What Earns The Title "Audiophile"?

[Gray]

Here's a quote I've just read on another forum:

'My last two power cables and loudspeaker cables cost £21k for 4 x 2 metre length’s… they were worth every penny to me'

I'm not going to ask you to suggest what title you think he's earned.

 

[Deleted member 195594]

I hope for his sake it isn't "Skint" 🤔

 

[12th Monkey]

Here's a quote I've just read on another forum:

'My last two power cables and loudspeaker cables cost £21k for 4 x 2 metre length’s… they were worth every penny to me'

I'm not going to ask you to suggest what title you think he's earned.

Certainly not punctuationophile...

 

[nopiano]

Here's a quote I've just read on another forum:

'My last two power cables and loudspeaker cables cost £21k for 4 x 2 metre length’s… they were worth every penny to me'

I'm not going to ask you to suggest what title you think he's earned.

I thought I was said in jest, but it’s hard to tell these days, unless followed by lots of

 

[plastic penguin]

Here's a quote I've just read on another forum:

'My last two power cables and loudspeaker cables cost £21k for 4 x 2 metre length’s… they were worth every penny to me'

I'm not going to ask you to suggest what title you think he's earned.

This is not an audiophile, this person needs therapy - it's a hobby/interest that's spiralled out of control. Lunacy.

 

[Gray]

it’s hard to tell these days

It really is.
I often think they're joking on that site (some are of course).

 

[davidf]

Audiophile is all about the equipment - a musicphile is all about music.

I think a lot of people’s understanding of the word audiophile has been tainted by the negative banter/discussion/whatever of those who look to belittle people who enjoy audio equipment. It has been associated with rip off tweaks and excessively priced hi-fi, but you’ve only got to read any official definition of the word to realise the phrase has been bastardised. No one should be ashamed of calling themselves an audiophile, and if anything, they should be proud to call themselves such, as it demonstrates an ability to appreciate finer things which some people are just clueless about.

I think a lot of people who say they aren’t audiophiles, actually are. If you’ve ever had an audition of different equipment to choose which you like, you’re an audiophile. If you’ve visited a hi-fi show, you’re an audiophile. Many of those people are also musicphiles, enjoying music just as much as the equipment it is played on - like myself - so I’ll happily, and proudly, designate myself an audiophile (regardless of what anyone else’s definition of the word is).

 

[Friesiansam]

It really is.
I often think they're joking on that site (some are of course).

In the case above, more likely just a wazzock who thinks boasting makes him look big.

 

[plastic penguin]

In the case above, more likely just a wazzock who thinks boasting makes him look big.

As I mentioned in a earlier post: "look at what I've got."

 

[Friesiansam]

As I mentioned in a earlier post: "look at what I've got."

Forgot about that, even though I 'liked' it.

 

[Friesiansam]

I think a lot of people who say they aren’t audiophiles, actually are. If you’ve ever had an audition of different equipment to choose which you like, you’re an audiophile. If you’ve visited a hi-fi show, you’re an audiophile. Many of those people are also musicphiles, enjoying music just as much as the equipment it is played on - like myself - so I’ll happily, and proudly, designate myself an audiophile (regardless of what anyone else’s definition of the word is).

Very many years ago I went into a hifi shop and tried a couple of pairs of headphones. I knew sod all about hifi, just bought the pair that seemed to sound better. I'm damn sure I wasn't an audiophile, just because I compared 2 pairs of headphones.

From the OED online:

"Originally and chiefly North American.
A. n.

A person who has a particularly strong interest in the high-fidelity reproduction of recorded sound."

 

[nads]

To me an Audiophile is someone who does not listen to music.

 

[12th Monkey]

Clearly many of would disagree that that's always the case.

 

[shadders]

Hi,
The hobby has been subverted by subjectivist con artists. An amplifier and speaker combination may sound different, but it has been taken to a farcical extreme.

Peter Baxandall and audio engineer and electronics engineer sums up the scenario quite succinctly in the final section of his paper :

Baxandall Audible amplifier distortion is not a mystery.pdf

Wireless World, November 1977. 63. Audible amplifier distortion is not a mystery Some things are believed because people feel as if they m ust be true, and in such cases an immense weight of evidence is necessary to dispel the belief. BERTRAND RUSSELL. by Peter J. Baxandall, B.Sc.(Eng.)...

www.docdroid.net

The hifi magazines and certain marketing from specific manufacturers from the late 1970's encouraged the subjective aspects, where we have all manner of exotic magic thinking abilities of mundane things such as cables.

It is exemplified by such things as isolation pads, grounding boxes, audio network switches, special fuses, and other audio additions.

The gullibility and ignorance of so many people has been utilised such that the reality of physics and engineering is readily scorned upon by people who think they are immune to expectation bias or the placebo effect. It is also encouraged by people on forums who have a vested interest in such magic thinking too.

The term audiophile does garner some ridicule, and in many respects it is deserved. I do wonder if the hobby in its current from will survive when younger people are not that bothered about hifi.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[12th Monkey]

To me an Audiophile is someone who does not listen to music.

I could also pull your leg about listing your kit in your signature (as I do)!

 

[12th Monkey]

all manner of exotic magic thinking abilities of mundane things such as cables.

Let's stay on topic, please. I see the pertinence of what you say later - just don't want others to turn the thread into something the OP didn't intend.

 

[Friesiansam]

To me an Audiophile is someone who does not listen to music.

I would agree with that, the person who listens to the system, not the music it's playing.

 

[nads]

I could also pull your leg about listing your kit in your signature (as I do)!

And it has hardly changed since 2007.

 

[davidf]

I would agree with that, the person who listens to the system, not the music it's playing.

Well that is the definition…

 

[davidf]

Very many years ago I went into a hifi shop and tried a couple of pairs of headphones. I knew sod all about hifi, just bought the pair that seemed to sound better. I'm damn sure I wasn't an audiophile, just because I compared 2 pairs of headphones.

From the OED online:

"Originally and chiefly North American.
A. n.

A person who has a particularly strong interest in the high-fidelity reproduction of recorded sound."

But you obviously cared how what you bought sounded. You didn’t just buy a pair without listening, as many would nowadays.

 

[davidf]

Hi,
The hobby has been subverted by subjectivist con artists. An amplifier and speaker combination may sound different, but it has been taken to a farcical extreme.

Peter Baxandall and audio engineer and electronics engineer sums up the scenario quite succinctly in the final section of his paper :

Baxandall Audible amplifier distortion is not a mystery.pdf

Wireless World, November 1977. 63. Audible amplifier distortion is not a mystery Some things are believed because people feel as if they m ust be true, and in such cases an immense weight of evidence is necessary to dispel the belief. BERTRAND RUSSELL. by Peter J. Baxandall, B.Sc.(Eng.)...

www.docdroid.net

The hifi magazines and certain marketing from specific manufacturers from the late 1970's encouraged the subjective aspects, where we have all manner of exotic magic thinking abilities of mundane things such as cables.

It is exemplified by such things as isolation pads, grounding boxes, audio network switches, special fuses, and other audio additions.

The gullibility and ignorance of so many people has been utilised such that the reality of physics and engineering is readily scorned upon by people who think they are immune to expectation bias or the placebo effect. It is also encouraged by people on forums who have a vested interest in such magic thinking too.

The term audiophile does garner some ridicule, and in many respects it is deserved. I do wonder if the hobby in its current from will survive when younger people are not that bothered about hifi.

Regards,
Shadders.

Personally, I don’t think audiophiles should be made to feel like outcasts just because less people care about sound quality. Minorities always get picked on.

Yes, there’s some pointless crap out there, but that could be said for any industry/hobby. Do you need a £20,000 watch? Is it worth £20,000? Do you need a £200,000 car? Is it worth £200,000? Status symbols. The only reason hi-fi isn’t a status symbol any more is because other people can’t see it - if all houses were made ourely of glass, everyone would want an expensive hi-fi. Between someone who buys an expensive hi-fi purely as a status symbol, and someone who is chasing audio nirvana, why are the latter seen as weirdos?

 

[Witterings]

Yes, there’s some pointless crap out there, but that could be said for any industry/hobby. Do you need a £20,000 watch? Is it worth £20,000? Do you need a £200,000 car?

The watch bit I'd totally pass on ..BUT ... The car bit ... depends how it cornered and what it's
0 - 60 / bhp was ... that could be the most amasing adrenaline kick ever ..... go drive it somewhere it's safe to "push it to it's max".
Somewhere you can do that is unlikely to have any spectators around so that's not about show, that's about adrenaline rush .... especially if it had an amazing sound system

 

[shadders]

Personally, I don’t think audiophiles should be made to feel like outcasts just because less people care about sound quality. Minorities always get picked on.

Yes, there’s some pointless crap out there, but that could be said for any industry/hobby. Do you need a £20,000 watch? Is it worth £20,000? Do you need a £200,000 car? Is it worth £200,000? Status symbols. The only reason hi-fi isn’t a status symbol any more is because other people can’t see it - if all houses were made ourely of glass, everyone would want an expensive hi-fi. Between someone who buys an expensive hi-fi purely as a status symbol, and someone who is chasing audio nirvana, why are the latter seen as weirdos?

Hi,
I don't think audiophiles are outcasts.

A watch tells the time, and there is nothing special about it perhaps the price and workmanship. Time is not better when determined from an expensive watch compared to a cheap one.

The issue is that hifi is for many a belief system, and those peoples mystical based rules on what matters and what does not, is based on their ignorance. If they are seen as weirdos, then they do have a large responsibility for their contribution to it.

As hifi has progressed over the last 40 years, it is seen more of a cult than a hobby, on forums.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[davidf]

Hi,
I don't think audiophiles are outcasts.

A watch tells the time, and there is nothing special about it perhaps the price and workmanship. Time is not better when determined from an expensive watch compared to a cheap one.

The issue is that hifi is for many a belief system, and those peoples mystical based rules on what matters and what does not, is based on their ignorance. If they are seen as weirdos, then they do have a large responsibility for their contribution to it.

As hifi has progressed over the last 40 years, it is seen more of a cult than a hobby, on forums.

Regards,
Shadders.

But you’re referring to the extremist audiophiles, which you’ll get extremists in any hobby. There’s plenty of audiophiles out there that that are just plain old audiophiles - and they’re most likely at the budget/mid-priced end of the spectrum as well - but others see all audiophiles the same way.

 

[12th Monkey]

And it has hardly changed since 2007.

I don't see you or anyone else saying the definition is based upon rates of turnover!