[mikeg]

Kelly,
So, what were you into before you got into this group in Jan 02? Is that when you started buying headphone-related audio equipment? A good way to break one habit is to migrate to other activities and other people. Once you migrate elsewhere, this activity, and this group will seem much less important.

 

[arnett]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly I'm just a person with a problem who found an expensive time-consuming outlet. I've recently had my eyes opened for me to many things and I hope to regain some control and be a part of this without being consumed by it. We'll see.

wow! i'm just blown away with this post. i've found some new respect for you kelly.

the line between hobby and an obsession is a fine one that many people on this forum tread. an obsession is never good.

no one will ever say on their death bed, "i wish i would have spent more time with the blockhead." fact is, we're just talking about headphones here -- a simple diversion from daily life that means nothing in the big scheme of things.

the only way one can ever be happy is to find balance in one's life (i hope that's not too preachy).

 

[decesaro]

Quote:

Originally posted by arnett i'm definitely with dkm24 on this one. except, in most cases, a musician cares way more about music than an audiophile does. musician: actually takes steps to master an instrument(s) -- much hard work involved. additionally, a lot of musicians can play several styles of music. audiophile : just sits in a chair. the only hard work is deciding which $500 interconnect to buy and how to hide the bill from the wife. musician: will actually listen to the music -- namely for inspiration. audiophile : listens to his system (not necessarily the music) and critiques every one of the numerous faults in the the playback (which will NEVER be perfect). additionally, a musician has a lot riding on their love of music -- their career. this is not the concern of the audiophile. of course, these are generalizations. but as dkm24 points out, most musicians are not audiophiles. funny how that works, isn't it.

HA HA THAT SAID IT ALL , YOU JUST DISCRIBED ME AND MY FRIEND FROM WORK ,ME BEING THE SNOB WITH THE ONE CRITIQUING CHAIR , AND HIM LOVING HIS GARBAGE FINDING AMP FOR HIS GUITAR , THE GUY HAS l CANT TELL YOU HOW MY GUITARS AND AMPS ,BUT HAS A 100.00 STEREO AND FEELS THATS TOO MUCH , I DONT UNDERSTAND.

 

[kelly]

arnett
I think you see where I'm coming from. I'm not quite on my death bed, but I already have a lifetime of regrets--some of them I'll never be able to make up for.

 

[Ebonyks]

Kelly, that's the thing about this crazy little thing that we call life. Yes, i'm young, 16, but yet, i already have a world of regrets in life. Am i a true audiophile? No. I have invested my last summer entirely to the audio gods, and am still not yet happy, but i've learned so much about my self, and have become a better person in it. Sure, that's taking an overly epic view of it all, but i honostly believe finding head-fi was a life-changing experence, as well as a wallet shrinking one

I've thrown away close to a grand on building my headphone system, and i am not pleased with it still, but i have an acheavable goal for what i am looking for. Perfection is unrealistic, not even worth trying for. While pretty much everyone here says that, saying it, and realizing it are two completely different things. Perhaps it's an oversimplified anaology, finding head-fi, and spending approperately has caused me to look at the world differently. I love music. I've always loved music, ever since my dad played his old classical LP's when i was just a wee lad. My headphone system, is that love, but so much more at the same time. I know focus on details. I hear everything which everyone who is responsible for the piece placed in it. I hear music differently, and it's so much better. I analyize everything. Words, the viabrato on the shaking hand of a master cellist, and the slight whur in the voice of a masterful singer. I can interperate everything on a much deeper level, and can begin to understand what they intended to do when they wrote their songs, what they wanted to bring to the world, and the effect of every hand that has touched the music in one way or another. Then why keep obessing over details? It's not a meaningless focus on the obseesion of a small white noise barely audible in the backround of my melos, or the slight rattle that occurs with the lowest of notes on my beyerdynamic 931's, it's about finding the meaning in life. What drives average people to pour their hearts and souls into creating lyrics and melodies that embody the human soul. You see, i hate anaylitical sound, i want soul, the soul of the song writer, the soul of the guartist, and the soul of the enginer who designed the headphones, and really cared about how people listened and enjoyed music

So, getting back to kelly's point, do i have regrets with spending all of my money? of course. I've got prom comming up in a couple of months, and i cannot give my girlfriend the prom that she deserves, and all that she has done for me since we met 4 years ago. Will i be able to buy christmas gifts for all who i'd like to give them to? Nope. But, everything in life comes at a cost. Do you feel differently about music that you did before you got this addiction? Do you see it on a different level as i do? Then, perhaps this whole experence has been worthwhile.

Anyone else take some meaning in my long winded and unfocused rant?

 

[mikeg]

Ebonyks - Very thoughtful, and thanks for your thoughts.

 

[ai0tron]

Kelly, others, you shouldn't regret. Thats pointless.

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." - A.G. Bell

 

[kelly]

Kelly hits Aiotron with a stick.
Aiotron: "Hey, why'd you do that!"
Kelly: "It doesn't matter, it's in the past!"
Aiotron: "Yeah but it still hurts."
Kelly: "Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you either run from it, or learn from it. Ah, you see? So what are you going to do?"

 

[DarkAngel]

Audiophile
Someone who has more invested in equipment vs music. Often they really care more about gear vs listening to music.

This statement above sums up the "problem" with being an audiophile. They are more interested in analyzing their gear and constantly tweaking it, they use music as a "tool" to analyze and check their gear...........kinda of sad really.

I find it sad that we have so many threads and silly arguments here about heaphones, amp, cables etc yet very few people participate to any extent in the music thread to discuss in detail the whole purpose of audio gear.............MUSIC

 

[arnett]

what an amazing thread this is.

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly arnett I think you see where I'm coming from. I'm not quite on my death bed, but I already have a lifetime of regrets--some of them I'll never be able to make up for.

yes, i have been there kelly -- and (surprisingly) not with headphones. i used to obsessed with being a musician. i wasted several years of my life pursuing the goal of being a professional recording artist even when i didn't have the talent or connections to become one. and 'obsessed' is a truly accurate description.
i really regret those years -- i could have spent them in a much more productive way.

kelly has, in 11 months, done what most of us will not do in a lifetime: hear just about every hi-end can and amp on the market. and, no doubt, spent a lot of money (not to mention time) doing it.

kelly, you seem like a very intense person. going from obsession to obsession is not very healthy and will probably not make you happy.

i often wonder why people come to head-fi so much. i think it's not so much this site, but the lives of its members. there must be a lot of lonely people out there . . .

 

[ai0tron]

Kelly its not that the past doesnt matter, its that you shouldnt spend all your time regretting your actions. What you should do is learn from them and move forward.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

I do not have any regrets yet. Knock on wood.

 

[pikawel]

Does anyone ever use this word as an adjective? That's actually mainly how I use it, heh.

"These are a pair of audiophile headphones."

Audiophilic... heh.

 

[dkm24]

Quote:

This statement above sums up the "problem" with being an audiophile. They are more interested in analyzing their gear and constantly tweaking it, they use music as a "tool" to analyze and check their gear...........kinda of sad really. I find it sad that we have so many threads and silly arguments here about heaphones, amp, cables etc yet very few people participate to any extent in the music thread to discuss in detail the whole purpose of audio gear.............MUSIC

I think this is why the word audiophile has become a dirty word. It is rather plain to see that an audiophile has become obssesed with the gear. Think about it, a $1000 system will convey the beauty of the music. What artistic revelations would an extra $50000 do. Really not much when we are looking for the beauty of the music. This is why musicians generally are not audiophiles. But what is really sad with being obbssesed with the gear? What makes it so much worse to love gear than to love the guitar. It's ok to hear these stories of these artists that sleep with their guitars, but to hear about an audiophile spending $28,000 on a turntable is sheer blasphamy. What makes one right and the other wrong??????? doug

 

[leninwtigger]

From my first read of this thread it would seem that audiophile is not a music lover. It has also been suggested that a musician is mainly concerned with audio production (or generation) while an audiophile is concerned with its reproduction. 
 
Personally, I think that an audiophile should be also a music lover, otherwise the quest for the best sound is left rootless. That is, what is that you want to reproduce with such fidelity to the original that you spend so much time and money? 
 
If and audiophile is not a music lover then the term is rightly used as an insult. Without appreciation for the "thing" the sound equipment reproduces an audiophile is just a guy that spends money on electronics. A consumerist even if an extreme one.