pbirkett
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2002
- Posts
- 3,239
- Likes
- 55
I'll start off by saying that my life has changed beyond recognition in the last few months, and all for the better. I wont bore you with the details, but basically, I find that there is a lot more going on in my life now, and that I am a lot happier as a result.
I'll also say that this thread will probably delight some and offend other in equal measures. It is supposed to be somewhat controversial, but my intention is not to be a troll, or anything like that, but the way I personally see things now that I have a different outlook.
Now, onto the subject at hand, in the last few months, I have been on the usual hifi forums, and my changed life has certainly changed my outlook on things, and it has caused me to read hifi forums with increasing bewilderment.
For me, there seems to be two main types of "audiophile". Using the basis that the word "audiophile" simply means someone who is discriminating about getting the best sound, I can conclude that you end up with two distinct types of people. The first is what I call a more casual audiophile. That is, they tend to know exactly what they want, and when they get it, they simply stop, acknowledging life is more important, and there is more to it than hifi. The second is the more hardcore audiophile. By and large, these seem to be the people who have thousands of posts (and yes, I am also guilty of this to a degree). They are not neccesarily more well off than anyone else, in fact, they may have quite tight budgets, but not always. However, when reading their thousands of posts, its very clear to me, that for them, the journey will never end and they will never be happy.
Let me elaborate on this a bit more. For one thing, they seem very easily led by the fashions that become prevalent on almost all hifi forums. Are these people not capable of using their own ears? A lot of people seem to just form their opinions based on what someone else might say, and then just go along with it - an element of fitting in to the forum society perhaps?
The thing with fashion is though, is that things fall OUT of fashion, and when they do, these people will look for something else. Then, whatever they had before, suddenly becomes crap. Well I can tell you this, I dont know if anyone else feels like this, but it really annoys me to read that something I bought 12 months ago which was better than sliced bread, is now crap! How can I trust opinions when they change so readily?
However, the top and bottom of it is this: Some of you lot will NEVER be happy with what you have. I go onto forums, and I see the same old battles being played out over and over, the bickering, the falling out. It all makes very amusing reading, but nevertheless, reading that is ultimately not very productive for those using these forums as an information resource. Ultimately, the same things get discussed again and again, and the same hardcore of people will continue to change kit at a monthly basis.
I mean a few examples. The DT880, CD3000 and the likes have all been classed as the in-fashion, and held in as high regard as the likes of the HD650 and yet months later, the majority have decided as some kind of fact that the HD650 is loads better. I have seen the HD650 described as having a Grado like sound by some people (yes ok that is rare, but I've seen it), and by others as being more laid back as to be almost muddy. Now how can a newbie, looking at such opinions, form any kind of realistic opinion about a product? I mean, whoever claims the HD650 has a forward sound to me is clearly on drugs. This confusion goes to sources too. I mean look at the 0404. When I bought it, it was described as a competitive rival even to the likes of the 1212, yet some months later, people now declare that the 1212 is *clearly* a better card, as if to state it as some kind of fact, and that even lowly cards in the Audiophile / EWX class that some of you were so keen for me to upgrade from are now in fact, better than a card that I bought, listened to and decided with my own ears that it was better. This kind of thing really does make me lose faith in hifi forums as any kind of useful resource. I frequent other forums on non hifi related things, and I can tell you that although some subjectivity does go on there too, at least the opinions dont change so damn wildly!!!
I ask you this, to the people who my description applies to: Do you really have a life outside of hifi? Do you not get bored with it? Do you not admit that really, its just more of the same? I ask you this, because at one time, I would have considered myself as one of the hardcore, but I got bored, really bored, and disillusioned with my life as a whole. Which is why I had to change it. My life is so much richer now, I listen to hifi less, and when I do listen, it always sounds amazing. What I am trying to say is, that if you do something too much, it ceases to be as enjoyable. I am now VERY happy with my system, and ultimately couldnt care less what anyone else thinks about it, as it is mine, and I am proud of it. The only things that annoys me is the pointless bickering and the constant FOTM that seems to occur not only here but on all hifi forums.
I guess the moral of this thread is to only trust your own ears. You can't trust anyone elses. If you even remotely want to have a life outside of hifi, then buy something that sounds good to you, and don't beckon these doors ever again. Because people will make you have doubts about what you have bought, and slowly they will bring you around to their way of thinking, and before you know it, you've spent far more than you've ever wanted to spend, and you find yourself pre-occupied by the whole thing. I know I did, and I'm lucky enough to see light at the end of the tunnel.
To those of you who purely do it for the enjoyment and genuinely get something from gear swapping and posting on these forums day in, day out, then good luck to you; I wasn't knocking it as a hobby any more than any other. What I am saying, is that I find it hard to believe that everyone is like this... and there this is clearly more to life than the rather anti-social hobby that is hifi. Its no real coincidence that I hardly know anyone who is interested in it within 100 miles of me. I can probably say with a degree of certainty, that in Britain at least, there are probably no more than a few thousand genuinely hard core hifi fanatics, and reading this forum with a different outlook has made me appreciate why this is such a small clique.
One thing I have realised in the last few weeks too, is that while I have been visiting the hifi forums, which I have done daily, but certainly I am not sitting on them all day / night like I used to, is that I genuinely dont seem to have anything more to add to these forums. And how can I, or anyone else for that matter, who is happy with their kit and not planning any upgrades, contribute to a forum like this? I find it very difficult to be honest.
I'll also say that this thread will probably delight some and offend other in equal measures. It is supposed to be somewhat controversial, but my intention is not to be a troll, or anything like that, but the way I personally see things now that I have a different outlook.
Now, onto the subject at hand, in the last few months, I have been on the usual hifi forums, and my changed life has certainly changed my outlook on things, and it has caused me to read hifi forums with increasing bewilderment.
For me, there seems to be two main types of "audiophile". Using the basis that the word "audiophile" simply means someone who is discriminating about getting the best sound, I can conclude that you end up with two distinct types of people. The first is what I call a more casual audiophile. That is, they tend to know exactly what they want, and when they get it, they simply stop, acknowledging life is more important, and there is more to it than hifi. The second is the more hardcore audiophile. By and large, these seem to be the people who have thousands of posts (and yes, I am also guilty of this to a degree). They are not neccesarily more well off than anyone else, in fact, they may have quite tight budgets, but not always. However, when reading their thousands of posts, its very clear to me, that for them, the journey will never end and they will never be happy.
Let me elaborate on this a bit more. For one thing, they seem very easily led by the fashions that become prevalent on almost all hifi forums. Are these people not capable of using their own ears? A lot of people seem to just form their opinions based on what someone else might say, and then just go along with it - an element of fitting in to the forum society perhaps?
The thing with fashion is though, is that things fall OUT of fashion, and when they do, these people will look for something else. Then, whatever they had before, suddenly becomes crap. Well I can tell you this, I dont know if anyone else feels like this, but it really annoys me to read that something I bought 12 months ago which was better than sliced bread, is now crap! How can I trust opinions when they change so readily?
However, the top and bottom of it is this: Some of you lot will NEVER be happy with what you have. I go onto forums, and I see the same old battles being played out over and over, the bickering, the falling out. It all makes very amusing reading, but nevertheless, reading that is ultimately not very productive for those using these forums as an information resource. Ultimately, the same things get discussed again and again, and the same hardcore of people will continue to change kit at a monthly basis.
I mean a few examples. The DT880, CD3000 and the likes have all been classed as the in-fashion, and held in as high regard as the likes of the HD650 and yet months later, the majority have decided as some kind of fact that the HD650 is loads better. I have seen the HD650 described as having a Grado like sound by some people (yes ok that is rare, but I've seen it), and by others as being more laid back as to be almost muddy. Now how can a newbie, looking at such opinions, form any kind of realistic opinion about a product? I mean, whoever claims the HD650 has a forward sound to me is clearly on drugs. This confusion goes to sources too. I mean look at the 0404. When I bought it, it was described as a competitive rival even to the likes of the 1212, yet some months later, people now declare that the 1212 is *clearly* a better card, as if to state it as some kind of fact, and that even lowly cards in the Audiophile / EWX class that some of you were so keen for me to upgrade from are now in fact, better than a card that I bought, listened to and decided with my own ears that it was better. This kind of thing really does make me lose faith in hifi forums as any kind of useful resource. I frequent other forums on non hifi related things, and I can tell you that although some subjectivity does go on there too, at least the opinions dont change so damn wildly!!!
I ask you this, to the people who my description applies to: Do you really have a life outside of hifi? Do you not get bored with it? Do you not admit that really, its just more of the same? I ask you this, because at one time, I would have considered myself as one of the hardcore, but I got bored, really bored, and disillusioned with my life as a whole. Which is why I had to change it. My life is so much richer now, I listen to hifi less, and when I do listen, it always sounds amazing. What I am trying to say is, that if you do something too much, it ceases to be as enjoyable. I am now VERY happy with my system, and ultimately couldnt care less what anyone else thinks about it, as it is mine, and I am proud of it. The only things that annoys me is the pointless bickering and the constant FOTM that seems to occur not only here but on all hifi forums.
I guess the moral of this thread is to only trust your own ears. You can't trust anyone elses. If you even remotely want to have a life outside of hifi, then buy something that sounds good to you, and don't beckon these doors ever again. Because people will make you have doubts about what you have bought, and slowly they will bring you around to their way of thinking, and before you know it, you've spent far more than you've ever wanted to spend, and you find yourself pre-occupied by the whole thing. I know I did, and I'm lucky enough to see light at the end of the tunnel.
To those of you who purely do it for the enjoyment and genuinely get something from gear swapping and posting on these forums day in, day out, then good luck to you; I wasn't knocking it as a hobby any more than any other. What I am saying, is that I find it hard to believe that everyone is like this... and there this is clearly more to life than the rather anti-social hobby that is hifi. Its no real coincidence that I hardly know anyone who is interested in it within 100 miles of me. I can probably say with a degree of certainty, that in Britain at least, there are probably no more than a few thousand genuinely hard core hifi fanatics, and reading this forum with a different outlook has made me appreciate why this is such a small clique.
One thing I have realised in the last few weeks too, is that while I have been visiting the hifi forums, which I have done daily, but certainly I am not sitting on them all day / night like I used to, is that I genuinely dont seem to have anything more to add to these forums. And how can I, or anyone else for that matter, who is happy with their kit and not planning any upgrades, contribute to a forum like this? I find it very difficult to be honest.
