Can you be an audiophile if you don't own "great/expensive" equipment..?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by DK Pete, Feb 26, 2018.

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  1. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    Does having the finest equipment an audiophile make or is it more of a state of mind? This *can* be an intimidating question to some, understandably. Given my state of economics for the realistic forseeable future, it's pretty much a given that I'll never get to own any of the equipment I/many of us salivate over in he Crutchfield, Audio Advisor type add magazines many of us receive in the mail, periodically. And yet with that said, i am continually on the lookout for the best sounding versions of my favorite albums (again, within my monetary limits)and have been for far back as i can remember. I'm the guy who can love listening to a recording for the way it sounds even if I only moderately like the song. So back to the original question....
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2018
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  2. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
  3. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Absolutely!
     
  4. ponkine

    ponkine Senior Member

    Location:
    Villarrica, Chile
    Yes, absolutely

    Can you be a photography lover if you don't own great expensive camera and equipment?
    Can you be a musician if you don't own great expensive gear?

    :wave:
     
  5. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    What's the over/under on number of posts before Class Warfare breaks out?
     
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  6. ian christopher

    ian christopher Argentina (in Spirit)

    Location:
    El Centro
    I'm able to hear the difference between brickwalled/compressed compact discs and well-mastered ones in my budget/cheap car cd changer.
     
  7. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Yes. But you should listen to some of your discs and records on an "audiophile" system at a friends or a good dealer's to compare it to what you have at home at least once.
    Even if you don't intend to immediately buy anything. The dealer should be happy to accommodate you to spend at least an hour or two.

    I went to The Listening Room in Mount Kisco, NY and used their Linn System, superbly set up in a perfect room.

    At home, I had a Proton receiver, B&O RX2 turntable with MMC3 cartridge and Boston Acoustics A70 speakers with Monster Cables.

    This will confirm some of your findings on your system, and shock you about a few others.
    It did for me, and was an enormous eye opener.

    I now have glaucoma.
     
  8. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    Yes but it helps if you have (and can afford) the gear.
     
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  9. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Well, unless you're listening on someone else's equipment, the answer is no. Being an audiophile means being attuned to the best sound and the most musically satisfying portrayal of the music. Having great records but having a crappy sounding system says that you're into status without actual taste, perhaps just looking like you have taste. It would be like having expensive wines around, but you couldn't really tell the difference a great, refined wine and rancid mouse pee.

    You need to be musically aware, have a keen sense of tonality, rhythm, dynamics, and pace, knowing that these qualities are essential for portraying music really well, regardless of the source. Once you are aware and sensitive to these qualities, you're not going to settle for anything but that which is musical. One can put together musical systems at different price levels, but it's important to know that better systems will bring out greater degrees of musicality. A small modest system can sound nice, but a more expensive system can sound better. Being in Symphony Hall live is even better. You'll want your system having as many qualities of being at Symphony Hall in row H as possible.

    On the other hand, if you're not inquisitive or interested in whether your system can sound better or be improved, or you think that an Ortofon 2M Red sounds just as good, or even the same, as an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, or a Koetsu Coral cartridge, then you are not an audiophile. If you think your vintage Dual 502 table you found at a flea market feeding a $200 Onkyo 7.1 channel receiver
    has to sound as good as Michael Fremer's (guessing) ~$400,000 system, even though you haven't heard it, then you're not an audiophile.

    And if you think that my post is complete and utter BS (without a single, solitary truth in it), then you are probably not an audiophile either.

    :yikes:
     
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  10. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    This is going to take an ugly turn soon. FWIW - I vote definitely!

    Let the games begin :cheers:
     
  11. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    What's the over/under on number of times it already has...even just today, only just in the Audio Equipment area...?
     
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  12. Are you this pretentious in real life as well?
     
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  13. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    And I can hear the same on my $6 JVC earbuds via MP3s on my phone.
     
  14. Gordon Johnson

    Gordon Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    You are here
    I always thought that "audiophile" meant HiFi enthusiast.
    Nothing about income or what percentage of ones income spent on it!
     
    CrewU, Atmospheric, forthlin and 39 others like this.
  15. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    That's okay - I need something to fill the entertainment void now the Olympics are over
     
  16. NaturalD

    NaturalD The King of Pop

    Location:
    Boston, Mass., USA
    :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
     
    TheVU, Andrew J, Aftermath and 8 others like this.
  17. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    This forum contains a spectrum of folks, but we are all on similar journeys with the ultimate goal of getting the best sound they want from the best music they can find. But we can all approach it differently, have different beliefs on what is attainable, and how far we need to go to attain it.

    Some folks have been journeying a lot longer than others, and some have financial means to take different paths.

    I understand it can be intimidating, but it really doesn’t have to be. And nobody should feel intimidated about filling in their profile with their gear.

    This is an audiophile forum... not a ladder. We* are participants because we are audiophiles. Plain and simple.


    *We meaning everyone who participates in threads about album sound quality, theory, and gear. It does not pertain to those whose only interest is to participate in the threads about “The Hottest Bassist In a Rock Band from 1964-1992” and such.
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2018
  18. ribonucleic

    ribonucleic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SLC UT
    You can not be an audiophile. You have registered here under false pretenses. The mods have been alerted. :tsk:
     
  19. blaken123

    blaken123 Your Greater Tri-County CD Superstore

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    It's been said here before but I think that properly mastered music is even more important on relatively low-end equipment. In my experience (and contrary to some of the dogma) music that is brickwalled, clipped, or otherwise wounded by the loudness wars sounds even worse on little speakers (which have trouble rendering dynamics anyway, and which often have to be turned up to their maximum volume even during everyday use, which is really bad for compressed music) than larger, nicer speakers.
     
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  20. IanM007

    IanM007 CDs, please!

    Location:
    Shrewsbury, UK
    I'm happy with my set up: Denon M38DAB/Q Acoustic 20/20i speakers on Q AC stands. This is in a 12ft x 12ft room. It's all the space I have right now.

    So, not the best space or the best system. However, I spend MANY happy hours listening to very carefully sourced cds and thoroughly enjoy them. I often think I'd challenge anyone who claimed my listening experience must be rubbish to come and listen to my Power Station Black Triangle cd...!
     
  21. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Please list your equipment in your profile. Then I'll decide whether you're an audiophile or not. ;)
     
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  22. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    If I'd tell you my sound equipment you would faint.
    Hint: it's very cheap. And yes, I'm an audiophile.^^
     
  23. Bern

    Bern JC4Me

    Location:
    Allegan, Michigan
    @DK Pete....not sure where you live...but visiting a showroom WITH music that you are familiar with is a great idea. You don't have to buy an entire system all at once. Maybe you won't want to at all. (that is doubtful...but possible). I guess what I'm getting at is to make sure you audition equipment before purchase if possible. And if you're happy with what you have now....that's all that really matters.

    Bern
     
  24. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    No. If anyone has a bigger, better rig than you then it's a fail. There can only be one true audiophile. The rest of us can suck it.
     
  25. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    Everyone knows that. It is Linus Van Pelt.
     
    AidanB likes this.
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