Audiophiles on a budget

[ID.]

currently sales of headphones are booming and I think the increase in computer audiophiles with desktop headphone setups is one area where you can be a "proper" audiophile on a limited budget.

Considering the sound quality and resolution you can achieve for the cost of a budget stereo I think that the top level cans, etc. are within reach of many people and this is a growing field considering how much people these days use their computer as central to their entertainment (net, movies, music).

Of course the market for selling extras has not escaped manufacturers, so there's the same proliferation of cables, software, etc.

considering the sound quality you can achieve for a reasonable outlay, do these people qualify as audiophiles in the strict, old school sense?

You are quite correct that a decent headphone setup can be had for a lot less than a decent conventional system, but you need to be aware of two things.

1) A lot of headphones may well be sold but the average retail cost is less than £10 pair.

2) In the US at least, in a survey of premium quality headphones, ie over $100 pair, shows that the Beats brand outsold all other brands combined by an order of magnitude.

Sobering.

I think I'm talking about the growth I see on sites like Computer Audiophile and Head-Fi. I'm under no illusions that this is a majority thing, but nevertheless I believe there's a boom in high end cans and associated equipment.

 

[Vladimir]

Hiphop lovers buy Beats because they have fat bass which flatters this music genre. The music has lots of bass and the headphones coloration adds even more. So Beats lovers are enthusiastic about sound reproduction, which would make them audiophiles, right?

Nope.

An audiophile wants his gear not to add or take away from the original recording. There lies the difference between music lovers and audiophiles.

 

[ID.]

"An audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting."

I'll take that as a yes

I think the biggest arguments probably come around what high fidelity is. Even people with entry level kit believe that they have or are striving for high fidelity. But then there are those that rubbish any reference to measurements. Playing devils advocate, One could argue that there's always distortion and/or compromise of varying degrees somewhere in the chain so what is wrong with choosing the compromises that sound best to you.

For the record I'd class myself as an enthusiast with some audiophile pretensions.

 

[davedotco]

Again I am sure you are correct ID, just that the numbers are pretty tiny.

Pretty dispiriting to find out that 90% of all $100+ headphones are bought as fashion statements, not for performance reasons.

 

[ID.]

Hiphop lovers buy Beats because they have fat bass which flatters this music genre. The music has lots of bass and the headphones coloration adds even more. So Beats lovers are enthusiastic about sound reproduction, which would make them audiophiles, right?

Nope.

An audiophile wants his gear not to add or take away from the original recording. There lies the difference between music lovers and audiophiles.

I think it's a losing battle. If someone is convinced their system sounds awesome, your arguments merely sound snobbish or like a criticism of something they love so any chance of communication on the matter is lost. Like Dave says, pretty much all you can do is tell them what they want to hear. If you are lucky maybe at some point you can demonstrate the difference and let them see for themselves.

 

[davedotco]

Hiphop lovers buy Beats because they have fat bass which flatters this music genre. The music has lots of bass and the headphones coloration adds even more. So Beats lovers are enthusiastic about sound reproduction, which would make them audiophiles, right?

Nope.

An audiophile wants his gear not to add or take away from the original recording. There lies the difference between music lovers and audiophiles.

That's not half bad Vlad......*good*

 

[Vladimir]

Understanding that human hearing and perception isn't 1) infallible and 2) unlimited.

Digital and solid state have gone beyond the human sensoric capabilities. An audiophile on a budget should realize this and strongly focus his efforts on other segments of his kit (transducers).

 

[ID.]

Understanding that human hearing and perception isn't 1) infallible and 2) unlimited.

Digital and solid state have gone beyond the human sensoric capabilities. An audiophile on a budget should realize this and strongly focus his efforts on other segments of his kit (transducers).

I see something similar here where many people often rightly state that the speaker makes the biggest difference, but then it goes into territory that bugs Dave - overreaching with the speakers used on budget amplifiers.

 

[Vladimir]

Understanding that human hearing and perception isn't 1) infallible and 2) unlimited.

Digital and solid state have gone beyond the human sensoric capabilities. An audiophile on a budget should realize this and strongly focus his efforts on other segments of his kit (transducers).

I see something similar here where many people often rightly state that the speaker makes the biggest difference, but then it goes into territory that bugs Dave - overreaching with the speakers used on budget amplifiers.

Amplifiers and digital sources only need to be sufficient for the application. Transducers get the tough job of fooling your mind into thinking that is really Ornette Coleman in front of you.

 

[davedotco]

Understanding that human hearing and perception isn't 1) infallible and 2) unlimited.

Digital and solid state have gone beyond the human sensoric capabilities. An audiophile on a budget should realize this and strongly focus his efforts on other segments of his kit (transducers).

I see something similar here where many people often rightly state that the speaker makes the biggest difference, but then it goes into territory that bugs Dave - overreaching with the speakers used on budget amplifiers.

Actually two things bug me about the 'loudspeakers are more important' message.

Firstly, the 'right' amplifier makes a big difference in quality, easily demonstrated.

Secondly, people seem unable to grasp that 'different' and 'better' are not the same. 'Different' is easy to hear, just compare any two speakers, but 'better', thats a totally different proposition.

In many cases changing speakers makes a difference that any idiot can hear, but changing the amplifier brings real improvements, for many listeners it is much harder to hear, but far more important.

 

[ID.]

Better is easy: whichever one you prefer the sound of

 

[Vladimir]

Give us some example(s) where good amps shine.

 

[jmjones]

Good amplification upgrade? Replacing a Audiolab 8000S/Yamaha combination with a Tag McLaren set certainly made a difference in my set-up a few years back. It was enough to get me playing my CD back catalogue to listen to the differences. Not to mention a convenience improvement.

There must be improvements made since that time. I'm still of the mind that you can only be as good as the weakest item in the signal path. Getting a good balance is the key to it.

 

[davedotco]

Better is easy: whichever one you prefer the sound of

*ok*

Sadly I can not find an emoticon for 'wind up merchant'!

 

[davedotco]

Give us some example(s) where good amps shine.

Take any modern, digital front end, the forums favourite budget amplifier and virtually any mainstream speaker up to about £500.

Then replace the amp with a Brio, Exposure or a Creek, works every time, if you really want to make it obvious use a pair of budget floor standers.

 

[Vladimir]

I'm not up to date with what is the forum's favorite budget amplifier. It used to be one of these: Rega Brio-R, Arcam A19, Marantz PM6005 and NAD D3020.