A Conversation with a Young "Audiophile"

Sure, some young people are put off by the cost of good equipment and good recordings. But so was I and so many of us when we were coming up. We saved for better equipment because it led to better enjoyment of music.

Not only do some young people not hear much a difference between different formats, they don't seem to care.

Which leads me to wonder - is part of this that the music that a lot of young people listen to is so bad that much of it isn't worth pursuing better sonics for?

As a teen, I would hear something I liked on the radio and head out to the record store and get the album as soon as I could. Could it be that listening to vinyl made such a connection that I wanted to enhance that experience even more? Would any of us have gone through the fine-tuning gymnastics of deciding whether to tape a nickel or quarter onto the tone arm to make it track "better" (soon to be followed by getting a fresh copy because we had worn it down too far) if we weren't addicted?

Do young people enjoy the sound of their MP3's through their earbuds as much as we enjoyed listening to vinyl through our speakers? I doubt it.

With digital, we can stop what we're playing on a dime and move on to the next thing with a click or two. Our attention spans have shrunk. Combine that with the fact that the current popular music might not be quite as good, and the vast majority of it is MP3 quality, and I can see where young people might not ever experience that magic moment when they realize that their hobby has just become an obsession worthy of investing in.

Hopefully, more young people like your friend will at least explore the possibilities of better sound like he did.

I know an Amish guy who swears the horse pulled market wagon is the ultimate in 2022 transportation.
Horses for courses

JCS123 said:

... Which leads me to wonder - is part of this that the music that a lot of young people listen to is so bad that much of it isn't worth pursuing better sonics for?

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That is not the situation in my friend’s case. He listens to jazz and has invested good money in top analog recordings of jazz masters like Coltrane. He just gave up on the thought that analog is the best sounding source.

... As a teen, I would hear something I liked on the radio and head out to the record store and get the album as soon as I could. Could it be that listening to vinyl made such a connection that I wanted to enhance that experience even more? Would any of us have gone through the fine-tuning gymnastics of deciding whether to tape a nickel or quarter onto the tone arm to make it track "better" (soon to be followed by getting a fresh copy because we had worn it down too far) if we weren't addicted?

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Back in the day, all we had was vinyl. The tribulations of vinyl are well known to those of us of a certain age. It was not just tracking force, we also had to deal with VTA, azimuth, wow and flutter, RIAA curves, channel separation, etc. Today, you have digital as an option. And in the case of digital, none of those variables apply. I bet that the convenience of digital is also a factor.

Hopefully, more young people like your friend will at least explore the possibilities of better sound like he did.

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Totally agree! Thanks!!!

JCS123 said:

Do young people enjoy the sound of their MP3's through their earbuds as much as we enjoyed listening to vinyl through our speakers? I doubt it.

With digital, we can stop what we're playing on a dime and move on to the next thing with a click or two. Our attention spans have shrunk. Combine that with the fact that the current popular music might not be quite as good, and the vast majority of it is MP3 quality, and I can see where young people might not ever experience that magic moment when they realize that their hobby has just become an obsession worthy of investing in.

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I just think that digital is very good.
Also the convenience that digital offers is huge.

Having said that, I have found that using a good digital clock fixes most of digital's shortcomings.



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Digital is good, and easy. Much choice of music.

Vinyl has snob appeal to some, no doubt. But that’s true of everything audiophile.

I am a 63 year old male who grew up listening to vinyl, and AM radio as a youngster. My audio flavor favors vinyl, particularly older vinyl. It just sounds “right”. I probably listen 80% to digital, and 20% to vinyl.

Putting the old McIntosh MC60s in my system gave me a lot of the “rightness” back to me. I did get a pre-amp tube tester to help keep them running well.