Thread: A Conversation with a Young "Audiophile"

I have known this young guy for a few years. He is in his 30s and loves music (he plays the piano and listens mostly to jazz).

Years ago, he embarked on a quest to build a good sounding system. He listened to different brands of electronics and speakers and after several tries ended up with a nice system with "audiophile" brands in the line up. His journey took him to analog as well. He bought a turntable, and bought quite a few albums including "audiophile" 45 rpm releases.

We had dinner a few days ago and he volunteered that he seldom listens to analog anymore. He said that when he went into his audio quest, all he heard about was how great analog was. He felt that he needed to try it. Today, 98% of what he listens to is digital (he uses Roon and subscribes to either Tidal or Qobuz, not sure); he feels that analog has been overrated.

I have owned vinyl most of my life and still enjoy listening to vinyl from time to time (I will not give it up since just playing a particular record brings back many memories!). However, I cannot be critical of his choice because if I were starting anew I would be 100% satisfied with just a digital set up. Wondering how many 'young audiophiles' will end up going the same route.

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.

Originally Posted by JCS123

... 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?

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?

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.

Totally agree! Thanks!!!