dem00n Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We all look for good tone. Some of us have expensive guitars, pedals and amps and some of us want expensive gear. So are we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I can safely say I am not an audiophile in most ways... I don't have a record player... I don't require all my digital music to be lossless (FLAC, OGG etc) I don't avoid YouTube for music... I do have nice headphones though...they rock....maybe thats what makes me not care about the above... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Definitely not all people in here are audiophiles. Some people have a more golden bank account than golden ear. Some people just have more money than sense. The most pathetic take their cues from Rolling Stone Mag., so they buy whatever the Beatles/Clapton/SRV/Page/Hendrix/Slash/etc. played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 No, we are not audiophiles. Audiophiles are those that spend ten thousand dollars on stereo equipment to play a $10 CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMac Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 That's an interesting question. I've never thought about that term in the world of guitars. My main hobby is messing with vintage audio gear. Tube amps, vintage speakers and turntables. I'm constantly trying to put together the systems with just the right combination of components to achieve the perfect sound. These speakers with this amp and this cartridge with this turntable. And I don't spend much money on it. I get it cheap and rebuild it myself. Some people would say that I'm an audiophile because of the passion I have for it but I'm not. I think you need to spend a lot more money on gear than I do to be considered an audiophile. I'll pull an little 3 watt per channel tube amp out of an old Magnavox console stereo and make a stand alone out of it. Then pair it with some very efficient early '60s JBL speakers and a fully manual Acoustic Research turntable and I may get just the sound I'm looking for, until I try something else. We may all be audiophiles in the sense that we're always on a quest for the perfect sound but to me the term seems a bit snobbish and implies that one would spend any amount of money to get the "best" sound. But that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Depends on your definition of audiophile. I'm not against totally digital music and listen to a Ipod or a Sony MiniDisc player much of the time. However I run those through a high end Fatman tube amplification system either running through my high end Nakamich Dragon audio system or through my Grado RS1 headphones. If I do want to spin vinyl I have a Nakamichi Dragon CX-1000 so I guess that would make me a audiophile just because I own a Nakamichi Dragon Amp, turntable and cassette deck. For those that don't know what I'm talking about this was arguably the best audio system available in about 1985 and priced accordingly. Probably the strangest thing about the dragon turntable is that it automatically adjusts the record placed on it to center it exactly in two axis direction so the hole is perfectly aligned to center in case the record hole wasn't close enough to the middle. this removes all wobble in a album for more perfect tracking on it's dual platers the top which is "nugged" along by the lower platter to spin at perfectly controlled speed with no variable even if the vinyl isn't perfectly concentric. Not sure how important all that is, but it's kind of fun to watch and it still operates perfectly just like it did in 1985. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 No. Very different. Both, however, are diseases that cause GAS. An Audiophile is a hobbyist just like us. It is not necessary to spend tens of thousands for audio equipment, but if the money is there, the disease takes over. The goals of each in the equipment are very different and in many ways opposite. The AUDIOPHILE does NOT look for "tone". The goal is to have equipment that does not color the sound in any way, and to dig up and replay as much info and "detail" as possible. Call it "transparency". As hobbyist, it is like a club. It isn't like an exclusive club, it is much like a form of music. Anyone can enter the club, but you want to learn the rules, and share in the knowledge. Very much like us gear hounds, and there ARE cork sniffers and lemmers and such. What is unfortunate, is that each camp seems to have prejudices toward the other, but both sides can learn a lot from each other. There is a lot of knowledge in the audiophile community that could benefit a musical instrument gear hound. And a lot about instruments and music the audiophile could benifit from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Demoon What an interesting thread idea Many of the discussion here (since I have been here over the last three years), have made me think of an old secondary school teacher I had, who was obsessed with stereo equipment. His obsession/passion perplexed me, as it seemed to surpass (by quite a long shot) what the equipment was actually meant for - i.e to play and enjoy music. He never discussed music and what it meant to him, just the superiority of his expensive gear. I definitely see a parallel with us guitarists; except that the unlike the stereo example, the majority of the sound comes from us the player, not the gear, so the emphasis on the gear is even more irrelevant. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Demoon What an interesting thread idea Many of the discussion here (since I have been here over the last three years), have made me think of an old secondary school teacher I had, who was obsessed with stereo equipment. His obsession/passion perplexed me, as it seemed to surpass (by quite a long shot) what the equipment was actually meant for - i.e to play and enjoy music. He never discussed music and what it meant to him, just the superiority of his expensive gear. I definitely see a parallel with us guitarists; except that the unlike the stereo example, the majority of the sound comes from us the player, not the gear, so the emphasis on the gear is even more irrelevant. Matt Good observation. I think as guitar players, often we get so into our gear, the sound it makes, that we also loose sight of the music. We might obsess about that new guitar so much we spend more time changing nuts and bridges, or swapping tubes and speakers in amps, that spend less time actually making music (guilty, here!). As an audiophile, (guilty) when we buy a new cartridge or CD player, we can get so EXITED about how the music sounds coming from it, the details it brings out, we start thinking of how to improve it and look forward to the NEXT upgrade, and what it will do. And, pretty soon, we get so INTO our system that we are only using the music to hear the system-actually listening to the SYSTEM and not the music. It is quite common for audiophiles to have to tell each other, to take a break and actually listen to some music through the system they have been working on. Very much the way sometimes some of us will tell each other to stop worrying about our gear and use what we have to play music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I can't talk for anyone else so perhaps 'all' in the question is slightly misleading. I'm very aware of, and interested in, the quality of sound reproduction - whether from my hi-fi or my guitars - but I don't obsess about having the most up-to-date/expensive/highly regarded/most hyped gear to achieve that end. I haven't even so much as looked at a hi-fi magazine for over 30 years. When I've needed new stuff I've done the research required and made my purchase. From my experience there's far, FAR more BS in the world of hi-fi than there is in the world of guitars. I don't find it even remotely appealing. This - aptly enough from the days of 'The Dragon' - pretty much sums it up perfectly... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 No. My reason? *puts on flame resistant suit* Some of the music posted here makes my ears hurt. It's not the style, it is the massive amount of compression. THE SONGS SOUND LIKE THIS. And the posters are oblivious to it. Others throw darts at me when I point it out. Call me a snob if you like. My ears are very important to me and I don't want to abuse them with repeated attacks from the stereo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have never had sex with a minor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 No. My reason? *puts on flame resistant suit* Some of the music posted here makes my ears hurt. It's not the style, it is the massive amount of compression. THE SONGS SOUND LIKE THIS. And the posters are oblivious to it. Others throw darts at me when I point it out. Call me a snob if you like. My ears are very important to me and I don't want to abuse them with repeated attacks from the stereo. No one ever said youtube and crappy comptuer speakers are good for music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMac Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 No. My reason? *puts on flame resistant suit* Some of the music posted here makes my ears hurt. It's not the style, it is the massive amount of compression. THE SONGS SOUND LIKE THIS. And the posters are oblivious to it. Others throw darts at me when I point it out. Call me a snob if you like. My ears are very important to me and I don't want to abuse them with repeated attacks from the stereo. What he said. Many folks have never experienced music that was recorded and played back with all analog equipment. The difference is obvious. We can argue all day long about which is better, analog vs digital, solid state vs tube, because we all perceive sound differently. I'm certainly no expert on guitar gear but as we all know solid state amps simply emulate the sound of tube distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 An audiophile is a person who has a great interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the recorded musical performance, or even more important. The ratio of an audiophile's spending on software (music) versus hardware (audio components) is a rough guide to where they stand in the audiophile spectrum. -Wikipedia The definition of audiophile assigns no value to the listeners' abilities, only their preferences. It is pretty apparent that everyone on this forum likes listening to music, but not everyone fully appreciates hi-fidelity. Still, by the first definition, everyone on this forum would be an audiophile or they wouldn't be here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 An audiophile is a person who has a great interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the recorded musical performance, or even more important. The ratio of an audiophile's spending on software (music) versus hardware (audio components) is a rough guide to where they stand in the audiophile spectrum. -Wikipedia The definition of audiophile assigns no value to the listeners' abilities, only their preferences. It is pretty apparent that everyone on this forum likes listening to music, but not everyone fully appreciates hi-fidelity. Still, by the first definition, it is probably safe to assume that everyone on this forum would be an audiophile or they wouldn't be here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have a few boxes from the 80's and 90's that still work and still have great spec's. I have a few dbx rack mount gear from my old stereo; Program Route, dbx noise reduction, dbx sound expander, dbx subharmonic bass synth. I also have a ADC stereo graphc EQ, Technics direct drive turntabe, Technics integrated receiver, technics 3 way speakers w/ 12 inch woofer, Pioneer 5.1 HDMI receiver, bluray player and a DVD Recorder, kenwood receiver, Kenwood 400watt power amp, technics tape deck, technics auto reverse tape deck w two tapes, technics tuner, JBL Studio monitors, Klipsch Herserys, Yamaha C70 Preamp, Klipsch Subwoofer, KLH center speaker, and monster cable connecting it all. What I am using out of the stuff mentioned is the Pioneer Receiver (purchased in 2007), DVD Recorder, Bluray Player, and all the speaker connected to the TV. Oh it sounds great since that receiver has built in delays and thr 5.1 stuff rocks for sure. Everything else is in the closet just sitting there. One day I'll hook it all up again; until then I am perfectly happy with a small stereo pushing 100w per speaker X4 mains (front/rear) and 25w to center speaker and the 1000w self powered sub..... Yeah it sounds frigging great listening to Hair Nation... Wish I would have held on the the Nac Dragon. Typical audiophile reply. Just kidding Jocko. Really though, how I wish I had the money to spend on a phenominal stereo system. I know if I were to persue this endeavor much of it would be analog tube amp. When I was growing up, I had a Realistic tube amp and some monster 12" speaker cabinets (you could fit four 10" speakers in them easily) that just rocked the world. I forget the wattage on the amp, but wow, there was no force in my world at that time of my life more powerful than listening to music on that system. I mean great rock albums filled the air around our house during the '70s. Neighbors never complained and everything was groovy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 No one ever said youtube and crappy comptuer speakers are good for music. I am not talking about sample rates. I am talking about loudness and the volume wars that have ruined rock music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 At the risk of sounding philosophical, the entire history of audio in Rock 'n' Roll, from Sam Phillips and the slap-back echo onwards has been about changing the sound, not reproducing it accurately. That's why guitar players are not audiophiles, IMO. I have always felt that the aim of the audiophile is the most accurate representation of the sound possible, with as little coloration and distortion as can be acheived. The aims of the guitar player are usually acheived by createing coloration and distortion. I find it amusing when I see old ads for guitar amps made when the engineers still believed that a good guitar amp was the same thing as a good hi-fi amp. Does anyone really buy guitar amps for "suprerlinearity and low distortion and tonal coloration"? For years, the technical people at the amp manufacturers believed this was what players wanted, while the players wanted compression, tone coloration and eventually, distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I am not talking about sample rates. I am talking about loudness and the volume wars that have ruined rock music. Oh god yes. It's impossible to buy anything that hasn't had the last once of dynamic range squeezed out of it nowadays. When I ran a small studio in the 90's I only ever got two comments on final masters. The bass player always asked if it could have more bass, everyone else just asked if it could be louder. I would add increasingly insane amounts of compression to sucessive masters, and each time, the band would declare that is sounded better than the previous master, while the sound quality was, in fact deteriorating each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have never had sex with a minor... No no. an AUDIOphile is someone who wants to have sex with his STEREO, not children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 No no. an AUDIOphile is someone who wants to have sex with his STEREO, not children. I think he noticed my audiopedophilia poll choice, which no one thankfully picked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I think he noticed my audiopedophilia poll choice, which no one thankfully picked. Your new receiver gives me a little tingle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Your new receiver gives me a little tingle. Whats that post to mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Although I don't own top shelf Bang and Olafson etc. stereo gear I have pretty good quality stereo gear that puts out an exceptionally good sound as people always remark about it.I've built up my system component by component buying the best I could afford and by getting great bargains in used quality gear.I'm a hopeless tone chaser and know a good final mix on a recording when I hear it and from listening to classicsal music since I was a child I've developed a good ear for harmony and can tell when a note is the slightest bit off.I think that most seasoned musicians are audiophiles whether they know it or not because you can't help but develop a better than average ear for music after playing for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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