2. misc-audio
  3. 150069-3105

what is it in audio that you dislike most?


Hello everyone,

The positives in the audio hobby are extensive. incredible preserntations. sound which reaches out and grabs you physically and emotionally. it can be both soothing and exciting simultaneously.

despite its innate attraction, from time to time there is something related to the audio past time that can be absolutely irritating, disparaging, or is just plain offputting.

Now and then there is soemthing in the presentation, or at a dealership/seller you simply can not abide.

maybe it is how you were/are treated in a dealership or showroom by the salesman. Maybe its just his or her attitude that hits you wrong.

could be the system being shown is setup incorrectly.

could be too that various components are not even plugged in properly and the supposed demo is just clumsy and unprofessional.

maybe even the speakers have not been appropriately configured to the space, or the amp to speaker matching is off, reversed, or out of phase.

worse still, various items are not run in well.

Perhaps all is great at the showroom or show but in the sonic depiction there is no bass, or not enough, or it is merely a one note affair.

could be its a bright shrill, top end.

as well, maybbe you hate to find the demonstration dry or without detail and without depth.

what is the thing in or about audio dealers, demos, or listening that you find unacceptable, irritating, or that you simply will not put up with for long, or at all?

Examples
1 A sterile or analytical presentations. highly detailed yet uninvolving.
2 A bright strident top end.
3 ill defined imaging
4 Poor lower range representation.
5 A dealers condescending attitude " if they don't sell it, it is not worth owning."
6 Dealers that say, Why in the world would you want tubes and all that distortion they bring to the table?
7 Dealers that say Yes, we are an authorized seller of XYZ but we don't inventory any of their products, but we can order them for you.
8 no dealerships near by.
9 snake oil
10 price
etc....

I'm sure you've run across something about the sound or the transaction experience which you have found
makes you walk away, or want to turn it off.

what is it IYO?

thanks
blindjim
blindjim OP
3,092 posts
 

chayro
Seeing audiophiles at shows and grudgingly accepting the fact that I must be one of them.

blindjim>
LOL


elizabeth
because I own physically large speakers I MUST play music really loud. ()


blindjim>
Its true. talking to other uninitiated folks, to a person that is the first item they land on. wow. That much money? You must be able to play tunes at concert levels!!
it used to bug me, now its curiously funny.


millercarbon
What I absolutely dislike the most right now is FedEx

blindjim>
Ain't it the truth! hope it all works out well for you soon.


three_easy_payments
... but then I stumble on something that undeniably improves the experience even further. I hate this...and I love it simultaneously. Sigh.

blindjim>
From the 'sopranos"':
just when I thought I was out... they drag me back in.

BTW, I think they make a vaccine for that now.


viridian
... 45 years... Really, I can’t think of anything that I don’t like about the hobby.

blindjim>
Thanks. this thing needs more people like you.


wolf_garcia
I dislike the Amazon "Siri" gizmos ... hey're lame except maybe when used to solve domestic crime.

blindjim>
I figured if I used it to play music I'd have to turn in my audiofiliac credentials and I'd lose all of my   privileges.

for me its a $40 calendar, clock, timer, weatherman in a box, appointment reminder, language translator, measurement converter, thesaurus, dictionary, spell cheker, fact finder, Atlas, GPS locator, airline ticket purchase agent, AM sports radio, reservation agent, business finder, hands free phone, TV Guide, Rolodex, and once in a while its a remote controled light switch.

no. wait. that is my Google Mini..

the Amazon dot is just a bed side alarm clock. Its way dummer and has a lot more attitude by compparison., but it does look nicer and it lights up!
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Nothing as this hobby has given me great enjoyment for over 50 years.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,003 posts
 
People who swear by measuring rod, without knowing what the ears is truly, the most complex and subtle apparatus there is for perception of music, not only sound in a restricted acoustical sense of the terms...


In this hobby my pleasure is listening music given to me by my own creative effort and experiments to gain the most beautiful sound for the music I live with...Tweaking all for the best is so exciting and after that rediscovering a music I tought I have known before realizing what I had missed all the time because of a poor sound quality....
rickallen81
65 posts
 
Snobbery.  You like what you like and I’ll like what I like and ne’er the twain shall meet.  When people try to say their gear is superior I can’t help but think “for you”, or that this speaker is the ultimate “for you”.  So when people try to prescribe to one another what they should do or buy or like about their enjoyment of the music (which is what it’s about....or should be) and gets uppity or condescending or judgmental even, it really grinds my gears. 
jameswei
883 posts
 
16 years ago, I bought a turntable, arm, and cartridge rig from a well-known retailer and I paid the high end price.

A month or so later, the retailer called me and said he had to ask me for another $2000. There must have been some miscalculation.

I did pay him, but I didn’t like it.
More to discover