Denon2010
Formerly known as Denon5220
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2010
- Posts
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Was having a conversation with my friend who is an Electrical Engineer and has a BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering. During our conversation the topic of audiophile was brought up. He is very good at Physics so he understands the science of Audio.
However he insists that Audiophile equipment from speakers to amps are all in our imagination, many who spend absurd amounts of money on audiophile gear for example try to justify it by claiming there is a noticeable difference or a difference that justifies the money spent however the truth is they are just trying to justify the fact that they just wasted money so they convince themselves that the money wasted was well spent so they can sleep at nights. Just think about the fact that people actually believe that burn in is something that is real and has something to do with the speakers built into your headphones when the truth is it is simply our brains adapting to the new sound hence it finally sounding good to use after X amount of hours, even scientists have said burn in is not real its our brains that are adapting. Yet you often hear audiophiles claim really crazy and unrealistic things like "headphone amp burn in" as if they could even tell the difference in a non perfect world.
This then had me wondering, long ago I owned a Denon D5000, Audio Technica M50, Sennheiser HD 555 and a SONY MDR headphones monitor. In my test I had noticed that the Denon while the most fantastic out of all was at a price seriously inflated. For the honest truth, was almost identical to the quality of the $100 USD HD 555 sens. In order for me to actually tell the difference with this and the rest I needed a dark room, air conditioning turned on, FLAC quality tracks and a variety of music while quickly switching between headphones to notice any kind of slight difference.
It was then and there I had known that Audiophile was a bit of a gimmick but kept it to myself because while I understood this there was a scary truth. The Sennheisers spoiled me, by this I mean when I got a M50 AT Studio Monitor and Sony MDR monitor, I realized what "boring" meant. These studio monitors were the most accurate way to get a recording as it is meant to be heard, and was down right the most awful experience I ever had in my life.
There was something about the monitors that were how to put this, FLAT. and NOT singing, NOT Musical, NOT fun. They were somehow vastly different to the fun and enjoyment I had with my HD 555 and D5000 even though on paper the monitors were superior to nearly all audiophile gear. It was as though they were indeed made for professional recording use and NOT for music enjoyment, it is here I finally understood a part of Audiophile that was real.
In the end I kept my HD 555 and sold off everything else and got back most of my money. The sad truth is between $1 to $100 is where the truth rise in quality lies. When you cross the $100 mark you have entered that phase of gaining something like 3% quality for every $100 you spend where as below $100 the difference is astronomical.
Then you would need to factor in age, condition of your hearing, both of which would relegate audiophile equipment rather worthless. This leads me to understand now why Headphone and most of the audio market is so lucrative, companies spending $20 to create headphones and sell it back for $400.
However he insists that Audiophile equipment from speakers to amps are all in our imagination, many who spend absurd amounts of money on audiophile gear for example try to justify it by claiming there is a noticeable difference or a difference that justifies the money spent however the truth is they are just trying to justify the fact that they just wasted money so they convince themselves that the money wasted was well spent so they can sleep at nights. Just think about the fact that people actually believe that burn in is something that is real and has something to do with the speakers built into your headphones when the truth is it is simply our brains adapting to the new sound hence it finally sounding good to use after X amount of hours, even scientists have said burn in is not real its our brains that are adapting. Yet you often hear audiophiles claim really crazy and unrealistic things like "headphone amp burn in" as if they could even tell the difference in a non perfect world.
This then had me wondering, long ago I owned a Denon D5000, Audio Technica M50, Sennheiser HD 555 and a SONY MDR headphones monitor. In my test I had noticed that the Denon while the most fantastic out of all was at a price seriously inflated. For the honest truth, was almost identical to the quality of the $100 USD HD 555 sens. In order for me to actually tell the difference with this and the rest I needed a dark room, air conditioning turned on, FLAC quality tracks and a variety of music while quickly switching between headphones to notice any kind of slight difference.
It was then and there I had known that Audiophile was a bit of a gimmick but kept it to myself because while I understood this there was a scary truth. The Sennheisers spoiled me, by this I mean when I got a M50 AT Studio Monitor and Sony MDR monitor, I realized what "boring" meant. These studio monitors were the most accurate way to get a recording as it is meant to be heard, and was down right the most awful experience I ever had in my life.
There was something about the monitors that were how to put this, FLAT. and NOT singing, NOT Musical, NOT fun. They were somehow vastly different to the fun and enjoyment I had with my HD 555 and D5000 even though on paper the monitors were superior to nearly all audiophile gear. It was as though they were indeed made for professional recording use and NOT for music enjoyment, it is here I finally understood a part of Audiophile that was real.
In the end I kept my HD 555 and sold off everything else and got back most of my money. The sad truth is between $1 to $100 is where the truth rise in quality lies. When you cross the $100 mark you have entered that phase of gaining something like 3% quality for every $100 you spend where as below $100 the difference is astronomical.
Then you would need to factor in age, condition of your hearing, both of which would relegate audiophile equipment rather worthless. This leads me to understand now why Headphone and most of the audio market is so lucrative, companies spending $20 to create headphones and sell it back for $400.
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