[mechgamer123]

Since I just got into the whole idea of quality sound less than a year ago, I've been trying to explain to my friends why I spend what they consider ridiculous amounts of money on headphones. I find it's really something you can't just explain to someone, they have to experience it as well. But I remember the first couple of months with my Hifiman RE-ZEROs I didn't really see the point in my investment. IMO it takes a lot of listening before you can truly begin to appreciate high end audio. And there's no way I'm lending out all of my gear to a friend for weeks on end. One of my friends said he really liked the B2s when I let him listen to them, but when he got home back to his ibuds he said "I could hear no difference" 

So, have you guys had any luck trying to explain/show your friends what high quality audio is all about?

 

[MorbidToaster]

I find that the proof is in the music. Even if they don't get it their jaws drop when I talk about having say...4 masters of one album. Or buying 3 versions of the same album to get the best sounding one. 
 
They start to understand how important it is to you and either become curious or leave you alone.
 
For instance, tonight I bought another recording of Holst's The Planets and my girlfriend asked why? I looked at her stunned and said 'Because this one is completely different from the one I bought last week.'
 
She scolded me and then became curious.
 
Quote:

Since I just got into the whole idea of quality sound less than a year ago, I've been trying to explain to my friends why I spend what they consider ridiculous amounts of money on headphones. I find it's really something you can't just explain to someone, they have to experience it as well. But I remember the first couple of months with my Hifiman RE-ZEROs I didn't really see the point in my investment. IMO it takes a lot of listening before you can truly begin to appreciate high end audio. And there's no way I'm lending out all of my gear to a friend for weeks on end. One of my friends said he really liked the B2s when I let him listen to them, but when he got home back to his ibuds he said "I could hear no difference" 

So, have you guys had any luck trying to explain/show your friends what high quality audio is all about?

 

[C.C.S.]

Quote:

I find that the proof is in the music. Even if they don't get it their jaws drop when I talk about having say...4 masters of one album. Or buying 3 versions of the same album to get the best sounding one. 
 
They start to understand how important it is to you and either become curious or leave you alone.
 
For instance, tonight I bought another recording of Holst's The Planets and my girlfriend asked why? I looked at her stunned and said 'Because this one is completely different from the one I bought last week.'
 
She scolded me and then became curious.
 

 
That is just about one of the coolest things I've heard here from a music purchase perspective versus the typical gear purchases I normally see here. May I inquire as to which of these Planets recordings was the best sounding, in your opinion, and whether or not it is readily available on CD?

 

[MorbidToaster]

Don't get too ahead of me. I've only got 2 versions of The Planets right now. It's always been a favorite but I've never started to delve deeper into Classical until very recently. My favorite right now is easily this one...
 
http://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Series-Holst-The-Planets/dp/B005JS7V8W/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343540716&sr=8-4&keywords=holst+planets+star+wars
 
It was just released and I was floored by some of the little things I heard. For one, Dynamic Range is excellent...but the coolest part is hearing fingers and feet move. It's so cool...
 
Plus...the second half is Star Wars music. No brainer. 
 
As for my view point. This has changed over the last few years. I started thinking it was the gear that mattered...It's really the music. I lost sight of that once and sold all my gear because I was sick of caring about the stuff so much and less about the music. 
 
I am so close to being able to just stop and buy music...I'm so excited.
 
EDIT: Don't worry...I'll be buying a lot more versions of The Planets.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Holst-The-Planets-Gustav/dp/B0000041S7/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t That one's next. 
 
Quote:

 
That is just about one of the coolest things I've heard here from a music purchase perspective versus the typical gear purchases I normally see here. May I inquire as to which of these Planets recordings was the best sounding, in your opinion, and whether or not it is readily available on CD?

 

[CashNotCredit]

Quote:

Since I just got into the whole idea of quality sound less than a year ago, I've been trying to explain to my friends why I spend what they consider ridiculous amounts of money on headphones. I find it's really something you can't just explain to someone, they have to experience it as well. But I remember the first couple of months with my Hifiman RE-ZEROs I didn't really see the point in my investment. IMO it takes a lot of listening before you can truly begin to appreciate high end audio. And there's no way I'm lending out all of my gear to a friend for weeks on end. One of my friends said he really liked the B2s when I let him listen to them, but when he got home back to his ibuds he said "I could hear no difference" 

So, have you guys had any luck trying to explain/show your friends what high quality audio is all about?

Most people have one hobby that they go above and beyond with. I always try to make a comparison to said hobby when explaining why I care about sound quality.

Really, it just boils down to aesthetic preference. Some people really just don't care how things sound.

Having said that, I find it a bit rude when people completely dismiss my audiophilia. I don't go walking around to people saying, "All of those shoes you wear, they all do the exact same thing in the exact same way!" or "All of those cars you drive, they all do the same thing." I'll usually just smile, nod, and say, "Wow! This is awesome!" 

I think that it really just boils down to everyone tolerating that everyone has different hobbies and passions. There'd be no need to "convince" anyone that high-end audio is worthwhile because there'd be no dismissal of it.

 

[mechgamer123]

I find that the proof is in the music. Even if they don't get it their jaws drop when I talk about having say...4 masters of one album. Or buying 3 versions of the same album to get the best sounding one. 

They start to understand how important it is to you and either become curious or leave you alone.

For instance, tonight I bought another recording of Holst's The Planets and my girlfriend asked why? I looked at her stunned and said 'Because this one is completely different from the one I bought last week.'

She scolded me and then became curious.

Lol that's pretty funny.
I've only bought different versions of 1 album (yellow limited edition Canadian pressing of Aja and the regular) but I can see where people would find it to be ridiculous.
Some of my friends have became curious. One of them said he notices an "obvious" difference between iTunes 160kbps files and FLAC, and he can "sense dynamic range compression" but all he has are concert speakers being driven by a vintage amp. >_<
Then there's the friend that says his ibuds sound the same as my b2s
Then a couple more of my friends haven't been curious at all. Just quick to judge and insult about others monetary decisions.
Out of the 2, one spends all of his earnings on firearms he is not legally allowed to have, and the other just spent $1000 to go down to California and meet a girl he found online.
Suddenly, headphones don't seem like such a rediculous investment compared to their purchases...

 

[ssrock64]

I generally take two routes:
 
1: I mention the sheer number of headphones I've owned, then talk about the ESP/950 and the amount of power that it takes to drive it. Astounded and confused, the listener wanted to hear more simply because it seems to unrealistic to them. Eventually I give them a listening session with my PS1000, and if they're into music in any capacity that understand what I'm all about, if not sympathize with that passion.
 
2: When discussing music, I occasionally mention my collection (59,200+ songs as of the last count) and people understand just how passionate I am, and from there I have a base to stand on when discussing my equipment.
 
 
 
I also own up to five different versions of a single song, and I have found out that I have doubles of such uninteresting albums as "A Ray Charles Christmas". My latest acquisition is a FLAC download of fun. Live at Fingerprints, which is so much different from the album versions of the songs on it that it warranted an immediate acquisition. Besides, the guitar is so well-mixed on it that it's impossible to resist.

 

[mechgamer123]

I think I Will end up showing them my shiny new hd600s, then let them listen to them.
But I do like the analogies some of you guys mentioned as well.
I've been getting quite a few questions about my o2 lately, it really makes an excellent conversation piece.

 

[Quest88]

It's all up to the person's receptivity, and how open minded they are.
I don't own any portable audio so it's all about speech for me - majority of people are happy listening to my views and can accept audio as a hobby.
 
However, I think it's really difficult to quantify dollars to what you are hearing and convince people it's worth that amount.
Most people would have a low level of listening ability, and they can't discern the differences until they are more trained - and this is constantly moving.
 
Even for people who have accepted the hobby, there are some who just can't hear, or do not want to hear.
I recall doing a shootout with my $7k DAC and a $250 one and the person couldn't hear a difference.
 
Luckily my gf can tell the difference in almost everything, so she keeps me sane.

 

[Merck]

Quote:

Don't get too ahead of me. I've only got 2 versions of The Planets right now. It's always been a favorite but I've never started to delve deeper into Classical until very recently. My favorite right now is easily this one...
 
http://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Series-Holst-The-Planets/dp/B005JS7V8W/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343540716&sr=8-4&keywords=holst+planets+star+wars
 
It was just released and I was floored by some of the little things I heard. For one, Dynamic Range is excellent...but the coolest part is hearing fingers and feet move. It's so cool...
 
Plus...the second half is Star Wars music. No brainer. 
 

 
That was the first performance of The Planets I ever purchased.  Its still the best one.  Others I have listened to just haven't been as good.  Either the tempo isn't right, fermatas aren't held as long as I feel they should, or the unity isn't as solid (on Mercury the Winged Messenger for example).  Good luck in the search for a better performance though.
 
I think this hobby is a difficult one to understand for many people because it is so subjective and as active listeners we, over time, get better at distinguishing the small nuances of sound.  It requires experience and effort, something which most people aren't interested in when it comes to listening to music.  This is of course difficult for us to understand.  How could anyone not feel such a deep connection to music, right?!  I guess when there are so few people learning how to play music its inevitable that the appreciation will be less.  Having learned in school how to play music it has definitely had a huge impact on my enjoyment of listening to it.

 

[Jethrosang]

Convincing my friends? Well, I gave up when they started to convince me to go "clubbing" (Essentially, where you go to some noisy club and dance like a mad men). I gave up, so do they.

 

[mechgamer123]

Quote:

Convincing my friends? Well, I gave up when they started to convince me to go "clubbing" (Essentially, where you go to some noisy club and dance like a mad men). I gave up, so do they.

LOL that's kind of funny.
I think most of us have that one thing we really can't explain to our friends now that I think of it...
Not to hate against bronies, but I don't understand them a damn bit.

 

[MorbidToaster]

Yeah...Well developed characters, good voice overs and brilliant animation is pretty hard to understand. 
 
In all seriousness though...There's plenty that take it too far.
 
Quote:

Not to hate against bronies, but I don't understand them a damn bit.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Funny enough I've convinced a bunch of my friends to enter entry level gear but nothing more.
They understand where I'm coming from when I buy higher end gear but they can't bring themselves to do it as well.

 

[ShamanSleeve]

I've surprisingly been really successful at this, last summer was my first convert. My friend/co-worker listened to my headphones and was impressed, this opened the door to convince him to get his first set of nice headphones, about two weeks later he bought  AKG K240's. About a month after that I talked a friend into getting MS1's, and finally the last convert was a few months ago. I'm working on a few more people currently, they seem pretty interested in good sound, so hopefully they'll find high end audio as enjoyable as I have.