Why Are You an Audiophile?

You should try to find a meet or mini-meet in your area and bring an external HDD or CD burned with your favorite reference tunes.  You should be able to answer your own question then, and be able to identify your 'dealer' of choice :)

 

Your friend's response isn't uncommon, as music isn't that important to most people other than being used as background noise.  Everyone has their recreational drug(s) of choice: books, movies, TV shows, video games, wine, food, skiing, camping, etc.  Audio is a natural fit for someone whose happy place is music (though there's also things like performance, music lessons, attending live shows, etc., which aren't mutually exclusive activities).

That's a very good question, I'm in this hobby for all the wrong reasons.

 

I just like stalking livestream singing, and better gear lets me hear them girls just a tiny bit better. Totally worth it IMO, because some of them say they're 15 just to get more viewers, but there's no escaping the resolution power of the Omega 2's.

I'm here mostly for the music now, and our own Head-fi patented meme.

At first, I wanted decent headphones. Now, I'm just almost done.

Because music is the one thing I care about the most in my life. It's always been there for me. Since I was a little kid it's what I can remember made me the happiest. 

 

So why would I not want it to sound the best it possibly can? Sure...being an audiophile will eat your wallet...but if it's a huge part of your life, why not?

i care about my music but i don't consider myself an audiophile at all. just music lover. i love playing music and listening to music. yea i care about the sound i get of course,just not into the whole craze and hype aspect of it. i just think on my own and use my ears on what i like. i do nothing fancy or try to own the most expensive equipment around. i just want good clean sound. that's just how i am. i enjoy accurate gear but it's the color in the music itself i enjoy the most.even if i hear the faults in the music it will not stop me from enjoying it.

I'm proud to be an audiophile and I love it. Great sound and great tone is like appreciating beautiful colors of a painting in person when you visit an art gallery. 

 

Another reason is because it's so easy to be an audiophile in the age of the internet. When I was in college in the 1990s, all I had was a crappy boom box but I still loved it because I love music and bad sound quality still gave me lots of joy. The thing is, if you can afford good gear and the information is out there on where to find it, why not?

 

If lived in a city where I am surrounded with good food, I can easily be a food lover. I can afford decent gear, I know where to find it, I have a computer thus, I am an audiophile. It's too easy. I'm also a beerophile too because it's so easy to find good beer and I love it.

Stax:  sniffing out real 15 year old girls on the internet the only legal way possible.

 

Much to learn, I still have.

 

Some of the girls are REALLY good at voice acting, so I hope that the SR-009 is a good enough headphone to grant me a +/- 1 year accuracy. Right now I'm only good to +/- 3 years or so, and obviously, that's dangerous territory.

 

I'm going to have a fantastic time explaining my source material choice to the salesperson while auditioning the 009.

Two reasons.

 

First, I wanted a stereo setup that sounded like what I've heard when I play instruments.  Happily, I've found that you can get pretty close.  Close enough to really enjoy it.

 

Second is DIY.  I restored a bunch of old tube radios and picked up an amateur radio license before I got into audio.  I had too many radios and still do, so I looked into whether it was possible to build a high-end audio setup yourself.  Again, happily, the answer is yes.

 

 

 

I'm about to wrap things up with the gear.  Some more projects to build and a few pieces to upgrade/repair.  But the end is in sight and I'm going to spend more and more time listening to music.

I was looking for some headphones, originally the Beats, then I found Head-Fi. 

Audiophilia is one of those things that if you have to ask why, its probably not for you.  

I don't consider myself an audiophile, but one day, I decided I wanted to find out what my ears were missing, and why people spend so much on audio gear.

 

I like my fair share of music, but most of my interest is generally centered in video games. As a result, that's where most of my interest sound-wise stems from. I'm the sort of guy who would go collect old PC sound cards to make every game from the DOS era sound right if the budget allowed it. And the one thing that sparked my interest in better headphones? CMSS-3D Headphone. Suddenly, I could hear almost exactly what direction every gunshot, explosion, and footstep came from with nothing more than a decent pair of headphones, AD700 at first. Who needs surround loudspeakers?

 

Next thing I know, I'm packing a Stax Lambda with more Stax on the way. Fortunately, I scored some good deals on those, so the wallet hurt isn't as bad as it could've been, but I never expected to spend $250-360 on headphone systems before. I had to know what electrostatics sounded like...and I wasn't disappointed in the least. It all suddenly made sense then.

 

The only drawback? Less money to spend on computer hardware, videophile equipment, gaming gear, and technology in general!

Because I had disposable income and listen to a lot of music.