I remember when I was about 12 or so and I was at a friend's house. I heard someone playing a piano so I went in search of it only to be shocked to find it was my friend's father playing a record on an audiophile system. It sounded like it was in the room with me and I was blown away.
Later on I would visit audiophile stores occasionally growing up, but everything just seemed exorbinately expensive so I kind of half forgot about it.
Many years later I got a pair of Infinity speakers that sounded great for free. I thought I really had it made. Don't get me wrong, I'm a music fanatic, more fanatical than most people I've come across. I'm even a part-time DJ. Every once in awhile I'd think about getting better equipment but I thought, what could possibly be the difference between cd players other than just features? What could possibly be the difference between amplifiers other than just power? Still, I suspected I was missing out.
Recently I started a thread on the board of a music group about how people were losing interest in sound quality, what with the popularity of ipods, mp3's, listening to music through crappy computer speakers, etc. Once I brought up the word audiophile and upgrading my equipment to higher end stuff, almost no one had anything to say.
Then I decided to start probing into the world of auidophile equipment on line. Let me tell you, I was astonished, just completely blown away. I really had no idea that it was such a huge industry, that there was equipment that was better, and better still and on into the stratosphere in both quality and expense. I really had NO idea all this existed even with my slight exposure to it in the past.
People here must know that it's a subculture that exists below the radar screen and unless you've really had a lot of direct exposure to it or suspected like me that it was there and went looking for it, chances are people don't know it exists.
I think knowing it exists, some would care and some wouldn't. Many people are infatuated to death with convenience and portability these days and as long as they can hear the music, that's alright for them. If they're really ambitious they might go to Circuit City or Best Buy and buy some of the higher end mass produced models, but chances are they have no idea how high the end goes.
Then there's the sheer cost. Even for people like me who suspected it was there, it always seemed like a radical extravagance. I mean, here I am looking to spend $1,500 or so on equipment as a newbie audiophile and that seems like an extreme extravagance and borderline irresponsible, and that's nothing close to what many spend. Then again, maybe some of those people make a whole lot more than I do at the moment or have been working at slowly upgrading for years or decades.
I always wanted my music to sound great, and I care more than most people I've come across. If I had truly known what was available, I very likely would have acted a lot sooner.
