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Audio & the Emperor’s new clothes.

I have been into audio since the early 70s and once considered myself an "audiophile" - but no longer. At one time being an audiophile meant that you loved music and had a fascination for the gear that reproduced it. But it seems that to be an "audiophile" today means that you are a very specialized acquisitionist; one who pursues yuppie arrogance items of the audio kind and one who - in some cases - simply pursues the Emperor’s new clothes. I still enjoy my music and I do enjoy the equipment and I do have a good ear. I can easily hear the difference between cold equipment and equipment that's been warmed up. I hear differences between cables and - to a lesser extent - interconnects. I have no pretensions of being unique in this ability but I DO hear these kinds of things. I DO know what live music sounds like, having been to many concerts; jazz, rock, classical and opera. I have never heard any audio system, at any price, in any showroom - and I have been to some great ones - that reproduces the so-called "absolute sound" of live music. Listening to live music and listening to reproduced music are entirely different experiences, each having a very unique appeal. I enjoy reproduced music (via a good system) just as much as I enjoy live. But I refuse to be deluded into believing that they sound the same. I know what I hear and am confident enough in my hearing to know what I don't hear, as well, regardless of what the self-proclaimed gurus of high end audio tell me that I ought to hear. What I do NOT hear is that one amplifier or preamplifier "blows another away" in terms of sound quality. There was a time that I did hear significant difference in equipment but I do not hear them any more. And my ears are just fine, thank you. I do not abuse them. The change has come in the audio marketplace. In the early days of solid state, sound quality was regularly sacrificed on the altar of "specsmanship" via abuses of current limiting and negative feedback circuitry, among other things. Only a few manufacturers back then were employing beefy power supplies and direct coupling and other design concepts that are now well known and employed by a large majority of manufacturers. During the 70s, anyone with a decent ear could hear big differences between the average stuff and something really special like the Levinson or Bryston equipment. In the 70s there WERE some big differences in the sound of one component versus another. But even then the differences were not necessarily related to price. I still have my little Advent 300 Receiver. I bought it used when it was about a year old, as part of a package deal ($150.00 for an Advent 300 & Large Advents Speaker pair). Hooked it up and never even THOUGHT of listening to my Pioneer receiver again. Sold the Pioneer for double what the Advent stuff cost and got myself a NICE Thorens 'Table. That Advent based system, of course, is now semi-retired and provides intermitant motivation to lift heavy things in my medium sized exercise room. Does it match the sound quality of my main system? Of course not - my main system employs more recent and more sophisticated engineering than was available in the '70s and has cost me over 10 times what that Advent based system was worth. Sounding better than a sweet sounding little '70s system is what my main system "gets paid for". But does the main system sound 10 times better? You have got to be kidding! It is more articulate, more open, more dynamic and has a sense of presence that the 70s system does not. But either system is sufficiently enjoyable to draw me into the music. And that is what audio is about. Do differences in the sound of various electronics still exist? Of course they do. But I am thinking that the differences have more to do with personal taste than with sound quality. And I suspect that some of the high end amplification equipment is deliberately "voiced" to a particular taste, in the same way speakers are "voiced". But the bottom line - in my opinion - is that the huge differences in sound quality just aren't there anymore. The point of severely diminished returns in terms of sound quality is reached long before you are into the high end stuff. So why all the talk about exquisite differences in high end sound quality?
classicaudio
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onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,289 posts
 
Today, nearly every piece of "serious" audio equipment sounds good. In the 70s this wasn't the case, hence truly good sounding stuff really stood out. As high end equipment has evolved the differences in sound quality are narrowing, but the importance of these small differences are taking on greater importance. In a completely unrelated field, motorcycles in the 70s were uniformly not very good (unreliable, poorly suspended, evil handling etc). Today, you cannot find a bad motorcycle. Yet, there are more different brands and models available today than back in the day. Progress and diversity -- what a wonderful world. But the bikes are targeted toward increasingly narrow niches (race replicas, touring, cruisers, sport-touring, V-Twins...). Regarding audio, we live in a world of excellence and as long as we don't take it too seriously, it's very enjoyable. BTW, I ride a ZRX1100, a homage to an early 80s race replica.
joe_coherent
130 posts
 
Good post. I won't bore you with an undending story about how I got started in audiophila and finally saw the light. Suffice it to say that I also find most of today's self styled "audiophiles" to be equipment-philes who don't really care for music. Case in point, the unbelieveable frenzy over the terrible performance but great recording by Patricia Barber, "Cafe Blue" which has been heralded as an audiophile "war horse". Nobody who understands and enjoys music would ever say something like that (sorry Patricia, I have nothing against you personally). A true audiophile enjoys live music as often as possible, and also, as you point out, enjoys listening at home. I agree they are two different things. Spending most of your home listening time trying to tell the difference between two power cords is insane ! People should enjoy the music and relax, and worry less about the "sonic signatures" of components, which are much less important than most audiophiles think. Besides, blind testing proves that most people find it hard to tell such differences. I also believe the such differences do however exist, but with reasonably good gear they are very, very slight. More importantly, such nuances are not worth spending time on. Your own mood and other ambientce factors will affect each listening session more than differences between reasonably well designed components. Still, I do believe in spending what I consider to be big bucks to get a better and bigger sound than what the hi-fi brands deliver.But only because the absolute goal is musical enjoyment. Ideas such as these have made me the pariah at another, totalitarian, audio forum, which is populated and controlled by certain dealers and manufacturers. They obviously don't like people who believe that the differences between components are smaller than most audiophiles think, and that therefore constant swapping of equipment and continuos tweaking take too much time from what should be the enjoyment of music. Happy listening.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Classicaudio You ARE an audiophile. I have myself been denying it for years until recently, the last 3 years or so. I am, like many here, on the relentless path of upgrading to reach sonic nirvana, real music. Ya know what? It doesn’t exist in the reproduced audio experience. And ya know what else? It always comes into focus when I go hear real music. Just went to hear Philly’s finest the other day (“Pictures at an Exibition” WOW) and it happened again! What I really love about real music is that you never really think about how it sounds, you are just swept away by the music. Tears of joy? Only a great live performance does it for me. To me reproduced audio is as you say, a different experience. Unlike you I don’t enjoy recorded as much as live. I consider myself different than many of the audiophiles I see post here in that I care less about the gear for its own sake. It is just a means to an end. If it could disappear I would welcome it. Those wires and my wife’s constant nagging about the unsightlyness of it all takes its toll. I am however very much interested in the engineering and how the components work together. My goal is a fantasy world of real music in my home, a fantasy that doesn’t exist but in my hope that in the future it will. IMO things really haven’t improved too much in the past 15 or so years since I first became aware of the “high-end”. Oh there are better cartridges, better turntables, cheaper, better sounding digital front ends, improved speaker technology. And all this talk about cables. I say yes they make a difference to a point but beyond that if a notable improvement isn’t observed within a reasonable audition period, what is the point? I remember a few years back at an audio show seeing a pair of 8’ speakers in a beautiful dovetailed rosewood case; cost 15K!!! Talk about conspicious consumption. Indeed what does the King spend his money on these days? The peasants are catching up! As I have learned, different as often as not does not equate to better. Better can only be determined through careful repeated auditioning. And finally electronics. Well I like tube electronics. Is it better? Well to me it is and that is all that matters. To others it isn’t and that is fine. The biggest improvement in electronics have probably been in solid state, at least to my ears. My vintage tube gear sounds excellent right now. Until I hear something that REALLY gets me closer to real it will stay. So far I haven’t and if I do, will I be willing to pay the price for the improvement? That remains to be seen. If there are improvements they are miniscule and offer little to the metamorphosis of recorded music to live. That technology hasn’t been developed yet. Better transducers and recording technologies and maybe the most important and overlooked item of all, room acoustics. Maybe a big Genesis 200 system in a BIG room (it IS that good) will get you close to hearing an orchestra in the listening room but how practical is that for those with less than the resources required to own such a grand system? Hell you could buy season tickets to your favorite venue for the rest of your life for that much dough. Then again you could have both if you could afford either. Over the past few years in my relentless quest I have come to value high end audio and gear for what it is and has become more of to me; a hobby that introduces well reproduced audio in my home and keeps the hope alive. The hope that someday the tears of joy experienced through the live music experience will come into my home. So sad, so sad.
waldhorner3fc4
76 posts
 
Words that ring true! Words that perhaps can only come from one who has acquired much seasoning. I can say this because I, many years ago, evolved my approach to things "audio" in a similar way. Bear in mind that "audiophile" can, quite correctly, suggest a priority love or appreciation of the hardware itself rather than its' ostensible "raison d'etre", the reproduction of sound and most particularly music itself. My particular "seasoning" includes many years as a professional musician and also audio sales. However, listening is the most important component relative to this subject and by listening I mean critical listening. The love of music is the motivating force behind my some 40 years of so-called "audiophilia". I do, however, eschew the use of this term for describing myself because I've observed numberless instances of what I've come to refer to as audio minutiae obsession. And on a few ocassions I,ve succumb to this distraction myself, listening repeatedly to the smallest sonic detail in order "find" that particular distinction which will reveal to me the perfect combination of equipment, setup, positioning, and acoustical environment....only to return days, hours, and even minutes later to find my impressions to be different than remembered and to once again begin the insanity of the obsessive search. But alas, what Beethoven quartet or Bach sonata or Mozart symphony or complete set by Parker, Coltrane or Evans have I heard to completion during my bout with that confounded obsession? When to stop and begin really listening though? I now try to retain a realistic perspective. Although I confess to having many and varied components which delight me, but much less obsessively. To approach audio truth requires a secure reality reference and the realization that we (as individuals) frequently hear the same things differently at different times. Finally, a simple test may reveal the priorities one has with regard to listening to music reproduction. Can you really get into a piece of music when hearing it on a cheap portable AM radio? Can you be so involved as to forget the disreputable poverty of the audio playback system at hand? If so, be thankful that the obsession has not completely overtaken you and that, unlike the Emperor, you can still recognize your own nakedness.
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