Don’t real audiophiles own their own media?

Shadowfax said:
= Audiophile
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No - Satisfied Audiophile

Edited: I should have added the person on the journey to finding this end game system is still an audiophile. They are just at a different stage of development.
 
I used to think that audiophiles were primarily music lovers who also enjoyed a good reproduction. But I am no longer sure.

I see now that way too many 'audiophiles' are primarily obsessed with gears as opposed to music. They prefer to listen mediocre artists/performances over great artists/performances because the first were recorded using the latest state-of-the-art equipment. They obsess over stuff that cannot be corroborated by science but somehow they "hear" it. They must own and hoard the physical media in preparation for the upcoming black swan event that will create a major internet failure just at the precise moment when they want to listen to music. Calling it an OCD condition is now normal, in fact, many are proud to be considered 'disordered' in that way. And of course, everything matters! Yes, the color of the knob or the green pens or the CD rings, they all matter. If one asks for scientific proof, the answer becomes: Who needs science when I can trust my 70 years old ears?. No wonder why so many folks consider audiophiles to be audio-fools.

I don't want to be called an audiophile, let alone a "real" audiophile (whatever that means).
 
Some are Audiophiles In Name Only - AINOs - they ain't real.
 
I own almost 9 Tb's of music and an additional 100 lp's. Streaming does not make sense for me. If I was starting from scratch, I would stream.
 
IMO how one enjoys their 'music' is immaterial. I find way more 'audiophiles' interested in 'gear' then music, perhaps the internet and forums are part of the blame ? Overall though and IMO this forum and the handful of others I participate in are of benefit to getting the maximum from our gear so as to enjoy our music even more-so.
 
I love music in just about all formats (vinyl preferred), I love the gear, I love learning new things related to getting better sound which makes the music better. I spend way too much time reading audio forums. Am I an audiophile? My inner self is confused.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk
 
TheGemState said:
I love music in just about all formats (vinyl preferred), I love the gear, I love learning new things related to getting better sound which makes the music better. I spend way too much time reading audio forums. Am I an audiophile? My inner self is confused.
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In my view a perfect specimen :), or definitive example.
 
TheOctopus said:
...Not one of those musicians ever worried about the acoustics or anything else related to sound quality...
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I'm not sure who "not one" of those musicians is/are. Plenty of musicians did worry then and worry now about sound; perhaps not most, but a significant percentage. Why do you think so many of those to whom you refer went to Rudy van Gelder's house (not recording studio) to make their albums? That is just the simplest and most obvious example; there are many more. The Grateful Dead were chronically in debt for at least half their career because they kept pouring their profits back into their sound system.
 
rbbert said:
I'm not sure who "not one" of those musicians is/are. Plenty of musicians did worry then and worry now about sound; perhaps not most, but a significant percentage. Why do you think so many of those to whom you refer went to Rudy van Gelder's house (not recording studio) to make their albums? That is just the simplest and most obvious example; there are many more. The Grateful Dead were chronically in debt for at least half their career because they kept pouring their profits back into their sound system.
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They went to Rudy van Gelder because that’s what their label (and contract wanted them to do) Rudy was the guy to go to for many labels. That’s not the point. The musicians played at many clubs and venues live and neither then, nor today, does a musician worry about acoustics. When I saw Chick Corea or many others live in my city, they don’t worry about bringing their own bass traps and acoustic panels. They just play where and how it is. The recording studio worries about its sound rooms. The musicians simply play. The bigger question is why so few musicians are audiophiles but I already covered that. It’s not about the sound to them. To us it is.
 
You are not quite right about van Gelder and recording. Not only did many musicians prefer to record there because of the sound, some refused to because they didn’t like the sound. And not being an “audiophile” is way way different than not caring about sound. Why do you think guitarists have so many guitars, and often use several different ones during a concert? Why do you think drummers choose different cymbals, or sax players different reeds? Most concert venues do in fact use a variety of acoustic treatments, and they often change depending on musician preference among other things. I also thought it was well known that some venues are “preferred” by a majority of musicians because of their acoustics; I guess that is news to you, though?
 
rbbert said:
You are not quite right about van Gelder and recording. Not only did many musicians prefer to record there because of the sound, some refused to because they didn’t like the sound. And not being an “audiophile” is way way different than not caring about sound. Why do you think guitarists have so many guitars, and often use several different ones during a concert? Why do you think drummers choose different cymbals, or sax players different reeds? Most concert venues do in fact use a variety of acoustic treatments, and they often change depending on musician preference among other things. I also thought it was well known that some venues are “preferred” by a majority of musicians because of their acoustics; I guess that is news to you, though?
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The fact remains the same, few musicians are interested in high end audio.

I’m not a musician but I would assume that Owning Many instruments and the preference of one to the other is the tone and the way it expresses the emotional content, not how it will sound over someone’s high end audio. Although the word “sound” is quite interchangeable with tone/timbre here but a violinist will obviously prefer a “timbre” of one over the other while both can sound great to an audiophile... Do you personally have a strong preference of any drum sets, guitars, violins that you listen to on your system? Perhaps a Baldwin piano and nothing else will do for your taste? No? Why not? Because you would not recognize a particular instrument in a recording while enjoying a good sound? Do you personally prefer a Steinway over a Baldwin? Probably not? But a pianist would have a preference of a concert piano for sure...

The recording engineer worries about the sound. That’s what they do as they alter the sound during mixing and mastering to bring us the final product. Hence all the butchered music that was loudness masted for more sales for the label back in the days. The musicians were not always for it as it butchered their art. The sales for the labels however were probably much more important than a musicians pride.
 
TheOctopus said:
(...) musicians played at many clubs and venues live and neither then, nor today, does a musician worry about acoustics. When I saw Chick Corea or many others live in my city, they don’t worry about bringing their own bass traps and acoustic panels. They just play where and how it is. The recording studio worries about its sound rooms. The musicians simply play.
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Let me propose the following:
There is a difference between creating music and reproducing the sound of music.
Musicians create the music;
Music & audio hobbyists are concerned about reproducing the recorded musical session in their homes.

Music lovers enjoy listening to the piece of music while pure audiophiles appreciate the reproduction SQ.

I'm guessing that most (all) of us here are looking to increase our enjoyment of music through improvements in the SQ of our systems.
 
Re: Don't real audiophiles own their own media?

Gregm said:
Let me propose the following:
There is a difference between creating music and reproducing the sound of music.
Musicians create the music;
Music & audio hobbyists are concerned about reproducing the recorded musical session in their homes.

Music lovers enjoy listening to the piece of music while pure audiophiles appreciate the reproduction SQ.

I'm guessing that most (all) of us here are looking to increase our enjoyment of music through improvements in the SQ of our systems.
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I would agree, but the majority of the responses have been from music lovers.

SQ is dependent upon many things including the media used. Streaming doesn’t provide the best media. Take for instance, “The Doors.” Nothing that you may stream by The Doors can equal this - not even close -

The Doors-The Doors-45 RPM Vinyl Record|Acoustic Sounds

Media matters to an Audiophile.
 
Gregm said:
Let me propose the following:
There is a difference between creating music and reproducing the sound of music.
Musicians create the music;
Music & audio hobbyists are concerned about reproducing the recorded musical session in their homes.

Music lovers enjoy listening to the piece of music while pure audiophiles appreciate the reproduction SQ.

I'm guessing that most (all) of us here are looking to increase our enjoyment of music through improvements in the SQ of our systems.
Click to expand...


I would realistically break it down into three categories. With a bit of dramatization for clarity...

1. Audiophile-- This is a great "piano" recording!
2. Music Lover--This is a great version of Beethoven's 5th
3. Musician-- This is the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven's No.5 in C minor OP.67 with Seiji Ozawa conducting when he was a conductor from 1973-2002 at BSO...

Note that numbers 2 and 3 can also be audiophiles.
 
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