A Couple Audiophile Questions

Also, I think it comes down to a person's individually-shaped nervous system: how sensitive one's hearing and brain is to sound. As I've listened to music over the years I find myself more reactive to the sound that the bands, engineers, and producers shaped into their "final versions"--that is, what we are allowed to hear. Ofttimes I find myself scratching my head at the ultimate sound choices made in those production booths. "What were they thinking?" or "How could they let this go in this condition?" are frequent reactions to the rendered music I'm listening to, not the loss or compression or high or low ends or scratches. My days as an audiophile were always ultimately placed at the mercy of the artists, producers and production companies. It'd be easier for me to tell you which albums feel well-produced than which albums sound best.

^ Agreed. I never went down that road too far, fortunately. These days I stick with truly audiophile solutions, taking the word literally. That means digital only, for the most part (going back to vinyl only for nostalgic reasons) and listening through decent headphones. Minimal equipment, focus on the music instead

If you think about "audiophilia" as a journey instead of a destination, it may be helpful. Get the best system you can afford, and over time pick up components that improve the sound. Don't get turned off by people who are super-deep in that world. It's just like if someone is interested in getting into progressive rock. Nobody in their right mind is going to suggest a Thinking Plague album or something like that; they're going to suggest something more accessible. It's no different in the audiophile world. If you're just starting out, you may not be able to appreciate yet some of the more esoteric stuff out there.

One of the best decisions I have made in my musical life is to put a little more time and energy into my stereo system. I highly recommend it!

Edited by JD - March 21 2022 at 11:09

Funny thing is, I have no idea how many others I might have. I'll have to do a collection review and report back.

^ And he knows more than anyone, the production of DSOtM was done at such a high level of craftmanship that almost ALL audiophiles use the album to show off their system, this has been happening for 50 yrs.

I prophesy disaster wrote: JD wrote: ^NOPE. Only the music can reveal the true nature of the tool that is interpreting it. It's the differences in the source material that has to be listened to in order to judge the gears performance.   This misses the point of what I've been saying. What I'm saying is that audiophiles can be so obsessed with sound quality that they are focusing on it rather than the music.[EDIT]

Ok, I get what you're saying but at the root of the listening is the MUSIC. The whole point is to make the music sound better, yes? So logic dictates that the way to discern that is by listening to the differences in the source material (MUSIC) on different gear. See what I'm saying? Otherwise, audiophiles would ONLY evaluate the gear via technology that measures objectively the differences (ie: oscilloscopes and RTA's).

^Did you volumematch the files beforehand?
If so I’m fairly confident that there are plenty of scientists who would like to meet (and test!) you.