best from the start.
bryoncunningham OP
890 posts
 
Hi Shadorne - Thanks for your contribution. A few brief words of clarification: I wasn't trying to define what it is to be an audiophile, which is why I mentioned in the OP that "My answer is personal. It may not be true of anyone else."

Also, I wasn't trying to suggest that the emergent musical characteristics of an audio system are alterations to "what is on the track," at least not in the sense in which I believe you intended it. In my view, emergent musical characteristics are not the same thing as distortions, colorations, or inaccuracies. To be sure, emergent musical characteristics are DIFFERENT IN KIND from the mechanical/electrical/acoustical characteristics from which they emerge, but that does not in itself make them inaccuracies, provided that the INFORMATION about the music that the emergent characteristics contain is preserved throughout the process of transduction.
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