[newbalance]

Step One: Be rich
Step Two: Obsessively listen to things
Step Three: Become poor

 

[ILikeMusic]

The most important beginner's tip? Read this over and over until you learn it. This step will save you a lot of money, or at least allow you to spend your money where it will do the most good.

 

[mateo05]

ILikeMusic, be prepared to don your flamesuit

Edit: Quick search results:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=187509
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123921

 

[Comfy]

Audiophilia is what happens in your brain after a couple of succesful upgrades: you suddenly realize that you are not hearing all there is to your favorite music. And once you realize that, you'll spend all your extra (and some not-so-extra) money on pursuing the evasive goal of squeezing out all there is to your music. And as you get closer to that goal two things happen:
- You have to spend more money to achieve smaller advances in sound.
- Everything below your standard will sound like s**t.

So it's pretty much like a heroin addiction. Just slightly more antisocial.

 

[uthscsa19]

IF I compare them to some other earbuds or headphones I have, how do I know what to listen for in order to understand which is better? I mean, how do you know so distinctly in all these threads which has better highs, lows and mids? If the bass is "punchy" or "flat" etc...sounds like a very very subjective rating system. Like wine tasting.



I just bought my second pair of headphones, and the only way to understand what all of those things mean, is by trying different headphones. I started off with Shure e3g's, and for the 6 months that I used them as my sole headphone, I thought they were the best out there. Then I purchased some Alessandro MS-1's, and while only using them for about 45mins ( I just received them today), it is clear what I was missing, and what a difference there was in the mids and low end as compared the the e3g's. I didn't know how I'd recognize any of these things, but after a short listening session, it was clear as day. Now I'm wondering what I'm missing from even higher end gear, but I dare not open my wallet again. Come to think of it, I better stop logging on here.

 

[Spareribs]

The way I look at it, music comes first over equipment. Yeah yeah....blah blah... we all know that (or most of us!)

OK, that said, have fun! That is, have fun reading about the wonders of the different equipment out there in audio land and buy some cheap good affordable things like a good quality cheap amp and good quality affordable headphones. You won't break the bank and you'll have fun enjoying the music.

Next, have a budget plan of the next couple years of saving to get some really good serious high end equipment. I don't believe in putting it on a credit card and placing myself in a big debt situation. Saving up is better. I plan on saving up for about a year or two or so to get a really good fancy pimped out amp and super duper balanced headphone. You may think that it's too long but time flies pretty quick and before you know it, you'll have a good amount of money to invest if you save wisely. You don't even have to sacrifice and eat Ramen noodles, just budget more carefully, work over time perhaps and watch your dollars more carefully and after a couple years or so, you'll have enough money to have a killer rig set up.

I'm excited about my future rig and by saving my money in a shoe box, I'll have an awesome headphone rig. My friends will be jealous!

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1967cutlass To become an audiophile the first thing you need to do is STOP listening to music. Only listen to the equipment. And when around other people or places, do not, under any circumstances, enjoy music that isn't reproduced perfectly. Spend most of your income buying equipment to listen to, and don't bother buying very many CD's. Just get a couple of "reference" ones because that's all you'll need to tune your equipment.

I guess I'm not an audiophile then, I just really like expensive equipment...because I love to listen to the music

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamey Listening to live, acoustic or un-amped music is an excellent way to train your ear. The more you can do that, the better your 'reference' will be. Then, comparing your recorded music and headphones to your experience with live music should allow you to hear when something sounds closer to the real thing.

Absolutely true. I use many acoustic discs for my reference, but I still enjoy the way they sound.

 

[CaptSnuffy]

Start using adjectives that you'd normally use to describe food to express how your gear reproduces music.

And spending a lot of money wouldn't hurt.

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptSnuffy Start using adjectives that you'd normally use to describe food to express how your gear reproduces music. And spending a lot of money wouldn't hurt.

Ahahaha yes I think the funniest thing I've read is someone describing sounds that were similar to dark chocolate or champagne

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic The most important beginner's tip? Read this over and over until you learn it. This step will save you a lot of money, or at least allow you to spend your money where it will do the most good.

Bunk, bunk, bunk and more bunk. The author of this article is trying to tear down most everything that got me into high end audio in the first place. Numbers 1,2 and 3 in particluar are absolutely ABSURD! There is no one that can tell me a Rat shack cable sounds like a higher end AQ, MIT, Cardas, Analysis Plus, etc cable. I've A/B ed my cheapo stuff with my 'decent' stuff and there is simply no comparison. I truly don't believe it's placebo. Im running Analysis Plus Oval 9's in my main speaker system and NOTHING has ever sounded like that before and everything prior has been copper cabling. When you get into the insanely costly cables (say Valhalla, etc), it may be a slightly different story, but I would never criticize someone who had the money and bought Valhallas.
Second, tubes are no longer an intelligent audio choice? What? Come to my 'listening room' and tell me that when I A/B my SS vs. my tubes (of similar price). The only two downsides to tubes: the whole biasing bit (but it makes the musical experience that much more personal) and the fact that my small listening room gets VERY hot with my halogen track lighting paired with all of those tubes! These negatives are easily outweighed by the positives of sitting down with a liquid smooth sound that feels like it rolls off of your body instead of grates against you as if you were a block of provolone!
The vinyl / CD thing can be debated and has been to death so Im not going into it. But I prefer a good LP over a CD anyday and I think I always will (until the next super technology comes out and they can stream the media directly to our brains

)

 

[PiccoloNamek]

I agree with everything in the PDF file article. I bet I could go into your house, switch out all of your expensive wires for cheap radio shack wires, and you would never know the difference. Ever.

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek I agree with everything in the PDF file article.

No way! Do you have experience with a good deal of the components discussed? Ive been reading a lot of threads lately and I know you go on and on about your Ety ER4's so I KNOW you understand good headphones

(they're one of my all time favorites - 2nd pair on order), but me thinks you need an education in cabling and tubes!

 

[Jussei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek I bet I could go into your house, switch out all of your expensive wires for cheap radio shack wires, and you would never know the difference. Ever.

I really don't believe that's the case, but Id love for it to happen and be proven wrong and be able to buy all my IC's and speaker cable at Rat shack or some other big box.
But, cables aside... do you really agree with the fact that tube audio is meritless, as the article puts it? I don't think anyone can justify saying that. You may have a preference one way or the other (SS or tubes) and thats cool, but to say (in so many words) that tubes are obsolete and that SS is so much more advanced/better seems ridiculous.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

My father is a journeyman electrician, I wonder what he would have to say about expensive cables. Probably nothing good, I'd imagine. It simply isn't that difficult to get an electrical signal through a cable intact, I'm afraid.

As for tube amps, if you enjoy that kind of coloration, then it doesn't bother me at all, although I prefer a more neutral sound myself. I'd also rather not deal with the hassle of tubes going out and everything else he mentioned.

 

[Sebastianbf]

an advice: start listening to music just like you read a book: 100% concentrated in it. Don't hear it as a background sound.