So what's the deal with audiophiles? Well known as a hobbyist pursuit with diminishing returns, yet still there's plenty of snobs out there who will disagree. They even disagree with one another! Yet it's fascinating isn't it?
Sound is important to me, but I don't consider myself part of their tribe. Throw a bunch of numbers and technical jargon my way and I'm in over my head. I think lossless audio and vinyl records are superfluous. Been there, done that. Not for me. I'm simply not knowledgeable enough beyond, "this sounds good to me"
I have fairly decent gear too...
Listening to music on my KRK Rokit 5s right now on my PC which I also often use for gaming
was just walking my dog and listening to music/podcasts on my Sony WF-1000MX3 ear buds
when I game on my 3DS or Vita, I always utilize my wired Sony MDR-1R which I've had for years now
then for my living room I have some vintage floor standing Polk Monitor 10s and a 10" Yamaha subwoofer and some other Polk gear if I wanna go 5.1 for movies
my sun room has a Google Home Max in it
The reason I mention all this isn't to brag, especially because none of this is anything particularly special, but because they all sound great to me. That's about it. I couldn't really pinpoint the differences between the bunch apart from the Yamaha sub having lots of bass compared to the rest.
I know the specs on this gear must all vary wildly, so what gives? It all sounds fantastic. What else is there to audio gear apart from this silly notion of, "but what if it sounded better?"
So I ask, is it just me, or are audiophiles full of it? Would some really fancy gear make me wanna throw all this in the trash or something? I don't believe it. Not for a second.
Cheers.
So a few things;
I have those same Sony MDR-1R's, I am actually wearing them right now. Though mine look a lot more beat up now as they are like 9yrs old lol. But don't underestimate those headphones, they are very very good for the money.
Secondly, I worked as a salesperson selling high end audiophile gear, over a decade ago.
Are audiophiles full of it - yes and no.
Firstly, I definitely cannot handle 'shit' audio. I absolutely don't need to spend thousands and I accept 'fit for purpose' but most speakers, headphones etc you get cheap are you know, shit but for most people they are 'fine'. I recently had this dilemma when I wanted to get a microphone as I had been getting into playing Left4Dead 2 Versus. I love my Sony MDR-1R's, if I was still as anal as I was about sound back in the day as when I bought the Sony's, I maybe would have spent more to get a good set of open cup planar headphones but the Sony do an amazing job for the money. So when I went to get something with a microphone, I just had no idea whether to try and get just a mic or go with headphones with a mic. The problem was I always have my fan on, so USB mics were just a constant whooshing mess. So I had to go back to getting headphones with a microphone. I ended up getting Logitech G935's, but also listened to a bunch of others from Astro A50's and Artics and JBL's etc. and honestly, they all sound fucking terrible, but I still bought the 935's and just accept they are 'for gaming' in multiplayer games,but as soon as I don't need that mic, I have my Sony's back on. Many, many people would probly think the 935's sound great, as do Astro A50's etc. but when I listened to them, I was trying to hide from the saleperson that every single set I listened to sounded like bloated garbage being pumped out from underwater.
So in that respect, there's absolutely a monumental difference between what most people would say is ok, and what someone who is used to hearing a more pure sound, is going to expect. In the same way I'm going to say those home heatre in a box systems you get with plastic speakers, wireless subs etc are terrible, but for the majority of people, they are completely fine.
Then you have how I break down audiophiles; those who just like really nice quality sounds, and those who are hobbyists. Those who like nice sound will update gear fairly rarely and stick with what they have for long periods because they buy something that sounds good to begin with and that's the level they are happy with. For them, its just nice sound, if they hear something better, they'll upgrade, but because they aren't doing back to back comparisons all the time, they usually only upgrade every now and again when it comes to speakers, amps etc. If it'shome theatre receivers or streaming devices, those more often because they change with technology and new standards. Hobbyists are a totally different beast. When you start going to 'hobbyists', things get super wanky super quick. Components made from some particular sort of wood from some very particular forest corner in the middle of nowhere because that wood 'has the best harmonic properties', cables that are forged and frozen to align their crystalline structure,some speaker that costs $50k......just because. Hobbyists are always changing gear, listening to different components back to back, changing this, changing that, moving shit around their room etc. For them, it's like searching for something that doesn't exist; some perfect combination of equipment that produces a completely linear response, but also that sounds warm, but also detailed, but airy, but also tight, but also with separation and presence.........for them, it's about the tinkering etc.
For me, it's the 'hobbyists' that are largely full of shit and the companies that market toward them. Speakers that costs 10's of thousands of dollars for no real reason. I'm sure they'll argue otherwise, but speakers are really fucking simple. They push and pull air. That's it. There's no secret to how a speaker works. It's not magic. So yeh, when you see some esoteric company charging a boatload for some high end speaker, you're paying for the boutique name and mostly, the carpentry that houses the speakers. You need to think of most high end speakers not so much as 'higher quality sound' but closer to 'designer furniture'. You can just as easily make an objectionably better speaker by building it in some home made enclosure with good drivers and cross overs than you'd get spending a cars worth of money on some boutique branded speaker.
Then I can tell you I have had a sound room setup with a dozen different bookshelf speakers and demoed them back to back to back and you find some interesting things. Obviously the most expensive speaker, isn't necessarily the nicest sounding. The speaker that initially jumps out at you and makes you go 'wow' isn't necessarily the speaker you want to buy for long listening periods or to live with. What you listen to is the biggest single factor that will decide what speaker is the right one.
Honestly could shit on all day about all the wank that goes on but honestly the simple answer is 'yes' audiophile like audio can be vastly superior to the majority of shit that makes it to the marketplace from big brands; but just because it's boutique and expensive doesn't necessarily mean it's better than a more plain jane, well designed speaker thats actually sensibly priced. So if you have that sensibly priced speaker / component combo that sounds good, you will run into diminishing returns quickly and you might be wondering just why that system that costs 4x as much is barely, if at all, any better.
