What is wrong with audiophiles?


Something that has happened countless times happened again last night. Ordinary people over for a party listening to some music easily hear things audiophiles argue endlessly don't even exist. Oh, its worse even than that- they not only easily hear but are stunned and amazed at what they hear. Its absolutely clearly obvious this is not anything they ever were expecting, not anything they can explain- and also is not anything they can deny. Because its so freaking obvious! Happens every time. Then I come on here and read one after another not only saying its impossible, but actually ridiculing people for the audacity of reporting on the existence of reality.

What is wrong with audiophiles?

Okay, concrete examples. Easy demos done last night. Cable Elevators, little ceramic insulators, raise cables off the floor. There's four holding each speaker cable up off the floor. Removed them one by one while playing music. Then replaced them. Music playing the whole time. First one came out, instant the cable goes on the floor the guy in the sweet spot says, "OH! WTF!?!?!"

Yeah. Just one. One by one, sound stage just collapses. Put em back, image depth returns.

Another one? Okay.

Element CTS cables have Active Shielding, another easy demo. Unplug, plug back in. Only takes a few seconds. Tuning bullets. Same thing. These are all very easy to demo while the music is playing without interruption. This kills like I don' know how many birds with one stone. Auditory memory? Zero. Change happens real time. Double blind? What could be more double blind than you don't know? Because nobody, not me, not the listener, not one single person in the room, knows exactly when to expect to hear a change- or what change to expect, or even if there would be any change to hear at all. Heck, even I have never sat there while someone did this so even I did not know it was possible to hear just one, or that the change would happen not when the Cable Elevator was removed but when the cable went down on the floor.

We're talking real experience here people. No armchair theorizing. What real people really hear in real time playing real music in a real room.

I could go on. People who get the point will get the point. People who ridicule- ALWAYS without ever bothering to try and hear for themselves!- will continue to hate and argue.

What is wrong with audiophiles?

Something almost all audiophiles insist on, its like Dogma 101, you absolutely always must play the same "revealing" track over and over again. Well, I never do this. Used to. Realized pretty quickly though just how boring it is. Ask yourself, which is easier to concentrate on- something new and interesting? Or something repetitive and boring? You know the answer. Its silly even to argue. Every single person in my experience hears just fine without boring them to tears playing the same thing over and over again. Only audiophiles subject themselves to such counterproductive tedium.

What is wrong with audiophiles????
128x128millercarbon
The main reason listening to a favorite song on the radio is more enjoyable than on your rig is that you don’t factor into the equation the insidious aspect of SQ.
You listen as a music lover rather than as an audiophile.
Its easy to capture the element of surprise like listening to a good radio station with music streamers and music services these days.   You even get to program your own "station" with just the things you might be interested in hearing.

rvpiano ...

  • "The main reason for listening to a favorite song on the radio is more enjoyable than on your rig is that you don’t factor into the equation the insidious aspect of SQ.
  • You listen as a music lover rather than as an audiophile."
I agree with everything you said there, RV. 

Question: Shouldn't the goals of a dedicated audiophile be to advance his/her system to the point where SQ is no longer a noticeable issue, to the point where it becomes the recreation of the actual event ... or as close to it as possible?

I'm sure working on it ... 

Frank


Frank,

I think the goal should be to try to get the heart of the music and try to discount the sound.  For an audiophile, a just about impossible task.
To reach the heart of music sometimes a high end sound can help...I listen now to Haydn quatuors, which I never listen to in the last years because the sound was acidic in my audio system and these works were never in my top list of first choice listening preference to begins with, like Bach or Scriabin for example...

Guess what? For the last months, I reach my audiophile goal, with my homemade room treatment, and low cost homemade tweaks, and now I not only like Haydn quatuors but I love them , because the acidic sound is no more, and the holographic imaging and separation makes me able to go with the musicians individuals instruments playing and forget the sound...


Labelling people " audiophile" with contempt, because we are scientist or musician or any other qualifications, is childish and superficial thinking...Each one of us is unique and different with his own history...My best to all brothers...