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What is the definition of Audiophile?


DaQi

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14 hours ago, mansr said:

through spending lots and lots of money while speaking condescendingly to/of those who spend less.

 

As a poor music loving audiophile I have never noticed anyone speaking condescending to me or my inexpensive audio / video equipment. Maybe, I’m not very observant? 

 

13 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

I am a music lover....an audio enthusiast...but not an audiophile!!!

 

I consider myself a "music audiophile" as I like audiophile and other purist, unadulterated, and naturally made recordings. I am not into audio equipment.

 

I don't like to read reviews of audio equipment, I like to read about new recordings from my favorite audiophile labels, and perhaps discovering a new audiophile label that records music I love.

 

Also, I keep equipment until it quits working and is too expensive to repair. I don't like replacing audio equipment as I don't like auditioning and comparing it. This is why I use the term "music audiophile".

 

13 hours ago, sandyk said:

An "Audiophile" doesn't necessarily have to spend lots and lots of money, or speak condescendingly to those who spend less.

 

Some upgrade their equipment using DIY skills...

 

This is true, poor audiophiles buy used, demo, clearance, etc. to be able to afford equipment to make their music more enjoyable. Mid-fi is getting better all the time and less expensive while ultra high-end gets more expensive.

 

Personally, I would never speak condescendingly of anyone's equipment, if they enjoy music through it, it's all good.

I have dementia. I save all my posts in a text file I call Forums.  I do a search in that file to find out what I said or did in the past.

 

I still love music.

 

Teresa

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5 hours ago, Teresa said:

Mid-fi is getting better all the time and less expensive while ultra high-end gets more expensive.

 

Careful selection + used gear + DIY + research + effort  > $$$

 

But only up to a point.  And I'm ok with that.  I chose compromises I can live with. 

 

The high end is getting stupid expensive. I used to say I could duplicate my mostly DIY system for $12k, last years show, more like $24k

 

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Yes on the used gear. Amp and speaker tech hasn't significantly improved in the last 10-15 years. Everyone needs to get themselves that Pass, Audio Research, VAC, Linn, etc. Just as long as it isn't too ancient you'll be super well off.

 

Have you guys heard 15 ips master tapes? Those players freshly refurbed are going for less than $1-2k right now. If you have a vinyl setup you could pay $8k for a TriangleArts Zues cart OR you can pay half that used just because it has some hours on it.

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32 minutes ago, GUTB said:

Yes on the used gear. Amp and speaker tech hasn't significantly improved in the last 10-15 years. Everyone needs to get themselves that Pass, Audio Research, VAC, Linn, etc. Just as long as it isn't too ancient you'll be super well off.

 

Linn? O.o

"Science draws the wave, poetry fills it with water" Teixeira de Pascoaes

 

HQPlayer Desktop / Mac mini → Intona 7054 → RME ADI-2 DAC FS (DSD256)

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1 hour ago, beancounter said:

 

Careful selection + used gear + DIY + research + effort  > $$$

 

But only up to a point.  And I'm ok with that.  I chose compromises I can live with. 

 

The high end is getting stupid expensive. I used to say I could duplicate my mostly DIY system for $12k, last years show, more like $24k

 

 

 

Agree.  "Behind every great fortune is a great crime"  I can not recall who said that but, you have to wonder who could afford a pair of $100K speakers.  I am guessing Russian Kleptocrats, or CEOs of Asian companies with lots of 12 year old factory workers.  Sure is not any middle class audiophile around these parts. 

In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake ~ Sayre's Law

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7 hours ago, Teresa said:

I found two definitions of Audiophile:

 

"A sensitivity to nuance, and a desire to hear everything that artists put into their music" - Jeremiah Horn 

 

"An Audiophile loves good sound and good music and strives to extract great sound from quality recordings in order to experience music to its fullest." - David v.R Bowles

 

Teresa - would you care to list your components?

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1 hour ago, GUTB said:

Amp and speaker tech hasn't significantly improved in the last 10-15 years.

 

Except for Class-D and Benchmark (licensee) for amps.

 

for speakers, it depends on the meaning of significant - Maggies are significantly better over that time period; not sure re Vandies or Sonus Faber, etc.

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On 11/20/2017 at 2:20 PM, GUTB said:

 

We don't need to complicate it.

 

In the context of audio, an audiophile is someone who seeks greater musical enjoyment, and a non-audiophile is someone who may enjoy music, but places more value in other things -- I categorize these non-audio items in context as lifestyle and community. Lifestyle are things like features, fitting the decor or look, etc. Community is being a part of web forums, Reddit, etc, where you can participate in the community of audiophillia but not be an actual audiophile.

 

As an audiophile I may value the community to a certain degree but...if someone were to trade me my participation in the forums for a pair of Magicos, I would have to take the speakers.

 

Many music lovers don't care about SQ. They can listen on a table radio or an iPod and hear everything they need to hear. I used to know a guy who had thousands of records and listened to them on a KLH portable from the 1960's. Looks like a high-end suitcase, with two detachable speakers and a Garrard "Automatic Turntable" with a dynamically balanced tone-arm and a Shure magnetic cartridge. I, being an audiophile who loved good sound, couldn't understand (and I kept asking him why) his refusal to purchase a better system. It wasn't money, he had a good job and that KLH wasn't cheap, but he kept insisting that it provided all the "fi" he needed!!??

 

 

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George

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3 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

 

Except for Class-D and Benchmark (licensee) for amps.

 

for speakers, it depends on the meaning of significant - Maggies are significantly better over that time period; not sure re Vandies or Sonus Faber, etc.

I'd say that GUTB is somewhat wrong. Speakers have made the most strides. Maggie's sound significantly better as do Martin-Logan's and speakers like MBL's Raidialstrahlers and Magico's and Y-G Acoustics didn't even exist 15 years ago. Also in the early 2K's most Japanese amplifiers were still considered mid-fi, now many amps from Sony, Dennon, Marantz, and Onkyo, et al ARE considered high-end. 

George

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On 11/20/2017 at 4:52 PM, sandyk said:

 

Right on cue,a reply  from one of the least tolerant of all members of the forum, who claims to be a Scientist (?) but almost certainly not from the Electronics or Computer areas.

 

 

Perhaps a definition that would fit you: an audiophile is someone whose position is so weak he has to resort to ad hominem attacks upon those who have the temerity to express opinions at variance with his own.  

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Obviously everyone cares about how good a movie or recording sound, even my mom can grumble if a recording has bad sound. To me an audiophile is a person that not only believe sound quality is very important but that also is willing to go the extra mile to get superior sound. The extra mile can be buying special recordings or pay extra for a hifi streaming service, constantly purchase and exchanging audio gear, buys PSUs, tubes or cables that cost more than many peoples stereo or that gets preoccupied how to ground the switch SMPS, won’t listen before the stereo has warmed up or keep them on 24/7, furnishings the living room to get best SQ, talk, read and thinking a lot about how different audio gear sound, use the polarity button almost daily.

 

Audiophile is also a mindset making us not able to listen to music for long without thinking about the sound quality and how the music would have sounded if only I had this audio gear or a bigger room so I could place my speakers…..

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I think people should get out of the house and talk to others who consider themselves audiophiles. You may be surprised at how inaccurate and condescending your descriptions are. 

 

I’ve met so many cool audiophiles who are nothing like what I see described above. 

 

People don’t amass 10,000+ album collections or go to live shows every week because they like to hear the gear through which the music is played.

 

Sure there are some nut jobs, but there are nut jobs in every hobby and from all walks of life. 

 

Don’t let the nut job tail wag the dog. 

 

 

P.S. Even if some people purchase expensive gear to play audio test tracks and listen to the gear, I don’t care. Who am I to judge?

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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