wingtsun
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2013
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I put this here as my rig is mostly portable and this is maybe more relavent here..
My question is: "What are your goals when putting together a good portable rig?"
This hobby can confuse people and quickly muddy their goals. They go from newbies wanting to get a decent sounding rig to people for whom the music no longer matters; it's now all about extracting as much micro detail as possible. Their listening goes from being for the enjoyment of the music to purely analytical. Listening on the train becomes a PITA as the darn people around you won't keep quiet enough to allow you "enjoy" the detail fix you so badly need. Over the years I've often fallen into that trap myself. You keep buying new cables and listening to one song over and over again until you're so tired of it you wondered how you ever bought the CD in the first place. Buying music becomes less important and equipment takes the precedent.
After 15-20 years in this hobby I try to no longer end up in that ditch. My primary goal is to put together a rig that makes the music I like sound as close as possible to the way I like to hear it and that does not necessarily mean ear-piercing detail or brain-jammingly tight bass. I still use quality components and still carefully rip my music to AIFF or WAV (yes, that's what my ears tell me they prefer) but I have finally understood that expensive does not always equate to superior sound. Sound is personal and if you prefer the sound of a burger then there's just no point in buying a jar of caviar because you simply won't enjoy it. More and more detail is great for some but for others it eventually becomes like cat's claws on a blackboard.
I guess when you've been into this hobby for many years you begin to understand what you like to hear but it's still just as easy to fall into the audiophile extremist roll again. I have to keep reminding myself that I already know what I like and there's no point in testing out the new "flavour of the month" platinum/gold hybrid cable as the silver one I already have delivers exactly the sound signature I'm after.
The other night when slightly bored I found myself perusing 3.5mm cables on eBay. After 30 mins I slapped myself and bought a couple of CDs instead.
So, what are your goals for your rig? Do you listen for pleasure or has the pleasure long since been replaced with analytical audiophile annihilation and the constant need for a new and expensive equipment hit?
(no criticism of anyone was inferred or implied by this post.. we are what we are..)
My question is: "What are your goals when putting together a good portable rig?"
This hobby can confuse people and quickly muddy their goals. They go from newbies wanting to get a decent sounding rig to people for whom the music no longer matters; it's now all about extracting as much micro detail as possible. Their listening goes from being for the enjoyment of the music to purely analytical. Listening on the train becomes a PITA as the darn people around you won't keep quiet enough to allow you "enjoy" the detail fix you so badly need. Over the years I've often fallen into that trap myself. You keep buying new cables and listening to one song over and over again until you're so tired of it you wondered how you ever bought the CD in the first place. Buying music becomes less important and equipment takes the precedent.
After 15-20 years in this hobby I try to no longer end up in that ditch. My primary goal is to put together a rig that makes the music I like sound as close as possible to the way I like to hear it and that does not necessarily mean ear-piercing detail or brain-jammingly tight bass. I still use quality components and still carefully rip my music to AIFF or WAV (yes, that's what my ears tell me they prefer) but I have finally understood that expensive does not always equate to superior sound. Sound is personal and if you prefer the sound of a burger then there's just no point in buying a jar of caviar because you simply won't enjoy it. More and more detail is great for some but for others it eventually becomes like cat's claws on a blackboard.
I guess when you've been into this hobby for many years you begin to understand what you like to hear but it's still just as easy to fall into the audiophile extremist roll again. I have to keep reminding myself that I already know what I like and there's no point in testing out the new "flavour of the month" platinum/gold hybrid cable as the silver one I already have delivers exactly the sound signature I'm after.
The other night when slightly bored I found myself perusing 3.5mm cables on eBay. After 30 mins I slapped myself and bought a couple of CDs instead.
So, what are your goals for your rig? Do you listen for pleasure or has the pleasure long since been replaced with analytical audiophile annihilation and the constant need for a new and expensive equipment hit?
