Audiophiles on Audiogon.


During my time here, I have found some of you to be too opinionated - like your life depends upon what you think about audio gear. Holding on to one’s beliefs a bit too tightly is bad for the soul.

I was reading some content on the Ken Rockwell website, and then found an article entitled: "What is an audiophile?"

in the article, Ken says: Audiophiles are non-technical, non-musical kooks who imagine the darnedestly stupid things about audio equipment. Audiophiles are fun to watch; they’re just as confused at how audio equipment or music really works as primitive men like cargo cults are about airplanes.

 

Given my time on this forum and a few others, I have found his statements to be true. I mean, if you have an amplifier that costs say, $10,000, and you buy cables for $20,000, is that really going to improve the sound? (make the stereo image more accurate)

Or on the otherside, if you buy an amplifier for $1000 and then go buy the top of the line audioquest cables costing tens of thousands of dollars, then would the sound improve accordingly? After reading some of their literature, I cannot be sure they have an understanding of how electricrity works, much less the intricate details involving high-end audio systems.

And then we have power conditioning to consider. I have done extensive research online and it turns out that if your gear is really "high-end" it should already have a device inside that filters the incoming AC. Therefore, do you really need a power conditioner?

I learned about PS Audio products being spec-ed much higher than their measured performance. This is also true of the audio "power plants" that cost thousands of dollars. No really, tons of money to "regenerate" power with little to no sonic benefits.

Would love to hear what you guys think about these findings.

 

Oh, and high-end DACs?

This thing will outperform all your fancy gear.

jackhifiguy
Post removed 

I know what my system sounds like and I bought it with my money.  I like music and I have enjoyed tinkering and improving.  

Jack sounds like another banned member who learned to be passive aggressive and not revealing his former identity through his opinions.

It’s interesting how photography reviewers are diversifying into audio. I think this is partly because photography has been through an explosion in technology in the past fifteen years, but the pace of innovation has very significantly slackened off. In addition, the industry has consolidated so, in the aggregate, there is a lot less product to review. Obviously, there’s much more diversity in the audio world.

Ken Rockwell’s site has become much more dominated by advertorial in recent years.

The leader of my country says I am "a member of the Fringes of Society" and that I "hold unacceptable views".

@jackhifiguy has re-enforced that position... It must be True... Jack is Justin Trudeau! Who knew?

@aewarren 

Show me a device that measures sound quality and I will certainly get one. Until that time I will use my ears.

Yes, none of the device in the market is available to provide a comprehensive assessment for SQ.  This is a far-cry goal that I wish can be achieved some day.  I was specifically referring to "cable" if you read my post carefully.  Here is one example.  

In the end of post, he said

"...Ask manufacturers to demonstrate what the benefits they advertise. They say they lower noise? Ask them to show before and after measurements..."

I have not come across any cable manufacturer provides tech. measurements for their products so far even upon request.  In the listening test section, he also mentioned:

"...I could not detect a difference between the two in this limited testing. Mind you, there was more air when listening to the Wind. But then my wife who was in the kitchen informed me that the dogs had left the patio door open and whether I was OK if she closed it. Once she did, the air factor disappeared.