One Thing I Know for Sure. I'm Not an Audiophile.

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Lymbo, May 31, 2016.

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  1. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    I'm not one either. [​IMG]
     
  2. Lymbo

    Lymbo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntsville, AL

    I always "assumed" that being an audiophile was a person who thinks they can hear better than the average or casual listener. I believe you all are spot on and I can now end my denial.
     
    jfeldt and Kristofa like this.
  3. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    But you also don't think they sound the same, right? Is it just a diminishing returns issue where you expected the difference to be more then it is? Its hard to objectively qualify what "$2000 better" is, etc.
     
    2xUeL likes this.
  4. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
  5. Breeze 1

    Breeze 1 Member

    Location:
    LA
    Sometimes it's how we judge the worth of equipment that makes audiophiles different. If you don't hear $2000 improvement, what is the difference worth to you ?
    Most of us understand what diminished returns are and except it. Adding a $500 dollar investment to a $1000 stereo will have much more consequence than adding $500 to a $50,000 audio system.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  6. Lymbo

    Lymbo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntsville, AL
    :winkgrin:
     
    cyclistsb likes this.
  7. Kyhl

    Kyhl On break

    Location:
    Savage
    There is so much snake oil in audiophila that many people, myself included try to disassociate from the label or at least differentiate the distinctions.
     
  8. Lymbo

    Lymbo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntsville, AL
    Very nice! KAB SL?
     
    rebellovw likes this.
  9. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    Without doubt you're an audiolic I base this on two things, 1 your system and 2 you're in denial:doh:
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  10. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    Thank you. Yes kab M5G
     
  11. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    But, many audiophiles can hear better than the casual or average person! Some audiophiles' brains are probably just wired to hear differently or more acutely, which causes them to have better hearing, or, they just know what to listen for. It's the same as when some people naturally have better vision than others. Some are born with it, some have to develop it.

    In our modern culture, we are not trained or even need to utilize our hearing ability to its fullest. We don't live in the wild where we have to rely on our hearing for survival anymore, so modern human hearing is gradually atrophying. And, what we have, we don't take care of. But, we sure care about our vision.

    The issue of wealth keeps coming up. It manifests itself when people start talking about how much something costs, how much someone spent, or the idea that something that costs $2000 must sound better than something that cost $200. If one does not hear a great difference between a v.p.i. and a Pioneer with the appropriate carts, maybe it means that the Pioneer is holding its own, and it's not about the cost. Maybe it means something's up with the v.p.i.. It's only for the OP to determine.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2016
    2xUeL, richbdd01 and timind like this.
  12. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Don´t spoil this lovely moment we had.
     
    Kristofa likes this.
  13. jimbutsu

    jimbutsu WATCH YÖUR STEPPE

    In an ironic twist, a lot of audiophiles who have a keen sense of smell find themselves oft-maligned. :D
     
    Purplefowler likes this.
  14. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    It's no big deal. People make mistakes. That one was minor.
     
    Dennis0675 likes this.
  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Don't take my words out of context.
     
  16. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Now, there are some non-audiophiles who hold a certain animosity toward audiophiles because they may not have the money to enter into it, so they perpetuate the stereotype of the wealthy snob who trades audio gear for status and sport. There are a few wealthy people who do this, but they aren't audiophiles. It's like the wealthy dude who buys a Lamborghini just because he can, and may not even be a car enthusiast.
     
  17. SteelyTom

    SteelyTom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, Mass.
    It's statements like this that make me wonder, why don't people love us?
     
  18. mongo

    mongo Senior Member

    I don't think the OP is in denial at all, he's just not a fool.
    Maybe more accurately, he's not going to fool himself into thinking that just because B costs X more than A == B is X better than A.
    In my experience this rarely is true with a certain caveat.
    I have an upper end model of a certain speaker brand and A\B'd another model of that brand that was 1/3 the price of my speakers. Did they sound as good to me? No.
    Are mine worth 3X the price in a qualitative mental measurement. No. Would I still keep my speakers? Absolutely.
    Perhaps A is getting all of the information available to had from the source or in most cases the differences are slight.
    Many times when I've A/B'd gear it's not so much that one is "better" than the other but that they're just different.
    Maybe the sound you like translates different into better, maybe not.

    Comparing 2 components has nothing to do with being an audiophile, it's simply a common sense way to do it.
    How else do find out the differences between 2 components, read a review, believe a salesperson, look at the price tag?

    It is a given that as audio components escalate in price, the price vs performance ratio drops off the graph.
    But don't try to convince certain people or audio reviewers of that. :)
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2016
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  19. jtw

    jtw Forum Resident

    You have to have at least a tiny bit of regret, don't you think? That $2K could've gone toward some tasty recordings of your favorite albums. Those, most could hear the difference. (But, I don't know your financial situation.)

    So, wouldn't you say that you don't regret spending $2k for your hobby, but you are disappointed that you made a choice that didn't improve your listening experience?
     
  20. econalan

    econalan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Agreed. Take out the butcher block under the Classic and compare. I had a slightly thicker one under my Classic 3 and I preferred it without the butcher block.
     
  21. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    The very desire to want to compare two components means you're an audiophile. Non-audiophiles couldn't care less.
     
  22. Lymbo

    Lymbo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntsville, AL

    Yes. I did expect the difference to be more. But you're exactly right, "it's very hard to objectively qualify what $2,000 better is."
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  23. defmoot

    defmoot Contents Under Pressure

    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Indications you might need to reassess yourself:

    1. You have a big stack of older equipment in your back room that's not hooked up.

    2. You don't have a problem with that.

    3. Your wife/partner/significant other frequently says things like "it never ends, does it?"

    .

    .
     
  24. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    My statement wasn't snobbish in any way. In many cases, once you point something out, you always hear it. There's nothing wrong with the idea that someone can be trained to develop their hearing abilities.
     
    soundQman and dkmonroe like this.
  25. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    One question which table did you've have first, presumably the VPI? Fly the audiophile flag high it's not a pejorative term, on this sight, most of my friends think I'm mad though.
     
    bhazen likes this.
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