[Nattapong]

Just my observation! .... from this site only... seem that post for music related is 3rd from buttom. With only 500 some thread compare to 2000+ in other topic ... Seem like audiophile mean one who interest in equipment more than music?????

 

[Milestones]

I do think there is a tendency amongst the audiophilia to forget at times that the equipment should be a means to listen to and enjoy music and not an end in and of itself.

If it has gotten to the point that you find yourself paying attention to the ability of the equipment to convey the music most of the time instead of just emersing yourself in the music itself then you probably have a problem and need to re-examine your priorities. Similarly if you are so obssessed with the sound quality of your system that you are always thinking of what is wrong with your system and how an upgrade would make it sound better to the point that you can't enjoy the music - then you have a problem again IMO. I've been guilty of this myself on numerous occassions and have to remind myself why I wanted to start working towards a better system in the first place - to enchance my enjoyment of the music, not to detract from it by being in a constant state of upgraditis.

After all - is the reason we strive for the ulitmate heaphone rig just to know that the system delivers the best possible sound we can attain and just be satisfied with that knowledge? - It shouldn't be.

Remember to listen to the music and remember how much you enjoyed listening to music on crappy cheapo sound equipment when you were younger just because you liked the music so much. Don't miss the forest of the music from being obsessed over the trees of thinking you need a $500.00 interconnect cable to be able to really enjoy and appreciate the music.

 

[Wes]

Milestones, you're right about the pitfalls of audiophilia, to put the most negative-sounding sort of suffix on that root. Your priorities are ordered correctly IMO.

Still, Nattapong's inference from relative numbers of posts that we as a group neglect the music doesn't quite follow. This is an equipment interest group, and it's natural that we talk mainly about the interest that brings us together. The beer and ice cream posts are mighty few here also, but who would say we have no interest in those?

I suspect that, if you go to forums about musical instruments, you will find musicians obsessing about whether a $7,000 reproduction Baroque bow plays as well as a $25,000 antique one. One shouldn't infer from that that musicians don't like music.

 

[Nattapong]

Wes has a point there. Um... Anyway, I didn't try to offend anyone here. Just observation ... I could just be looking for a wrong thing in a wrong place. I'm sure that what lead everyone here on the site is music ... if not because of music we wouldn't be getting all equipment and try to reproduce it.

BTW, what do you think about percentage of Audiophia .. (one who love to reproduce music) is a musian .. pro or non-pro . I mean... who many of us not only like to reproduce but also like to produce music..

Or ... better yet.. how many are regular concert goer .. say like to see or hear when music is being produce ...

Just out of curiosity ... even though what bring us here is a love of equipment .. but doesn't the music start it all ... so I would imagine ... discussion about music would spark a conversation...

I just feel that sometimes I am missing the point... I concern too much about how it reproduce... not listening to music but listening to glitch .. squeak .. and imperfection... lead to my recent purchase of HD600 after owning HD580 for only few weeks... I think I'm having a trouble.

 

[DanG]

Hey Nattapong,

I've found that here and on other audio sites it's easy to assume that people don't care about the music too much, and that's probably not true. However, I would say that it seems that many people do, in fact, care more about the equipment than the music, which to me seems strange as well. In fact, I found myself spiralling into that trend and caught myself a few months ago with my audio equipment purchases having slowed down considerably.

I myself am an amateur musician (though not really that amazing at all), and you'll find several highly talented musicians around here. Daniel Pumphrey is a wonderful guitarist from what I've heard, and AdamP88 is a great pianist (he shared some MP3s of his work with us). I'm sure there are many others who play musical instruments... if I'm not mistaken, coolvij plays the sax like his beloved John Coltrane.

The one thing that really irks me (KR!!!!!

) is when people look for so-called audiophile CDs. This is the only place where I find this term takes on a truly negative connotation from my perspective. The idea that downsampling from a higher fidelity re-master of an inferior performance will give you a better experience really just doesn't sit well with me.

Then again, I've found that this is the only place where I've met people other than myself and my dad who love the Naxos label.

Thanks for reading this rant.

 

[Nattapong]

DanG,

I have found myself addicted to this site. Not because I just purchased headphones and one more headphones on the way. I still love listening to speaker and miss it a lot. (I packed them becasue I am ready to move) It is because overall environment here. Seem that people here is very helpful, responsive, friendly etc. I am trying to find community like this for a long time for audio/music related topic.

I am sorry though if I seem to draw some conclusion that find a little offended to some. I didn't really mean that. It just my observation starting from myself then out of curiosity I take a look at number of thread on the site. Then I asked question. I'm also trying to watch myself at least not to pay too much for hardware and tweak... try to channel some to software (books or CDs)

Well.. I also great to know that a lot of people here are musician and do care a lot about music because of the music itself. Of course, we do like to talk about our rigs, tweaks and other stuffs that help enjoying music that we like. I don't think anything wrong with that. I do like it.

I also don't understand the discussion about audiophile CD... especially .. some strange sound ... not even music ... I don't think it is wrong if anyone like to listen to that but .. I don't understand. ... and continual topic about upgrade upgrade upgrade...

BTW, I myself like Naxos. Cheap CDs... I think there are a lot of great performers on Naxos. I am amateur classical guitarist. So I know there are several best guitar recordings on Naxos. Though I have never seen anyone complain about Naxos... if I would complain... probably ... they should consider issue maybe limited edition of their regular CD which will features more beautiful graphics on cover. All white sometime is boring. (Now non-music consideration..... com'on I am also lover visual Art ... graphic design, Industrial design ... are also my interest)

 

[zowie]

Lots of people like Naxos CDs. (But has anyone else been disappointed with the quality of some of the histroric reissue series?)

While seeking out the audiophile recording of a crappy performance is dumb, there's nothing wrong with seeking to find an audiophile recordings of a good performances instead of an average or poor recordings of good performances. I think that's what most people want, not just neat sound effects. Of if you've got a limited CD budget - one that is far exceed by the number of good performances, should one not seek to focus on those that sound excellent?

I also don't think there's necessarily anything wrong if someone is primarily interested in the equipment. If you're primarily interested in it to show it off to your neighbor, well that's not so great. But if someone is interested in engineering advances, creative industrial design, etc., what's wrong with that? I for one love old record changers, although they don't do very much in terms of getting me closer to the music (which I certainly do value - I was once a pretty good amateur musician). Who's to say one is inherently more valuable than the other.

 

[pigmode]

Re: Audiophile CDs

Music comes first, that's why we carefully build our systems right? There's nothing better than to listen to great music through a good system right?

Likewise, it can also be highly enjoyable to listen to a great system with a good audiophile CD. Yes? No?

 

[gloco]

I find it rather interesting (or maybe downright odd) that the many "audiophiles" seem to listen to jazz, blues or classical because the sound quality is superior compared to many other more popular genres. I personally buy music and follow artists based on the respect they have earned for their releases.

 

[coolvij]

DanG:

While I certainly don't have the virtuosity of Trane, I'd like to think I approach his level of passion at times.....I'm quite a passionate man/boy, thank yee...

And I just nailed another solo in jazz band - a 75 measure open improv solo. In an arrangement of "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" by James Brown......really fun.....nice chords goin on, too....

 

[Audio-Me]

gloco - I had no idea people listened to music for their "sound quality", that is very strange. I'm in no way against high quality recordings, but I'm all about music content first, not production.

I asked this on KRs thread, but got a negative remark. What the hell's an audiophile CD? Does it mean it's just a better recording than most (sonically [downsampled from high quality recording], not music performance)?

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me gloco - I had no idea people listened to music for their "sound quality", that is very strange. I'm in no way against high quality recordings, but I'm all about music content first, not production. I asked this on KRs thread, but got a negative remark. What the hell's an audiophile CD? Does it mean it's just a better recording than most (sonically [downsampled from high quality recording], not music performance)?

Hey A&M, i think some folks rather choose cd's based on sound quality over performance. It is weird. An audiophile cd is like one of those gold discs, supposedly they sound a little better. There are also audiophile vinyl which definitely sound much better than their cheap counterparts.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by DanG The idea that downsampling from a higher fidelity re-master of an inferior performance will give you a better experience really just doesn't sit well with me.

Couldn't have it said it better myself!

 

[KR...]

Quote:

Hey A&M, i think some folks rather choose cd's based on sound quality over performance. It is weird. An audiophile cd is like one of those gold discs, supposedly they sound a little better. There are also audiophile vinyl which definitely sound much better than their cheap counterparts.

It's really the way it was recorded and mastered. They don't sound a little better, they sound A LOT better!

Quote:

I asked this on KRs thread, but got a negative remark. What the hell's an audiophile CD?

I'm sorry you took it the wrong way, it wasn't meant as such. But, really I think you understand the difference between a Sony Streetstyle headphone and one of the top of the line headphones from the best headphone makers, which in this case would be a Sony MDR-R10.

Normal recordings sound like Sony Streetstyle while audiophile CDs sounds like Sony MDR-R10.

These CDs were meant to be played in high end audiophile systems. Some contain warnings against playing them on non audiophile speakers as they will damage them as they can't handle the range in sound.

They all sound great, but not all audiophile CDs are worth gettings, if you don't like the music within.

The music always comes 1st, the tons of posts that I have made in the music section shows that I think.

 

[Nattapong]

I can see myself buying audiophile CDs for my favorite albums. Such as some Mofi CDs... I have never compare those normal and gold.. but for me it is like saying.. hey.. you are my favorite ... and when others (people) get their hand on it.. they will be more careful... because it is obvious that they are my favorites.

gloco... I find it even more strange... you saying about that audiphile listen to jazz, blues and classical because sound quality... I listen to jazz, classical and listen pop/rock. I found that most of my jazz favorite doesn't have so-called audiophile quallity... most of my classical favorites also have same problem. Pop/rock generally has better recording than my average jazz or classical (in my opinion) .. however, I find that most of my pop/rock do not sound good on headphones...

.. um.. may be you are talking about image, sound stage and stuff like that... pop/rock usually are bad in that sense. (mine anyway)

Or maybe I like those imperfection... sound of orchestra members .. move their chair or put their bow a little too loud.. or humming of glen gould in his Bradenberg ... etc... it add life to recording ...