The Journey of the New 'Audiophile'

I wanted to start a new thread that discusses some of the journey that folks entering the audio hobby have experienced. I'm looking for some good discussion from both newbies and the veterans about what lessons you've learned along the way. I've been in the hobby about 10 years, but feel I'm only scratching the surface of all there is to know.

I just like to hear about experiences of others. The biggest thing that I'm learning is that this hobby is very subjective and there are so many variables that affect the music listening experience. Everyone has different rooms and equipment pairings and different personal taste. What works for me may not work for you, but I love to see opinions just to learn.

The current stop on my journey is moving from an AVR listening experience to adding a pre amp/power amp combo. This has greatly improved my experience in the few weeks I've had it. As part of the upgrade I've gone down the cable rabbit hole. That discussion has to be one of the most overwhelming things I've experienced. You read all of these forums and second guess everything you hear and can't enjoy the hobby.

Anyhow, just looking for good stories of people in the process of starting or those tips people have found as they expand on their journey.

 

My advice is put the magazines down and take everything posted in the forums with a grain of salt. Go out and listen to as much gear as you can. Trust is a must or your game is a bust.

 

Most audio-related YouTube channels from snake-0il "audiophiles" to cheapophiles should be taken with a grain of salt, too. Usually they're biased, peddling disinformation, or outright manipulated test results.

 

I wish there was some type of oversight in this market. I've read of people charging thousands of dollars on cables only to find they were just reproducing something relatively cheap. It's so hard to know what is true and what isn't. I'm no electrical engineer so it is often hard to sort out the truth from the marketing.

In my short experience, I haven't found that magic cable so I'm a skeptic. I do believe there is truth to it though as so many people can't be fooled. I've been emailing different cable vendors and have tried to be transparent that I'm a skeptic, but still willing to try. I've asked for at least a baseline of measurements (yes, I know there is more to it than measurements so please don't shame me). It is amazing how many ignored my emails. I really like the comment by @ayrehead "trust is a must or your game is a bust". I'm getting to the point where if the vendor isn't transparent and I don't feel good about it then I don't try it.

 

The cable vendors' profit margins is significantly large compared to other components for sure.

One of my biggest concerns is how the so-called "reviewers" from the peddlers of Crosley and low-end players to the "high-end" are in cahoots with the audio industry, making them literal PR mouthpieces for the companies. Usually, they are bribed with permanent equipment loans, money under the table, and affiliation links through advertisements and Amazon links. The same applies with the vast majority of social media "influencers" and even professional reviewers outside of the audio hobby, whether it's make-up, video games, subscription loot boxes, clothing, music albums, etc.

 

I try to find people that hate something and people who love something to hear both sides. Who knows who is credible or who is being paid off but it gives some basis for consideration.

 

i thought neal schon hired someone named 'audiophile'.

 

I think I found the album I'm going to listen to today now.

 

True enough. You can read articles. People will tell you things. This is good. This is bad. But unless you understand why people tell are telling you things, you won't really understand anything. You have to have a reference. So go out an listen to gear. Go out and listen to gear you can't afford. People claim there's a rabbit hole to all this stuff. You go down it and you buy all the stuff as you go down and you keep going down until your finally get there. Screw that. At the bottom of the hole is Wonderland. Go straight to Wonderland once you're there, you can stop wondering. Once you've figured out what you want you can set a budget. Then figure out how to fund you budget. Don't make a budget and see what you can buy. You'll just find out you're not at the bottom of the hole.

 

Unfortunately articles will not tell you actual performance, only your ears can do that. I went for many years and accidently fell upon best performing gear. Fact is I can tell what sounds best over the years and no one here would 'buy into it'.

 

Just curious your process of getting new gear. Do you just read some reviews or listen in the shop and then bring something home to try? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my friends involved in the hobby where we can just swap gear. Still trying though.

 

Some stores may allow you to borrow their gear for a limited time and even audio companies have their own loan program, such as Graham Slee. Given the social distancing policy amid Covid-19, this may or may not be possible.

Reading reviews is a starting point at best but it should not be the end-all process in buying new gear.

 

Reviews just do not tell me anything. Youtube is better as you can hear the items. Most items have too much distortion and lacking clarity on Youtube. But, some audiophiles do not place a pure and ultra clear system as a priority. I have visited a few high-end stereo shops. If I spent $5K I would be pleased. But, I spent less than $2K on my present system and it sounds as good or better than the $5K system. What worked for me is Revel Performa M22 speakers. The M22s uses a mid-bass that now is only available on $4K+ speakers from Revel. I used a highly modified tube amp. And a VM-540-ML cartridge on a Luxman PD-272 TT. I was told my system sounds as good as Western Electric 300B amps using a highly modified $5K Marantz tube preamp into rebuilt Klipschorns.

 

Is part of the hobby also checking out speakers everyday till you have the money to buy them? I experienced the same with buying my dreambike. Checked it out at the website everyday till i could buy it.

People recognize that?

 

I think you can definitely spot trends with reviews. An example is something that gets positive reviews from multiple reviewers across different platforms. Some users believe that their ears are the only factor and bench tests don't matter, but I think things should sound and measure well. I tend to value opinions from reviewers that listen to the same music as I do. Product reliability info is important, but folks can sometimes nitpick and maybe not account for user error/abuse. In the end, the most important thing is finding what you like that you can afford. Believe it or not, differences between budget components and state of the art are not always as big as people can make it out to be. If somebody claims product A blows away product B, there is probably a lot of hyperbole in that statement. In the end, learn about features and what you think you may want/need and then see what is out there. It's always best to see and hear stuff in person...looks, size, and build are important factors to consider along with the sound.

 

Sage advice. There are vendors on this site masquerading as unbiased audiophiles and promote certain products often with hefty price tags that may not improve your sound or be a good value. I would familiarize yourself with the science of audio so have some knowledge of fundamental terms and theories. This will help you be a better consumer. Finally, before buying ask yourself, "Am I getting that much more for the price difference?" A certain popular audio company came out with new versions of their CD Transports and integrated amplifiers. These "improved" audio devices had a hefty price jump but when you examined what was enhanced, not much to justify the inflation.

 

I am an EE and also have been into audio equipment since the 1970s. You won't find a magic cable because it doesn't exist. "I do believe there is truth to it though as so many people can't be fooled." Nope; many people can and are fooled. You wouldn't let a mechanic do brain surgery on you, so why should you listen to or care what a bunch of labor lawyers, freelance musicians (whistling) and trade-press writers/journalists with no engineering training whatsoever have to say about cables. Notice also that for cables (and indeed for amps, turntables, PCs in fancy boxes called streamers) the very interesting fact that the enthusiasm level of a review seem to correlate closely with the increasing price of the equipment.

This is all a long way of saying that audiophile web sites (including as well YouTube equipment reviewers) are really bad places for a total newbie to learn about this hobby. I don't even know where to refer you for reliable information. I heartily recommend Archimago, but his stuff might be too complex for an absolute beginner.

In conclusion, my intention is not to start another cable wars thread, but you're a beginner and you asked, so I'm giving you the straight and correct answer. Amazon Basics speaker wire is just fine. (Same goes for digital cables -- either it meets the spec or it doesn't. A standard, cheap USB cable is fine.) Put the money you would've wasted on cables into your speakers instead.

 

The internet has really changed the experience, that's for sure. Whether it is for the better or not is a good question. There is certainly a lot more information available in an instant, but there is also a lot of misinformation. It becomes about learning what sources can be trusted and what sources are to be taken with a grain of salt. That's not just about whether someone is deliberately trying to be dishonest, but also whether one's priorities and tastes are in alignment.

Prior to the internet, one really needed to go to shops and listen to gear but you were limited to what you had access to. Now you have access to literally anything that is available, but not always the ability to listen before you buy. Buying from reputable dealers with liberal return policies really helps, as does buying used, as you can typically sell it for what you paid.

 

The most important lesson I've learned is to have FUN! It's a hobby, but some people act like they're curing cancer, for cripes sake.

 

Yes.

I'll remain agnostic on whether different cables or wire might have any audible effect on sound.

But I'll confidently assert that you're better off putting your money practically anywhere else first, while using generic cables and hooking up your speakers with lamp cord.

 

Yup, cables are the absolute last thing to upgrade in your system. The money is much better spent on a better dac/amp/speakers. Just buy cables that are of reasonable quality and you should be fine.

 

This just goes to show you that even EEs can be wrong and even more-so as they think they know what they don't know. Electrical theory, like any other form of modeling reality, requires assumptions to be made about the physical environment, so it doesn't always correspond to real world applications.

My favorite example is when my sister was late meeting me and her husband (at the time), who was an EE. She said she was late because she left the interior light on and the battery died. He proceeded to spew out numbers that supposedly proved that it was impossible for the interior light to draw enough power to kill the battery. Never mind the fact that the battery was dead. The numbers did not take into account things like the age and condition of the battery, etc.

When it comes to audio, trust your ears more than anything else.

 

The biggest problem in this hobby is, the complexity of just understanding for the uninitiated, and the recent advancements beyond "just plugging-in-everything-with-RCA-cables-and-that's-it", has led to people with money and little wisdom, just throwing cash at it. "Here - solve my problem!"

And what does this do...? Riiiight...attracts cash-hungry people with catchers mitts.

You can point to your favorite spot in history where things get muddied. For me, it was when used record store owners got scared enough of the CD, to start spinning easily-digestible sky-is-falling tales of "cold" CD's and "warm" vinyl; it was backed up by mastering differences they never bothered to fully explain, because, y'know, they had old LP's to sell...

Funny how now everybody is still pointing towards digital music as a way into the future, with Spotify-filled dreams of an endless library of music (that only goes away when your wife sees how long you've been paying for the same 12 John Prine albums that you don't really "own"). The other side of this coin, is the audiophile-fueled dreams of a simple turntable...which will keep your credit card happier than a car collector needing "just oooonnnneeeee moorrrre refinement" to get the performance that only seems one Visa payment away from perfection. Neither of these are "wrong", just bumps in the road to your learning process.

Assuming the "new audiophile" in this thread title is all about achieving a satisfactory audio experience, I think most people here will come to the conclusion that your start needs a clear destination (which will change), a dollar figure in mind (based on your real world circumstances), and an understanding that most people - even those who have already solved this for themselves - can't tell you what you really need, until you've done that for yourself.

 

1. There's no "one way" of doing this hobby. Whether digital/analogue, tubes/solid state, mono/stereo/surround, tweeters-woofers/planars-electrostats, etc. it's all good. Name your poison and indulge.

2. Sideways steps are a waste of time and money. Patience is a must. Take the time to save up the $ to make that next upward jump. Restraint is usually rewarded.

3. It's only worth it if it sounds good TO YOU. Purchase to please yourself and never mind the naysayers.

4. Proper acoustic treatments will unleash previously hidden system strengths. After all, the room is the "fifth Beatle".

 

I'd suggest a good book, such as:
"The Complete Guide to High End Audio" by Robert Harley.
Lots of good objective (and sometimes subjective insight) into listening, components, terminology, etc.
I read one of the early editions ~15 yrs ago, and the latest (2015 I believe) is pretty up to date with the technology.