Audiophile......The Myth

[frend2001]

Hi FMs

The term audiophile has spread like a wildfire.

The day is not far in future, when you'd be buying a pirated MP3 from that bearded guy on footpath and He'd offer you a ten times expensive version of the same CD, claiming it to be of Audiophile quality.

Actually shopkeepers are doing that today while selling us earphones, headphones, AV cables and drivers/speakers. While buying drivers for a DYI speaker project, a guy tried selling me some cheapo driver which had "AUDIOPHILE" slapped on the outer box....duhh.

What and Who is an Audiophile ???

The defination on wikipedia is "An audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction"

Yeah right I'm also after hi-fi sound reproduction.

But for being called an audiophile, do I have to buy a super expensive cable which cost an arm and a leg and maybe right testicle ?

well read this :

In Denmark there is a fairly new cable company selling high end, super expensive cables, ZenSati.

Several of their cables costs something like 20'000 Euros.

In the last year they have been revealed to buy their cables cheap from a Taiwanese cable company, Jinwei.




Yeah after having read this article couldn't stop myself from writing these lines.

I nither know nor am any authority about audiophile stuff, but hey....I understand the desire of a common man to achieve the best reproduction of music that's possible, but why there so many gimmicks, expensive cables, gold plated connectors and what not.....gimmi a break.

A good shielded copper cable is well soldered connectors is as good as any super hi-fi one.

A lot of my friends are spilling their money over useless stuff, I mean what good is a gold plated connector when you don't have properly matched speaker and amplifier.

Just to boast and chest thumping somebody buys a cable or connector which is exorbitantly high priced and thinks that yeah now the hi-fi sound reproduction will make him dizzy.......phew.

It's a chain and any fairly priced source, media, amplifier, driver will give the pleasure which it ought to give and you ought to experience.

I don't want to offend any FM and friends here, but I just had to write these few line to let off the steam that's been building up in me.

Invest is a decent setup and gradually progress in higher and much serious stuff one by one.

Just my penny's worth.

 

[corElement]

The term audiophile is really a self reflective concept. Those who give it value because someone else says it's Audiophile quality, then they deserve to be duped, fair and square.

 

[arj]

i agree there is lots of snake oil not jsut in Audio but even in other "Finer" aspects when compared to basic needs

Taking it further ive had discussions around even alcohol being overpriced/worthless eg Single malts..only have about as much alcohol as teachers at 10-20x prices. ..and those Chateau Rothschild wines can obviously be no better than the Sulas we have..Blind testing has time and again proven people cant make out the difference
not to mention those who say cars like the Jaguars..not sure what they have over and above the honda city other than fancy gadgets and unnecessarily powerful engines/suspensions at incredibly overpriced prices.

 

[sidvee]

I find it hard to understand why should anything be a myth. Test before you buy, if you hear a difference then buy otherwise don't. I have observed in emerging markets like India and China there is tendency to "Show Off" whether it is cars, houses, buying power, hi-fi etc. And sad part is here there is no access to audition anything properly - like cars for instance as Arj mentioned- can you take a porsche cayman or 911 for a high speed spin to properly put the car through its paces? - yeah right on our stupid pot holed, choked roads:lol:, yet it is an aspirational buy to show off to some stupid people who think that guy behind the wheel is better than them just because he is using his spine as a suspension for the stupid sports car that will average around 17kmph speed in the city.hyeah:
Similary hi-fi - So many of the high end sales (btw India is a miniscule market) in India are happening to moneybagged morons who could care less about the SQ, rather they would prefer to show off their XYX BS large speaker, amps, power cords etc.
Of-course the same thing is there in the developed western markets, but in a more subtle way. Secondly there are opportunities to test anything you buy there, because ultimately consumer is king.
In-fact there is a cable lending library where you can actually borrow and test most cables and decide if you like it or not.
So care should be taken to differentiate between the ethusiast who is willing to spend money because he understands what is hearing/can tell a difference/enjoys the music and the Moron who is buying so that he can show off. Even in the Porsche example above, there are enthusisats who will take their car for a spin on the ring roads and freeways so that they can enjoy the cornering, handling etc. of excellent german engineering, but unfortunately these enthusiasts will be in the minority just like the Audiophile mentioned in the title.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[arj]

I find it hard to understand why should anything be a myth. Test before you buy, if you hear a difference then buy otherwise don't. I have observed in emerging markets like India and China there is tendency to "Show Off" whether it is cars, houses, buying power, hi-fi etc. And sad part is here there is no access to audition anything properly - like cars for instance as Arj mentioned- can you take a porsche cayman or 911 for a high speed spin to properly put the car through its paces? - yeah right on our stupid pot holed, choked roads:lol:, yet it is an aspirational buy to show off to some stupid people who think that guy behind the wheel is better than them just because he is using his spine as a suspension for the stupid sports car that will average around 17kmph speed in the city.hyeah:
Similary hi-fi - So many of the high end sales (btw India is a miniscule market) in India are happening to moneybagged morons who could care less about the SQ, rather they would prefer to show off their XYX BS large speaker, amps, power cords etc.
Of-course the same thing is there in the developed western markets, but in a more subtle way. Secondly there are opportunities to test anything you buy there, because ultimately consumer is king.
In-fact there is a cable lending library where you can actually borrow and test most cables and decide if you like it or not.
So care should be taken to differentiate between the ethusiast who is willing to spend money because he understands what is hearing/can tell a difference/enjoys the music and the Moron who is buying so that he can show off. Even in the Porsche example above, there are enthusisats who will take their car for a spin on the ring roads and freeways so that they can enjoy the cornering, handling etc. of excellent german engineering, but unfortunately these enthusiasts will be in the minority just like the Audiophile mentioned in the title.
Cheers,
Sid

Well said sid.
Most of those who have made such money have done so wisely
I doubt of they would spend it foolishly

 

[sidvee]

Most of those who have made such money have done so wisely
I doubt of they would spend it foolishly

Absolutely Arj, some of the wealthy people I know are also quite frugal because they know what it takes to earn money the hard way, not the "Loot" that is going on in this country. However whatever they are enthusiastic in, whether it is music, cars, foreign exotic travel, watches, wine & spirits, paintings, sculpture, persian rugs, golf etc. they will spend/splurge in an informed manner. And they will bargain even for these, as you rightly said they will not throw away money foolishly, they didn't become rich in the first place by doing so.
Unfortunately, when an uniformed bystander who sees this moment of enthusiasm terms it as excess/foolishness/nonsense - I can't imagine how wrong they are.
And what gets me is an Audio enthusiast is always targeted - no body talks about excess in cars/homes/jewelry/designer clothes and all the other luxury spending that goes on. Isn't a person who buys a 1lac wool Zegna suit an "Idiot", when most of the country swelters for majority part of the year and this is such an impractical buy. Yet the designers are experiencing huge growth rate in our country and nobody points what a ridiculous buy this is and these are featured prominently in magazines like GQ etc.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[arj]

I find it hard to understand why should anything be a myth. Test before you buy, if you hear a difference then buy otherwise don't. I have observed in emerging markets like India and China there is tendency to "Show Off" whether it is cars, houses, buying power, hi-fi etc. And sad part is here there is no access to audition anything properly - like cars for instance as Arj mentioned- can you take a porsche cayman or 911 for a high speed spin to properly put the car through its paces? - yeah right on our stupid pot holed, choked roads:lol:, yet it is an aspirational buy to show off to some stupid people who think that guy behind the wheel is better than them just because he is using his spine as a suspension for the stupid sports car that will average around 17kmph speed in the city.hyeah:
Similary hi-fi - So many of the high end sales (btw India is a miniscule market) in India are happening to moneybagged morons who could care less about the SQ, rather they would prefer to show off their XYX BS large speaker, amps, power cords etc.
Of-course the same thing is there in the developed western markets, but in a more subtle way. Secondly there are opportunities to test anything you buy there, because ultimately consumer is king.
In-fact there is a cable lending library where you can actually borrow and test most cables and decide if you like it or not.
So care should be taken to differentiate between the ethusiast who is willing to spend money because he understands what is hearing/can tell a difference/enjoys the music and the Moron who is buying so that he can show off. Even in the Porsche example above, there are enthusisats who will take their car for a spin on the ring roads and freeways so that they can enjoy the cornering, handling etc. of excellent german engineering, but unfortunately these enthusiasts will be in the minority just like the Audiophile mentioned in the title.
Cheers,
Sid

Well said sid.
Most of those who have made such money have done so wisely
I doubt of they would spend it foolishly

 

[keith_correa]

The day is not far in future, when you'd be buying a pirated MP3 from that bearded guy on footpath

Leave your stereotypes behind please. It's distasteful.

But for being called an audiophile, do I have to buy a super expensive cable which cost an arm and a leg and maybe right testicle ?

No. But buying one that cost as much as the left one may help. Sorry, couldn't resist that distasteful response.

 

[frend2001]

Leave your stereotypes behind please. It's distasteful.
No. But buying one that cost as much as the left one may help. Sorry, couldn't resist that distasteful response.

Dear Keith

When I wrote "Bearded Guy" I was not referring to someone from a specific cast or to be exact muslims. So spare me your judgement.

Your response is kinda strong.

Anyways thanks for your valuable insight.

chao