how to explain your high-end audio gear to someone out of the loop?

[bhd812]

Well to be honest I have been trying to desrcibe the gear I have to "normal" people (people out of the headfi/audio loop) and I find it a bit hard sometimes..

"Billy What did you get for christmas?"

"I got a nice cd player."

"oh is it a sony?"

"No its a meridian."

"Oh never heard of that, must be a cheap knock off company."

"Ummm No not exactly, but whatever."

"how much did it cost?"

"you dont wanna know."

"tell me"

"<insert price here>"

"wow! are you insane?, that must play dvd-a and sacd"

"no,,,,it just plays cd's"



how do you people explain it?

 

[tiberian]

i knock a zero out of the price when people ask, it works wonder.

 

[warubozu]

My usual response to people who ask just how much my gear cost is that if they need to ask how much it is, then it's too expensive.

 

[saint.panda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhd812 "oh is it a sony?" "No its a meridian." "Oh never heard of that, must be a cheap knock off company." "Ummm No not exactly, but whatever."

Just let him listen to it. Works wonders (most the time).

 

[meithkiller]

I usually don't even try unless I know the person has a similar hobby (like cars, guns, comic books, or some other oddball thing) that I can compare it too. A lot of us would probably think it is shocking what our friends spend on some of their non-audio hobbies. For instance, it may surprise some of you to find out that I also collect flashlights, and currently have about $3000 wrapped up in flashlights, which is more than I have in headphones at the moment. FWIW, most of the people that are into flashlights view Maglites as cheap pieces of old technology, probably the equivalent in the headphone world would be the Sony V600.

-Keith

 

[tiberian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda Just let him listen to it. Works wonders (most the time).

people do complement on my rig, but they think i am insane to spend $3750 on it.

 

[boodi]

mmm...
I invite them to listen theirselves to my rig instead of explaining it ..moreover , when i talk about my rig it's them that ask me if they can come my home and give it a try..
In the case some friends come here for other purpose, I advice them to try listen my rig, and quite always succeed in ( [size=xx-small]note that i am very persuaded myself that music and having nice listenings through a good system has some therapeutic effects as it relax mind and body too, and that good vibes benefic powers apply somewhat to anyone who's not too much un-confortable with headphones on, or who's learned to not be [/size])

The result is quite often they are very impressed , their eyes/face change expression and many asks how much it costs , and I imagine also some of them start to wonder about having a similar things for theirselves. Some say immediately after putting off heapdhones ( hd650 ) " I want one of this too.. " ..

Sometimes listening to my rig pushed people to buy a first set of can.

And I always advice Koss ksc35 for portable , Techincs rp-f400 for home / portable , being those two cheap and very effective-for-the-price products which can give the first extras in a listening exp. to the newcomes and also start them to good audio pleasure.

The price point is not a very welcome - to many - so, as i don't want to discourage people, I answer on price questions correctly but also I say that just a good pair of headphones do marvels and can change much of music given pleasure, and i make them listen to the Technics rpf-400 ( 40$ heapdhones )

I don't tend to speak much of (this) my passion when people can't try, in fact I well understand spending 1000$ on a cd-player it's not a very common behavior and, generally speaking, can very well remain a mistery to people who are not fond/ have not experience in audio .

 

[bln]

Quote:

"wow! are you insane?, that must play dvd-a and sacd"

If they know what SACD and DVD-A are, they're not really out of the loop, are they?

 

[Jahn]

at our family dinner my cousins (one HS one college) were boggled that I was so excited that my sister hooked me up with a firewire cable so i could finally use my iPack batt pack with my ipod. their eyes started glazing over when i told them about the world of headphones. so i said "ok guys, name a song you like and we'll play it out of this little headphone rig here(my portable rig muahahaha)

well they both like Macross Plus, and both have heard the soundtrack alot, so they wanted to hear "Voices" by Yoko Kanno. Whew, that just happens to be the only J-pop thing on my ipod (well if you don't count Pizzicato Five.)

they both knew how to put on earclips, so they took turns putting on the KSC-35. I fired up the ipod using apple lossless to sik din to xin mini plug to SR71 (oh yeah) to 75 ohm adapter to the KSC-35.

they both were like "DAMN. this sounds REALLY GOOD. how much is this?" i mentioned the numbers and they were like "i can't wait till i'm working so i can get this stuff!" i didn't have the heart to tell them that working doesn't always mean you can get what you want lol. and that repeated visits to the doghouse were in the future.

I just told them that a better rig was sitting at home. hehe.

SR71 - best Best Man gift ever.

and to answer the question - let them listen. that will clear things up.

 

[fr4c]

every kid in my school has an iPod, so its not like they're missing out on anything.

 

[PinkFloyd]

I "don't" explain it I just sit them down in front of my main rig (loudspeaker based) and watch their jaws drop...... they learn faster that way.

 

[gsferrari]

How do you explain it?

Hold a gun to their head and ask them to repeat after you

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari How do you explain it? Hold a gun to their head and ask them to repeat after you

Yes, there's always that approach.

 

[steel102]

i don't bother...some people will never understand

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steel102 i don't bother...some people will never understand

Just threaten to beat them with the tail end of your moustache, they'll soon agree that Meridian is better than Sony "mainstream" crap