I have found that the great majority of people from any walk of life are not appreciative of HI-FI sound or equipment.
But put them in front of a 100 inch screen with surround sound and watch the jaws hit the floor:
Who has the Sickness, the Phile or the Non-phile?
So often I find myself resenting the fact that there are only so many hours to listen to HiFi and I think of those that don't hold this resentment.
I used to think anyone who wasn't obsessive simply lacked exposure, but even though I have introduced many, I have discovered no takers.
At audiophile club meeting it seems to me that the attendees are mostly gear-heads and posers; they say "Ooo & Ahhhh" to anything presented and you can see 1 or 2, maybe 3 in the seats nonchalantly looking over in the direction of the ooo-ers and Ahhh-ers; those few get it. And before anyone is defensive because they know, lashes out that I'm this or that....I don't care. These are obviously my opinions and I'm looking for the opinions of others On The Question At Hand and not whether or not I am a deluded self important snob.
So, if it is not a lack of exposure, is it a lack of ability?
Surely we are all different, short, tall, smart, obtuse, near sighted, far sighted. Are the ears and or the brains of an audiophile just wired differently than others? Can non audiophiles just not hear what we hear?
Was it childhood exposure that caused this difference in wiring? My father had Altec Voice of the Theater horns and the accompanying gear. Was that it, being exposed to HIFi during brain development? My daughter gets it and boy was she pissed when I sold my VPI TT. I never got along with my father, but was he responsible for my affliction by introducing me to superior sound as an infant?
And, who are the sick ones, the philes or the non-philes?
TD
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First, there is no "war." Tell that to Virgin Record stores or Sam Goodies, wiped out and a distant memory of nostalgia:
Tell that to the brick and mortar "high end" audio stores, remember those? Who won the war you ask? Custom installation companies of "smart homes" where they not only will install a home theater, they’ll put kit in every room and you can just tell the system what to play (yes, I actually can do this)
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Most people like music , they are sensible to melody and rythm... They only perceive melody and rythm flowing and beating in TIME and in their body ... This melody or this beat affect them , anywhere when they listen to it again , on any type of system , most the times bad sound systems... it does not matter to them because the rythm and melody they like are RECOGNIZED AND FELT...
Some people love music so much they did not hear it only in TIME and in their body but in SPACE... They see it.. they like not only the RECOGNIZEABLE melody and the rythm but they hear and want to hear the "timbre" experience , they want to be "immersed" in the musical event , with all spatial dimensions of the sound, they wanted to be included in the music flows... ... It is the texture of the sound that affect them , and his disposition in space....Not a mere favorite set of recognized melodies and rythm...
Some people are obsessive compulsive in character they will set a goal and they will stay unsatisfied because their goal is not acoustical so much , as a goal related to the gear components themselves... They will appreciate any change in sound texture and dynamic , but without acoustic knowledge and more focusssed on the gear performance, they will upgrade without end.... Price, appearance, design specs, will matter more than the embeddings of the gear in his acoustical space...
Acoustic is the end line and starting line.... The gear piece are only tools in this acoustic journey...For me and for many others...
Is music more than melody and rythm ? Yes music is also an harmonic and acoustic phenomena .... Scriabin is not melodic , Shonberg is atonal, an indian raga obey other rules of tonalities and rythm, A didjeridoo cannot be listen to nor a gong in the same way a classical orchestra must be listen too or a Bob Dylan songs ...A small free jazz ensemble is not a set of german dance music with beers... There are audiophile using their improved sound experience who will explore world music , and they are those who are satisfied by which they had already recognized all their life and what they already know... They are many kind of audiophiles... For example , i dont give a damn about home theater because i dont listen much movies and anyway i am not very attracted to movie sound effects or movie music...Even with much money i would build an acoustic room for music but not a home theater... As you see they are many kind of audiophiles... Many more species than the main one i enumerated here... I was an audiophile for 10 years to realize my dream of a good sound system to serve my musical various appetites .... Acoustic had reveal to me the only road toward satisfaction , a hard road in learning how to hear and how to listen .... Now i use headphones , i am lucky , to have picked the right one after the lost of my dedicated room... I know which can be the only possible real upgrade for my system ... It cost many more than all my system.... Happily i am satisfied and i did not know if i will be able to upgrade or not but this does not matter anymore after reaching the minimal treshold of acoustic satisfaction... It is an acoustic treshold determined by objective factors not a price tag treshold determined by marketing...
Half musicians are workers who dont need an audiophile system... The other half of the musicians need an audiophile system... my statistic is metaphorical here but the difference in the musicians crowds reflect the difference in the general population why ? Because music is one thing , acoustic is another thing... They can blend or they can be set apart... Some people need the two , some need only one, and some people dont need any of the two...
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My sweetheart is a retired career music educator, she listens to Planets on her iPhone speaker while she curls her hair. The oldest son is a senior music major (saxophone) and has a Bluetooth speaker… somewhere. I’m listening to him play jazz now, I don’t need a blind test to know my stereo doesn’t sound like him. Though they wouldn’t say it, I can’t help but feel they know, live is live, otherwise a car radio is fine, haha. |
Elvis has left the building audiophiles, if you want to know where he went click the link below: https://www.mixonline.com/tag/dolby-atmos
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