A good defense of being an audiophile?

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

I don't suppose most people who consider themselves to be audiophiles would consider me to be an audiophile. At least not the Absolute Sound/Stereophile crowd. I think I'm a half-audiophile. I can hear differences in speakers, as can we all, I can hear differences in TT set-ups, arms, carts, etc. And a good TT set up does sound better than digital. But that's about it. I can't hear jack-shit difference from one CD player to another, or one pre-amp from another. And as far as I can determine...as long as there's enough watts to drive the speakers properly...watts is watts. Cable differences...really? Power conditioners? Bricks on your amp? Bullet shaped pieces of metal on your speakers (the infamous Totem Acoustic Beak to reduce the "parasitic resonances")? Lead shot in your speaker stands? Bags of lead shot on top of your speakers to "tame the liveliness?" Feh. And...if I never hear the term "palpable" used in a discussion again it will be just fine for me.

Some of my favorite pieces of music for listening were not recorded very well. So I agree, it's the music...and the performance.

The fact that my excitement was not consistent, informed me that there were
phantoms in this hobby...the same equipment same music.

Ever get an equipment which the more it is played you end asking yourself...
Why did I buy this?

[62caddy]

I have always understood the definition of audiophile as simply an individual with an interest and/or appreciation in the science of high fidelity/music reproduction.

Nothing less, nothing more.

[BlueStreak]

If it sounds good to you, it is good, whether it cost $50 or $50,000. If it never sounds good enough to you, no matter how much you spend, maybe you should get another hobby before you go bankrupt, lose your mind or both?

Dave

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

If it sounds good to you, it is good, whether it cost $50 or $50,000. If it never sounds good enough to you, no matter how much you spend, maybe you should get another hobby before you go bankrupt, lose your mind or both?

Dave

I remember when I was a young fella, I had a pretty decent kit at home. A nice Marantz 4420, a pair of Century L-100's, Dual TT, and the Advent 201 cassette deck. I was very proud.

I also had this beater Ratsun 520 pickup truck with a cheap under dash 8 track player and a couple of speakers (that were pretty blown out after a month or so) stuffed under the seat so the thieves couldn't see it. After driving around for a few minutes it started to sound really great. I learned how quickly my sense of stellar sound production shifted from my Ratsun 520.

I got pretty good at reaching under the seat to switch tracks without killing myself or anybody else.