Having visited the Melbourne hifi show today made me realise how inaccessible hifi audio is to the masses.
It really needs to get away from the "old middle aged men with money" syndrome.
I don't consider myself an audiophile, but have amassed a small collection of good headphones, all driven through a Chord Mojo.
I don't understand all the mumbo jumbo about hifi sound specs, but I know good sound when I hear it.
So, what does being an audiophile mean to you?
Did not even know what a Chord Mojo is. Had a google, and boy it's one expensive little device!
I saw $150 and thought that's not too bad, before I saw that it was just the carrying case.
Yeah, I must admit I had doubts when I bought it. To me good sound is a simple thing - it stirs emotions, there is a full, rich, driving sound with clarity. The Mojo really makes a big difference with and without. It literally makes all headphones sound better. More oomph.
People who spend more than they need to for marginal gains that they cannot distinguish but tell themselves that they can ;)
Or.. People willing to pay for marginal gains in audio which could be invested elsewhere..
I can agree with that. Numerous surveys have found the magic number for the most improvement in headphones is up to the AU$500 mark. Beyond that, incredibly diminishing gains….
audiophile means you buy xiaomi hd pro, or kz zs5, whenever they're on sale here.
Just wait for the Adam Ruins Audiophilia episode.
Bahaha, you know it's coming!
I thought audiophiles were hokum until dead pixels were invented. All was revealed.
everyone who owns a pair of qc35s
Not true. Every review pretty much says that QC35s don't have top notch audio quality. People buy QC35s because they have the best noise cancelling.
I've tested a friend's QCs and the noise cancellation is spookily amazing. If I had to fly regularly or worked in a noisy environment, I would have no hesitation parting with the money to buy a pair.
To me an audiophile is a self-deluded idiot.
They will claim two things: confirmation bias either isn't a thing, or, that it is a thing, but for the reason of "I though it and it felt good to feel special" they're a scientific miracle who magically does not experience confirmation bias.
And they will claim to understand sampling theory or act as if they understand it by making stupid claims about music formats and quality. Almost no one understands sampling theory, myself included.
Anyone who has covered the walls of a room in their house with egg cartons.
Being an audiophile means your journey to search for the right sound, it is your personal discovery that makes the hobby. You walking into an audio show and seeing the best and highest level of the hobby and saying it's 'inaccessible' is really no different to walking into a Michelin Star restaurant and claiming the Sashimi taste great by saying dumb clueless stuff like it's 'fresh' that's why it's good, rather then commenting on texture.
Most comments here is proof that many are willing to condescend on the hobby and group everyone under the misunderstands. Don't know if it just makes you happy pretending there isn't a big world of knowledge out there or just simply dumb.
Some hobbyists walk the path of absolutism of perfect recordings and perfect equipment and there are also some hobbyists who search for the right emotional sound (like reviving records). There is no right answer and that is why they are called 'audiophiles' and not audio engineers.
Getting into the hobby can be as cheap as getting a Fiio amp for $50 and connecting USB audio from your phone then loading the right app to bypass OS rendering. 'Inaccessible' is bull.
I'm a man after your own heart, except with grammar. Yours is appalling.
An Audiophile is someone who has alot of experience with many different headphones in a price bracket, combined with many different amps. Experience gives you the audiophile ear.
There are 3 price brackets, between $0-300, $300-1500, and $1500+ to unlimited.
Only headphones?
Headphones are affordable, audiophile speakers are like 50k at a comparative same quality headphones are $300.
In my experience, some audiophiles are more about money than anything else. They generally assess sound quality by how much was paid for the equipment. Which may or may not correlate.
They are a little like wine buffs…..who also have a little too much money….. I'm sure there are many ways to try and feel superior that cost less.
The difference between enjoying good quality music reproduction and being an audiophile is the need to tell everyone else about how good your equipment is.
To reach the next stage, you need to start denigrating everyone else's audio equipment at the same time as praising your own.
I went to that hifi show also. I agree full of expensive equipment that didn't impress. I did like the Osbourne and Krix sound but too much money. The music they pick to demo is typically rubbish also, either poorly recorded or has next to no bass.
Do you reckon you can be an audiophile if you suffer from tinnitus?
Folks who claim they can differentiate audio frequency beyond 20Hz and 20kHZ and justify their audio gear purchases based on that logic.