Where are the female audiophiles?
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- Опубликовано: 8 апр 2018
- I know they exist and I’ve met a few, but there are very very few female audiophiles. That's Jana Dagdagan in the thumbnail shot, she's the only female audiophile I currently know. Here's the link to my blog about Margery, www.cnet.com/news/confessions...
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
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Hi all. Female audiophile here. I have never been into "tunes" like most of my female friends, I am into the experience of sound, how music makes you feel. In the past 10 years I've been through 6 cd players, 6 headphone amps, 5 sets of headphones (settled on Audeze LCD3's), a number of dacs and lots of different types of cables looking for that last ounce of audio nectar. I'm pretty happy with my set up now although I am about to try another headphone amp next month. I have a very poorly paid job and I have spent almost every penny I have on my Audio. I listen on my bed in the dark and concentrate on the minute details in the sound almost more than to the sound as a whole. When it all comes together it can be a euphoric experience. I do feel a bit scared walking into an audio store, feel like I am going into a male changing room or something. Hopefully this will change.
No replies.. I think you intimated the ”men” hahaha
What do you have hooked up to your LCD 3s?
I hope more women get into audio in the way you describe. The way you describe your listening experience perfectly resonates with me and I feel it’s what being an audiophile is all about; concentrating on minute details, and about the euphoric experience one can have actively listening to audio. I can say as a male, the discomfort of going to the higher end audio shops was a thing for me, maybe they didn’t take me seriously because I was young and not with deep pockets. I can imagine it’s worse for a woman or they may just aren’t used to talking to a woman in their field. Keep it up and keep growing your system to meet the expectations of sound perfection you may have in your head. At one point there weren’t many female coders or engineers, hopefully audio nerds can get more females in the ranks too.
Sandra, just curious, how did you get into audio as a pursuit? Did your dad have a great system? Are you a musician? Wish we could generate more ladies who love & appreciate great sounding audio playback !
@@burlingtonbill1 Hi. I've played guitar badly on and off for 45 years, initially inspired to pick it up by the way Mike Oldfield played. My first LP record was Dark Side of the Moon back in 1974. That took me away from glam and pop and into "serious" music where you really had to sit and listen carefully to everything that was going on, not a thing girls really did much at the time. I was very introverted so listening with headphones fitted in perfectly and it stuck. I've listed with headphones all my life. My partner is from near Burlington, Vermont, coincidence. cheers
Another female audiophile here :) Been in love with it for a few years now as I am a bit younger but it has evolved into a 5 + year career in HiFi and I plan to continue to expand on that by getting even further into the more eclectic realms of the audiophile industry. It is a passion that is a vital part of my existence and I love sharing my love of properly enjoying music with others.
Mia Francis that’s awesome. I like to hear this. Wishing you success
How is your journey going?
you should create your own channel there is no women audiophiles that i know of on youtube.
I’m right here. Like I said on one of your previous videos I have a very modest setup. The highlight of it is the Oppo 203. Which I use mainly for playing sacd’s. I don’t play vinyl because I am disabled and putting a record onto a turntable is next to impossible for me. The rest of my setup is a Yamaha receiver that powers Elac B 5’s and an onkyo sub. In the future I would like to add a second pair of speakers for a 4.1 setup.
Thanks Bethany, you're one of us!
Awesome! I just got into SACD and DSD recently, too. I'm legally blind with no depth perception, and I went and bought a pricey ($250 AT VM540ml) stylus for my turntable. Praise the inventor of the cue lever! Unfortunately, I still have to get the record out of the MoFi and onto the table without incident. LoL
Bless your heart! Now if you could only help my wife see the light.
Bethany Dawn Thompson I have modest equipment myself, vintage route. Pioneer Elite 79avi unit paid $158 from eBay.
I’m looking at a pair of JBL S38’s on eBay. I use to own a pair but now my dad is using them now. I loved their sound but think the seller is asking just a bit to much for speakers that are 20 years old.
I was not always an audiophile but am today! I'm also a musician, do my own recording, mixing and mastering. For me it started in the 70's after I heard what an amazing audio system and good speakers can do. I believe the person who owned the system I heard went on to start No Name Records in Minneapolis. Everyone I knew was into music back then. In 1973, I bought a Dual turntable, Marantz receiver, and JBL L-100s. I choose those because they were nearly identical to the 4310's I heard while working in AudioTek Studios for another company (1st clue I was an audiophile?!) I blew the speakers in the 90's and was going to buy new ones until I was disappointed with the sound. So I called JBL and spoke to an engineer who encourage me to recone them (2nd clue I was an audiophile?!). He said JBL no longer made speakers like that and were following industry trends to using plastic, etc. When the L-Pads in the crossovers started to drop out, instead of replacing them, I chose to build a crossover kit from Jantzen Audio in Denmark designed for the L100 with 1st and 2nd order filters (3rd clue I was an audiophile?!). I dabbled in 96 kHz 24 bit audio files from HDTracks for a few albums. I play all digital files through Bitperfect. I record and master my own music at 96 kHz 24 bit. But after I proved I cannot hear a difference between 96 kHz and 44.1 kHz (by doing the Sample Rate Conversion myself down to 44.1 kHz from a hi Rez master), I now mix and 48 kHz 24 bit. I'm just as picky about video, having opted for OLED to get perfect black levels. So I must be one of the rare audio/videophiles :)
Embarrassed to say this but women know about JBL L-100's, 4310's, JBL period?? Pleasantly surprised." ( I've a pair 4311's )
Good on you enjoy your music.
I totally get that desire for OLED screens haha
I don't even know any other male audiophiles irl.... :(
My granddaughter will be one of those ladies......
She was inspired by her grandpa... Me!
She is into vinyl and Tube Amplifiers in a digital, computerized, tablet world..
She feels that the new stuff is not always the best stuff...
I taught her how to solder transistors and how to re-cap old equipment..
She is my heart! Love you Sweetie!
Hey Steve! I consider myself an audiophile. I have been heavily collecting vintage gear for about a year now. I am constantly watching for the best gear I can afford on my budget. I've become obsessed and my husband has not been very understanding about it. I dream about it at night and do research by day. I am hooked! Eventually, when I I'm past my vintage phase, I'd like to start checking out some modern equipment. For now, I'm kind of stuck in the 70's era.
chelle12368 . I have been buying 70's vintage stereo gear as well for just over a year. I put together a really nice Pioneer rig that was very affordable and sounded good. However last month I took the plunge and purchased a completely modern system of entry level high end gear and I couldn't be happier. I still love the look and sound of my pioneer system but I must admit it can't compete with the new system in regards to sound quality. I am very fortunate my wife loves listening to music and especially playing records so this has really become a great hobby we share. Keep working on your husband. I give my wife 100% credit for turning me on to vinyl , she isn't as interested in the gear as I am. However she does love and respect the amazing sound quality of our new stereo. Affordable vintage equipment is definitely the way to start this hobby, replacing one component at a time as your budget allows will greatly improve your listening experience. I would start with speakers.
Hi Chelle keep on going I'm doing it for 54 years and still going!
Awesome video, Steve!
I'm a female audiophile that just recently realized I was an audiophile lol. I never knew there was a term for my love of music. I currently own an LG CM4550 stereo system. It's small yet powerful. It fits nicely in my living space. I always shop around for the best sounding stereo within my budget. It has to sound crystal clear with great bass capabilities and a subwoofer. I need to "feel" my music. It must fill the room. I enjoy just sitting back in my big comfy chair with a cup of tea and enjoying the music. I listen to music every day. I've been collecting jazz CDs for almost 30 years and still feel that they sound better than MP3 albums.
I also wonder where most of the female audiophiles are! I feel like we are very rare. 😉💜
Yes women audiophiles are rare but also think that audiophiles are rare in general. After all, it’s one of many different hobbies that are out there and it’s not cheap.
@@Simon-oq6ds 🎵💜
I knew a gender fluid audiophile once. They identified as a bi-wired bi-sexual 3-way speaker tower. I was the sub. Good times.
Gender fluid is great on connectors. One spray will last for decades.
Dr. Zoidberg you never disappoint. 👍👍
In all seriousness, there have been a handful of female audiophiles that seemed to buck the trend that turned out to be trans, and however it seems to happen that audiophilia seems to split cleanly on gender lines, even these women could have been lumped in with the men on a chromosomal basis.
Andy B, I can’t argue with you on that. As a transgender woman myself your statement holds true.
😐 Oh Jesus. What have I begun.
25 yr old here. Cambridge audio cxa80 bi-wired with audioquest pearl into q acoustics 3050s. Fed via usb 2.0 from my pc.
I consider myself an audio enthusiast. Although I may meet your audiophile definition. My system is: McIntosh MC205 Amp, Onkyo PR-RZ5100 pre-amp, Oppo UDP 203, Rega RP6 turntable with Rega Ania MC cartridge, Upgraged sub platter , Rega Aria phono amp, Sonus Faber Olympica III floor stand speakers and center speaker with HSU ResearchVTF-15 MK2 dual sub woofers. All cables and interconnects are upgraded. I susbscribe to Absolute Sound and Stereofile. I am also a member of Audiogon. I enjoy listening to good sounding music and try to adjust my system as technology changes... but I do need other expert’s help when determining next steps... maybe that is why I consider myself an enthusiast rather than an audiophile. So much to know!
Sharon Llamas Sharon, you sound like an audiophile to me.
Obviously, modesty and audiophilia don't necessarily coexist.
Hey Steve, I’m here! I’m a female audiophile! from the Turntable down to the custom made cables!
George Blisson thanks for the offer George, but I’ll always wonder if it’s really me or my custom cables that you’re in love with! (Anyhow I’m taken.)
Hahaha!
George Blisson post a video. 😃
Do a tour of your music room.
George Blisson I’m always up for a good tease!
OMG, here I am!!!! This is a guy hobby for the most part and sometimes you guys don't make it real easy to interact at shows, in stores, etc. etc. HOWEVER, I have met a few guys who wanted to hire me in stores because I can easily talk wives into speakers their male partner wants and I know what I'm talking about. lol. We're out here, we just don't always talk to you guys about it because honestly the atomospere can kind of be "this is our he man woman haters club hobby!" I talk to women all the time who love this hobby, I think they just don't interact with you guys as much.
Im here. Im right here....
Christina Gina yes, and you are riding a unicorn
Hello Steve I love your videos. I have always considered myself a huge music fan, from radio as a child and watching my dad always tinker with his sound systems. To reading music history to working in a music store. I did not come across the term audiophile until recently doing research while I am putting my own system together. I have always collected vinyl and cds but never knew about the world of the endless continuous search of better sound. I feel like I always had certain audiophile traits but never but it all together until now I have had an awakening. Now I know will continue on my journey to find the best eargasm.
Heyo what's up - multi-year headphone enthusiast and modder checking in.
I think it's a very nuanced topic honestly - parts of it is the community, parts the association, parts just that in my experience men are generally more zoned in on one or two hobbies at a time while women like to dabble in multiple, just to name a few.
Not sure if it's something that can really be covered in a youtube comment or whatever, but if you'd like to have a chat about it or ever make your way to Stockholm, Sweden and have a few hours to spare, I'd be happy to get into it!
We’re here. Glad to be acknowledged. Classical musician and would love to have great sounding audio gear. Started with Wharfedale speakers. Too bad my budget is so tight right now, so it’s slow going. Recently realized I love the sound of tube amps. Enjoying your videos.
One of the more illustrious, and often misunderstood audiophiles was Enid Lumley who wrote for the Absolute Sound in the 70s and 80s. Even though she was quite controversial, her opinions on how "polarity" affects the sound of audio equipment is much more a part of the normal conversation in audiophilism today.
Your definition is an obsessive nerd, not an audiophile. An audiophile cares about sound quality, not necessarily about fondling tubes or knobs on their macho 200 pound preamplifier. There are women who care about sound quality, and musicians are probably equally divided between men and women in my experience. Woman tend to have better hearing than men, and love music just as much. But audio equipment is marketed to male machismo unfortunately, and I think women are not attracted to the image created by marketers. Scantily clad women in sexy poses suggesting that the purchase of the advertised preamp will get you laid is not going to attract women to read the magazine. And guys, I'm pretty sure the preamp will not impress the ladies. If the industry was about sound quality and value instead of comparing cable size, more women would feel welcome.
Sorting 40 years worth of my good friend's collection and seeing many record covers has definitely left me with the impression that the record store was on the same block as the smoke shop and nudie mag store ;)
Except for popular headphones brands like Beats, I can't think of any audio gear that advertises with sexualised women, or women at all, or even men... It's usually just the gear and fancy looking designs of the inner workings, right?
I was thinking maybe women are turned off by audio because society and advertising are constantly telling them to worry about how things look and nothing more.
there is, by definition, obsession in any philia; if by nerd u meant a guy who studies physics, electronics, audio theory in detail (SNR, codecs, dynamic range and waveforms) then I guess 80% of audiophiles ARE indeed sound obsessed nerds; and no, women dont have any particular physical difference in the cochlea in order to have superior audio hearing than men; good hearing has to do with age, not gender (and of course what kind of stress u put your ears thru)
Design a good looking speaker that fits with home decor. Have Better Homes and Gardens take pictures of it in their rooms. Offer it in multiple house-friendly colors.
Gregory Germain lol
My memory might be flawed, but I think I've only met two real audiophiles and both were women. When I was in grad school, a fellow student, Patricia, used to sell high-end audio at a local store. When I met her, we were art students with semi-private studio spaces in a warehouse. She used Adcom gear in her space, supplying music, loud and clear, for us all. Even though the room acoustics weren't ideal, her sound beat the ever-loving shit out of my Emerson boombox. I can't imagine what she must have had at home, if Adcom was her grubby workshop system! The other verified audiophile I've crossed paths with was a woman in my neighborhood, Jerri, who had a moving sale. While touring the rooms to see the furniture she was selling, she noticed me noticing her Krell 300i. She asked if I was interested in that kind of thing and then proceeded to sell me some old Klipsch kg2s and a Proton integrated that she had squirreled away in her basement. She said she didn't bother listing them because she figured nobody wanted 2-channel anymore. "Everybody wants a stupid Bosewave or some five-speaker surround." She had no interest in getting rid of her Krell.
I know an audiophile couple living here in Singapore... Both husband and wife are into hifi. Both in their 60s.
Do they live in a HDB flat?
I can't find anyone into audio in Singapore around my age :( but I always see people older than me around but it's great there are people here still into it regardless of age.
Check out the Planar Asylum or the Planar Circle and you'll find a very active female audiophile - Elizabeth. She has invested serious money in her system (most recent upgrade - 20.7i) and is undeniably passionate about her pursuit of perfecting the sound of the music she enjoys. Although my wife is no audiophile, she 'gets it' and has always supported my obsession - that's the next best thing (she has put up with quite a bit over the decades).
We're here Steve...just quieter about it. I dont want to sound like I treat men as stereotypes, but when younger too many men just went for wattage and not sound and loved to chest-thump (I know this statement will be popular LOL) I am a 68 yr old Boomer..Dad got me started watching him build his Dynaco separates and then listening to his AR3a's...I was initally attracted to my now-Ex because he also had built the same Dynaco setup as my Dad, but he also had the Dynaco 25's in the Dynaco Quadapter configuration. I was fortunate to live in Germany, teaching for the Army and could attend the luscious Armed Forces' Stereo Centers in the 70's in Nurnberg and the fabulous Rhein Main AF Base (where I purchased my Tannoy Arden's in '77) Went thru many reel-to-reels, cassettes, Duals, even some Bose on the side to see what all the "reflection" theories were about...but the Tannoys settled me down. Then in 90's as the digital era moved in got a complete setup by Adcom..worked well with warmth of the Ardens. Life, babies, etc got involved and funds were diverted elsewhere like ceiling speakers, stupid home theater and huge SVS subs etc. Got into tubes in 2002 with inexpensive Antique Sound Labs 8w "Waves" (still use them) which, combined with the Ardens were HEAVEN. Tubes + Ardens equal happitude. Then divorce...oh Lord, the Ardens are worse than splitting children...we were to split custody but now he has gone toady and doesnt want to share any more...I feel like a part of me has died. That leaves me with Paradigm towers from our old Home Theater whilst I figure out what I want for my last chapter in life. Got the Pro-Ject Essentials III George Harrison special edition (who could resist the image??), the Adcom tuner & preamp (Ex took amp) with Rega Brio-R for power. Am now fretting constantly about spending MORE (Rogue Sphinx with maybe Tannoy Cheviots or horns...not sure my ear will go for the Klipsch and maybe Outlaw receiver, OR go cheaper with maybe Yamaha receiver (801?) or Outlaw with either Wharfdale EVO's or KEF Metas.....havent quite decided if I want to invest so much of my pitiful retirement into this or keep it simpler. But yes...we are here...we just dont go on about the numbers and comparisons of wattage as much...we tend to know what sounds good to us and we retain our upper end hearing better than many men in my age group...but we're here and listening to your regularly! You have helped bring me back to a constant, obsessive level a hobby I have always loved! Susan in Va
I have a system that I guess you would call "audiophile" in the scheme of things, high quality individual components, old school Jamo speakers, and a lot of time, effort and money put into making it sound as good as it possibly can. A few years ago I was going out with a Taiwanese girl and she had a party here for her friends from the school where she was learning English. I still remember to this day the look on one of the Japanese girl's faces when I put some music on. She immediately had to ask the intricate details of my system, as she immediately heard something in it that I don't think anyone I have know, either male or female, has before or since. Having only met her once and not knowing anything about her, I do know that she was an audiophile.
I don't think any audiophile would consider Old School Jamo 'audiophile' equipment. They do have a certain cult status though, they're cool in a very grungy way :D.
I'm going to sound like an arrogant hipster here, but I think it's safe to say that most audiophiles, not all, don't really pick any brand that you can buy 'off the shelf'. There's always exceptions (even Jamo did some very underrated speakers in the late 90's) but generally when you're not deeply invested in audio most audiophiles will make you 'what? Huh? Never heard of that'. There's a video on Steve's rig somewhere on here that might give you just that idea :D.
The Rolling Troll, yup.. He says it's an audiophile system. Good enough. Now you been trolled. I couldn't find any others comment. Yours looked the best. All in fun, Troll.
I learned many years ago from a woman I was dating there is a fundamental difference in the way men and women prioritize what is important when listening to music. Men have a propensity to focus more on the sound of the musical instruments and women focus more on the musical notes and the lyrics. And I certainly fall into the category of listening to the instrument sounds because I absolutely love the sound of live music which I have never been able to closely replicate even halfway good enough on speakers. I remember one day after we both listened to a song I said to her "that is a great song". She said oh, what were the words? I couldn't remember any but she could, and she did not like the song due to the words. She then told me to "remember that men hear the music (instruments) and women hear the words" and I never forgot that. That actually makes sense to me since the speech center part of a women's brain is larger than in men and girls just are just better at speech starting at a very young age compared to boys (typically). I hope this provides some insight to help answer your question?
As a girl, I can confirm that if the lyrics don't resonate with me I get annoyed that a good melody was wasted. I might still listen to it but I would pretend the lyrics are different so that I don't lose my sanity.
Bingo
I think you are right. I used to DJ and have considered myself a virtual audiophile since I was 10 (I wrote so many letters to companies asking for brochures...). Anyway, as DJ's we realized that we had to have a certain percentage of vocal oriented dance music in our collection to keep the ladies on the dancefloor. My mother even said one time, that I needed to have some slow jams in my sets to keep the women interested. This is not sexist, mind you because even to this day, there is a sub genre of House Music called 'Soulful House'. The music in our minds is generic, but the focus is on the lyrics. Women gravitate to it, but I can't stand playing it! LOL. So yes, there is a difference.
It wasn't my intention to offend any female audiophiles, sorry about that
.
Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac You weren’t offensive IMO. For reasons unknown the numbers out there are skewed male. Thanks for acknowledging the women who are out there though. They might be few in number but that number’s getting bigger I hope.
There was nothing offensive about your question.
This video creates space for discussion. I wish I could give my ideas to audio companies.
You did not, you've inspired some! Thanks.
Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac I'm not offended. I'm glad for the chance to talk about it. I'm not sure you'd consider me an audiophile though. I like learning about equipment but I don't have the budget for it. Maybe loosen up on the definition.
I’m here. Older - my first system at 18 in 1980 was a Pioneer SX 3700 stereo receiver, Epi 100 speakers, Technics SL-D2 turntable with Ortofon cart. Updated in early 90’s but lost interest as many hi end audio retail places went out of business. My latest system is Cambridge Audio Sonata AR30 & Mordaunt Short Avant 602 tower speakers. Not as hi end as you may prefer but it sounds sweet to me.
It's not just audiophillia. Even in the home theatre crowd. I know lots of women really into film but they are happy watching it on their TV without even a sound bar or laptop!
Hey Steve i'm glad you said not all women because some of them are in to the whole Music thing too. I live with my human companions and although it is true to say the male one is far more of an audiophile the female one is also in to the Music sounding good. That is why the living room is all based around the HI-Fi system :D They also have a hi fi system in the spare bedroom too.
"She had GIGANTIC... speakers"
Aw...
Hey Steve , if you knew the psychology of females, then you would know that the typical female doesn't see "value" in gadgets or things as such . Females collect emotional attachment to people. Males collect objects , like cars , wine, gear in many categories, including stereo equipment . This is born out by the fact if you observe the covers of magazines. On virtually all women's magazine covers are pictures of a woman or a man . On men's magazines (gear related) you'll find objects, gadgets and stuff or men doing things with their stuff. Only on "sexual directed magazines" will you find women featured. (I'm sure you know what I mean)The people that market magazines know what females are interested in, and they also know what males want too, if they want to successfully sell magazines. There are some "niche" publications directed at women, that feature jewelry, or art, or dress making etc. (Mainly how-to) but I have never seen a women's magazine of audio equipment , featuring a woman engaged in serious lust over a gadget . Did anyone married to a woman ever hear her ask for a pair of speakers for her birthday. Not likely. But she might ask for something shiny and glittery, because that would represent a symbolic form of emotional validation that women crave. And this what other females crave and value as well. A shiny new something shows to other females a connection. Men see a great connection with a set of expensive interconnects for their pre/pro geer. We are very different animals in this regard.
Men are not wired for that emotional connection as strongly as women. Theses values are deep seated in our old lizard paleo cortex of our brains . Females long ago in our evolution made connections with people valuable for survival. And men made stone axes (objects) valuable to survive. It's wired into us so deep, that we can't escape our own biology . Until we evolve further away from these old survival instincts, you're not likely to see women lust over stuff like men do. And the funny thing is we don't even know why we (men) do this (obsessing over equipment) . I've heard my male bud say , "those speakers are getting me hard" really? No shit. Or if a male comes up to you sitting in your shiny new red corvette and says, "she's beautiful " like it was a women. (He had lust in his eyes .) If a women came up to you in that car, she would see it differently. She would be lusting over you because of your status in a dominant hierarchy . That car is but a symbolic meaning to her. Were as men see it as status too, but the meaning is different, like the stone axe significance. That's my observations to your question . Love to hear a female perspective opposed to this observation.
I don't see this at all. All of my girlfriends were collecting something. Not always stuff I liked, but they generally bought more stuff than I do. And I have a lot of stuff.
Just ask them what's more important to them, their relationships with people or there stuff? I also said , typical. It's not the point of collecting or hoarding of things. It's the value placed on relationships over objects. Women have far more close friends in general then men . Women are more likely to leave a relationship then a man . And men don't recover from a failed relationship as well as women, because women have a network of friends. This all has to do with what's most valuable to each sex. And this brings us back to the beginning as to why women don't value putting their time in the micro-details that is an audiophile .
The same place where the 3 female RUSH fans worldwide are!
AudiophileTubes lol
Rush are Terrible band, Rush to turn them off the radio
Justin Byrne I'd argue that their first 4-6 records were excellent. The next 20? Not so much. Same as many other bands
Justin, I can't find any of your CD. Must be sold out, lol...
james robinson sure you are not talking about Metallica?
Female audiophiles are rare. My wife loves music and surprised me by playing a Black Flag CD in the car when we were dating since she knew I would like it. She could care less about my racks of power amplifiers or really any audio gear. It is a disinterest of audio gear and the hobby of focusing on just the enjoyment of music. I told her our man from Black Flag Mr Rollins sits for hours alone just listening to music! :) So yeah, female audiophiles are as rare as straight male hair dressers. :)
Some females prefer better looking speakers over better sounding speakers. They might be called style-o-philes.
I did date a girl who was a audiophile. I think she only went out with me because of my audio system.
Do a search on here about record collections. You will see lots of younger women compared to younger guys. Guys obviously are engrossed with video games while the girls look like their moms or grandmothers did when they were that age. There's hope in the future for more chick audio freaks as they come of age !!!
The women in my life have prioritised music further down the list as they’ve got older, other things are just more important to them. I still get the same thrill from listening to and discovering music in my 50s as I did as a teenager.
Can relate...
As a current teenager, hearing you say that you still get the same joy from discovering and listening to music, in your 50’s, makes me very happy and gives me hope. Thank you.
Just discovered Vanessa Fernandez this month, ruclips.net/video/GjLlZRWhPNA/видео.html Her Zeppelin album is sweet.
Music is life.
Trust me, if you're destined to become an audiophile, and stick with it, we start hearing finer, more detailed nuances as we age, and no sir, I'm not just referring to the voices in our heads, though those do get more detailed as well =)~ I'm 53, and have developed an entire committee up there. Bummer is, no two of them can agree on any one thing at the same time.
rudy, "we start hearing finer, more detailed nuances as we age"
I sort of disagree, I disagree with the age part, and would rather say as we gain experience in active listening, that we can hear things we missed before, the nuances, and complexities that make active listening enjoyable.
*Active listening:* The music is front and center, no distractions, you're listing for those nuances, the transitions, the pauses, the melody, and unexpected progressions.
*Passive listening:* listening while you do things, reading, cooking, eating, conversing with others..... How we all listen to music 90% of the time.
Literally every girlfriend I had (let's not get carried away, four) ended up with a decent hifi.
No high-end, no audiophile equipment, but a decent hifi with seperates, a record player and an acceptable pair of speakers.
Think Yamaha, think Wharfedale, think KEF, think Technics, that kind of stuff. Because all of them had really good ears and they all loved hearing proper sound at my house.
They also all had an opinion and often this opinion was correct.
In my mind, women are better audiophiles than us men, they are better at seperating details and they are better at quickly judging about differences.
Going to audio gatherings though I realize how female unfriendly audiophiles often are. They always complain about women not liking big speakers (I literally have a photo of one girlfriend hugging a Magnepan, one girlfriend dancing in front of a massive record cabinet and one girlfriend literally laying on a bed scattered with reel to reels, petting one that has a somewhat suede case. I never ever ran into any trouble with that, except having to give away some audio after breakups because they really wanted some (and I gladly obliged)). In my experience it's the men that keep the women from becoming an audiophile, not the women themselves.
The amount of times I heard about men not allowing their wives and girlfriends to flip a record is shocking. First thing I did when I met my last girlfriend is teach her how to thread a reel to reel. It just makes sense to me to share these things.
The 'gear' part, I don't know man. I know female photographers, female gamers, female car nuts, female vinyl collectors, I don't think 'gear' is the problem.
So I just scrolled down and read the other replies. I think my point is quite valid.
Nice comment dude. Good perspective!
The Rolling Troll You are quite right and quite lucky as well to have audiophile ladies around. To me (girls don't feel offended) women's have good ears AND weird ears, I don't know but I think women's listening to a song seems to me like dog or cat is listening, I mean their brain wiring is totally different and in a good way I guess.
Maybe they can listen all the details in those cheaply build earphones (strange eh) and most importantly is that girls/womens don't give a shit about it, they like it they listen to it but will buy earpods instead, they will put money in lipstick and nailpaint or in salon instead. If they will buy it then probably she is crazy rich or it's an gift or a gold digger. Maybe their ears comes fitted with audiophile grade mikes so they don't need em. It's like keep makeup kits and cars&tools kit girl kid will to for makeup kit and we bulls we go for toy car and tool kit(doll is an exception 😁😁 you know we guys gets curious)
The Rolling Troll my ex ended up with a nice system. Mine!!!
@@stallio5612
We don't all wear makeup.
We are not all crazy rich or gold diggers.
Maybe you've met some young women who may fall into that category.
I'm a hell hoarder. I don't really care. I haven't worn a dress since 1882.
I grew up with music and musicians. That's still my life.
I'm 52 in January.
And I'm not alone in this 😊
Men are more into technical stuff and engineering as a rule. For good (the search for holy audio graal women don't have enough spare time to care about) or worse (snake oil and audio-wave arguing).
It's the same for cars, rockets and anything power-related. Men like power itself and expensive toys, women first value the pleasure, ease of use these things can bring to their life and social status.
That's my male European point of view which might sound sexist to liberal Americans. :-p
I loved studied to my degree, I bought Harmon Kardon, Nakamichi, Onkyo, but always by suggestion. Then I met my spouse. Musician playing a gig, we talked stereo, He invited me after boasting about my components, wanted to share music in a room built for music, that was amazing!!! His quest for sound touched my heart. He lost his wife and I shared tragic loss. He played mandolin, played many instruments, I still boast I play good stereo. Somehow even though I myself do not play, it is deeply defined within me
Maybe its like owning a hot rod. Your woman loves to take a drive with you to the malt shop (which is now 5 guys) but she doesn't want to get dirty fixing it or paying for it!
I take my life partner to CES and audio shows, which she seems to enjoy. She is also my second set of ears. But she doesn't understand any of the tech stuff, only how it sounds. Finally she complimented my home loudspeakers, Adante AF-61s, which we both fell in love with at first listen. So in many ways it was also her selection.
I can't recall selling any gear to a female audiophile. I did have a female customer who was helping her husband buy new speakers.
A bit late to this, but thank you so much for making this video!
On a related note, I spent many years as an audio engineer, both recording and live sound. I met many male engineers, but only a few women engineers. The males ran the gamut from terrible to great, but every female sound engineer I met was outstanding at what they did. Hmmmm.
The only women I have met in an audio context were at the RMAF show and half of them were just temp sales people, booth babes or there to support their man. I kind of suspect women hear sound differently than men and its less of a thing for them as opposed visual things like shoes and glitterati.
Hello (waves)
It's everywhere. In the lounge (it's a big storage space) the workshop, garage, workshop toilet. Don't even get me started on why it's everywhere else including the workshop.
It's madness. It's at my best friends house (great for them they are record collectors and musicians) in their daughters room etc etc and on and on it goes.
Thankfully I give a lot of it away.
My husband calls it my "hoard". Thankfully he's so laid back he's horizontal. Bless him.
I'm no audio nerd but I've got a lot of gear.
I also have band equipment and still have my PA and monitors from my last underground venue/practice space.
I think we need a bigger boat...
Thanks Steve x Love to you from Aotearoa 😀👍💚
Steve there are many female s who are audio listeners but you dont see them because they are inside listening like ourselves everyday and hardly go out with rooms full of lp s why do they need to .
I also would like to meet more ladies who luv audio .
Challenge for the guys:
Did your dad encourage your sisters to do maintenance on the car? (By way of teaching them stuff...)
Was fixing the broken _____ something your sisters were expected/encouraged to attempt?
Were cooking, ironing, washing dishes, doing laundry, dusting, and vacuuming chores you were expected to do, while your sisters were expected to mow the lawn, clean out the rain gutters, and caulk around windows?
(Go ahead and mentally keep thinking along this line for another minute...)
If you are married and have kids...
Do you expect your wife to do the kitchen stuff (but you do the manly outdoor grilling)?
Do you take an active role in the decorating choices of your living spaces (or do you retreat to a "man cave" because you abrogated all responsibility regarding the rest of the house)?
Do you take time to teach your wife and daughters to do things you can do because of upbringing, and show any interest in things they are interested in?
And now, for the $64,000 question:
How many chairs are there in the sweet spot of your listening space?
Two :-))
Good answer! I've looked at hundreds of photos of listening rooms and seldom see seating for +1.
My wife is seldom an active listener, but she appreciates that I do, understands that it brings me pleasure, can be convinced of upgrades (which I seldom do), and "gets" that our music sounds much better than what we hear at friends and family homes. Also, our home is tiny, and the music equip does double duty for video, so she enjoys the benefit of that too.
Thanks for many interesting posts!
Same situation here! In the middle of my set I have a huge plasma screen and we like to play music video's.
The signal of the player runs through my DAC, which leads to audio ánd video heaven.
Sweet. My house (100% paid for) is unfortunately challenged for a livingroom-as-listening-room. It's 12x21 and the primary traffic flow cuts right through the middle of it width-wise. So it's a hot mess for both video and audio. But yes, the TV feeds a digital output to my DAC, and from there to the integrated amp (old-school Linn Majik). A PC is currently functioning as my digital content delivery tool (iTunes feeding 8,500 44.1 kHz digital files, and Amazon Prime mostly) to the TV, but I'm going to AXPONA this weekend, so who knows what seed will take root?
So sad they don't share in the dream. My wife thinks a radio is ok. Can you imagine, a crappy radio with one speaker and no fidelity at ALL! Why do guys want to achieve the ultimate noise free, no distortion, pure sound that we audiophiles seek. Marjorie was the diamond in the rough. I wish my wife had the desire to find the ultimate in sound reproduction. I'm lucky enough to have some killer mains, made by two friends who owned a speaker shop that did custom builds for most of Paradise Valley Az, Scottsdale and the like. They built custom speakers into the walls of home being custom built, and their specs figured into the blueprints for the entire home! I have a pair of two way speakers they produced in the late 90's that were so good, when a audiophile amplifier rep came to visit their store and demo'd his amp through the prototypes for these speakers he immediately excused himself. He came back saying he just called his boos to ask if they could offer to share a booth with these guys at CES to shoe off their amps. They wanted to pair off the Sirius speakers with their Coda amps. My buddies accepted and I now own serial numbers 3 and 4 of the entire production run. And they are awesome! I run them along with their Subwoofer for movies sense I want to fell the bass shake the room, but musically with their F3 of 45hz it isn't all that necessary. I run the sub flat and somewhat subdued just to get that extra little bump downstairs. Before I bought the amp I never really missed it! All that and my wife still plays her junk radio thing as loud as hell at probably 100% pure harmonic distortion. Well, I'm glad I can hear the difference anyway. Now I'm refurbishing some speaker from the 80's to hand off to my kids. I hope they can hear the difference!
Why women don't like gear in general?
Tools, knives, audio equipment...
I wouldn't call my wife a audiophile, but she will notice different headphones and will downright refuse bad playback of her favorite songs. She has other hobbies that take her time and money.
Rafael my wife is also into the whole HiFi thing and complains if I change things in a way that displeases her. Our tastes are close but not identical and she occasionally likes to go check out gear in stores, especially the high end stuff. The thing is, she still doesn't really get the same thrill that I do about the gear outside of actually using it. She doesn't read about it. She doesn't look it up on Google. And mostly, she's pretty happy to let me lead when it comes to adding, changing, reconfiguring a setup. We have 8 stereo setups in our tiny house - 3 in one room! She likes to talk about stereos too, but on her own she seems content to just use what we have, and with 8 stereos to choose from I guess that's only reasonable.
I think a part of it is that the ladies often tend to be generally rather practical overall.
I am both a hi-fi fan and a massive Rush fan. So, yeah, I'm single...
Just like computer science...
There are some, allegedly.
I thought that was Woody Allen in the thumbnail.
Yeah, sorry but the thumbnail is really creepy.
Michael B. Vile and creepy
I've met some amazing women audiophile's, one being Doreen Bance of Bandor. Also had some communication w the widow of Jim Thiel, nice lady.
Here in Thailand were I now live, there is a sizeable audiophile community with 2 big shows every year in Bangkok, alot of women in attendance and also running distributors, such as Conice(Nad etc).
I had a siilar cnversation with my wife aover the weekend as I had read that someone is looking to do a TV version of the movie 'High Fidelity', but with a woman in the lead role, formally played by John Cusack. We both agreed, after watching the movie, that generally speaking, women are not as obsessive about the audio world as some men are and that the role could only be successfully played by a man.
What more the roles played by Jack Black in High Fidelity and School of Rock?
I've found that all of the female audiophiles that I've met are also accomplished musicians.
I think the situation is that there is a disproportionately larger section of men to begin with that have the propensity for appreciating and evaluating the quality of sound reproduction as opposed to women. One could probably make a correlation with the way society pours boys and girls into fixed moulds from birth. I believe if both sexes were brought up with no preset gender biases - not to mention traditional social norms, ie, woman at home raising kids, we'd have an equal percentage of audiophiles (and scientists, architects and astronauts) between the two.
I think there are a lot of women audiophiles, they just don't pontificate about all their equipment like guys do. They buy and enjoy the stuff but don't feel they need to go on and on about it.
Sadly, you're wrong about lots of female audiophiles, there aren't. I sold hi-fi for a living, I would have happily sold to women, but there weren't too many female customers.
absolutly nailing video, very nice, thank you
They are not interested. It really is that simple. Men and women are different, even in their interests.
You know, reading all the responses from women audiophiles on this video tells me that maybe there are more out there but they don’t always go to the forums.
Before agrarian civilization men were hunters and listening was critical. Women were gatherers which was all about movement. So as music developed men inherently listen, where women inherently want to move or dance to music. Listening to nuance is not all that important to most women, they may prefer to enjoy the physical feel.
To be an audiophile it involves BOTH the "feeling" you get from listening AND..interest in the hardware required to get that "feeling". Many Men and Women enjoy the first part....but for MOST Women....the second part, not so much. Like it or not, It's just one of the biological differences between Men and Women.
hey steve, is audiophile a disease or sickness like oc
Women aren't typica!ly gears heads. It is like this with cars, bicycles, skis, or whatever the gear may be. Nothing wrong with that. They just typically find more important things to fixate on.
Right, like shoes.
I've found that most of the women I know appreciate music as much as I do, know more about music than I do, listen to more music than I do (albeit almost always while performing another activity) and don't aspire to a better quality of music. I guess that means they are not audiophiles by some classic definitions..but they are musicophiles. I suspect what that means is that in my brain dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins are released by appreciating the quality of the music while their brains stimulated by just the music itself. Now, if only we knew why? My wife says its because women have more developed brains!
I only heard of one lady audiophile/theaterphile. I suppose unicorns do exist? Maybe?
Someday there will be a Jana audio brand. Watch.
It's usually not common practice to acoustically treat the kitchen space.
"An audiophile is someone who listens to music seriously." I must disagree. Sound and music are not one and the same, and lover of music is not necessarily a lover of sound nor is a lover of sound necessarily a lover of music. For many audiophiles, only good sounding recordings are desirable in and of themselves. That is their criteria: the prestidigitation of creating an artificial reality. Audio VR if you like. If a recorded performance is also great at the same time, so much the better but the audiophile's emphasis is not on performance but rather on sound as an end in itself. An audiophile is often more attuned to mere sound quality than to the quality of a performance. They are attend to the former before the latter, or many do. On the other hand, a music lover does not have to be an audiophile and sadly the reverse is also true. So I don't think your definition of audiophile is at all accurate. Furthermore this is why women aren't often audiophiles in the narrow sense of lovers of sound and sound equipment. They are more likely to be music lovers for whom good sound is nice but ultimately dispensable. I aspire to achieving that blissful state. Audiophiles are rarely satisfied; the chase is never-ending. A music lover doesn't and doesn't need to chase the sound dragon. It is interesting that while English has no real single term for music lover, French has "mélomane" which signifies literally a music mad woman or man. A mélomane could be an audiophile, but doesn't have to be. Conversely being an audiophile as suggested already is sadly not synonymous with being a mélomane.
I value sound quality and music quality equally.
yeah sure, go define "music" now for frenchs, and see what kind of garbage qualifies as such for them; audiophile is an exact term that describes obession for the quality in audio; it's a condition that your music library MUST met, but dont says nothing about the music per se, so it's perfectly valid for an audiophile to be a music (genre, artist, live vs studio, etc) lover.let me make you a final definition: an audiophile is a person who will NOT tolerate anything that sounds below a certain quality
I think you are taking that statement out of context here.. While there are many people that will take everything word for word and disagree on something based on a particular word used in a statement, in this case, the word "seriously", there are also people who will get that when he said "An audiophile is someone who listens to music seriously" he probably meant "critically" but didn't word that statement right. After all the video doesn't seem scripted so there is a good chance that the wrong words were used which is fine, but even if it was scripted there's a chance that the wrong word could have been used in the script. As most audiophiles know that listening to music critically is what we all do, analyzing every detail in the music.
seriously means rigurously; no noise (external nor cracks pops hiss, and yes, that rules out analog); no less than CD quality (16bit 44Khz), and from there u get the best audio gear you can afford that qualifies with the best specs for that money
All you had to say was, every audiophile is a music lover but not every music lover is an audiophile, in fact very few music lovers are audiophiles
You used a pic of Jana as the thumbnail, and Jana does not appear in the video. I call shenanigans.
Speaking of female audiophiles - can you feature their setups and gear?
Enjoy your channel Steve, I would have thought if you get an emotional experience from music the equipment is not too important, however I do agree "proper" equipment can get you there. I live in Scotland using modest Audiolab, Arcam and Wharfedale hifi. I think for the fairer sex our sisters don't care much for specs, wires/cables and black boxes, just saying. Again great channel Steve.
I think you should do another version of this as well, where you ask the females who enjoy your content to comment and reply.
I like to think I appreciate quality audio, but I don't come close to meeting your requirements for an audiophile. Regardless, I really enjoy your videos and I think there are probably a lot of women like that. All of us in that category are interested in increasing our awareness of transparency and soundstage, etc to get more from our music, and you help us do that.
I know your channel is about audiophiles and you are the Audiophiliac, but giving people like us a little recognition for appreciating what you and the audiophile community do would be a nice gesture.
Sincerely,
Not an audiophile
I ask the same thing when I'm playing golf. They're out there but so scarce. However, they do love music, just not so picky of the source. Even I use my bluetooth speakers more than my system lately and still scan youtube to upgrade my system. Go figure.
Getting there.. :D Well I'm starting out so, can only get better from here.
Interesting point. Could the reason lie within an inherent genetic condition I wonder...
Way back in our evolutionary path the human male was the hunter and protector of his tribe/family. One trait we still carry from those distant times is that our hearing is the last sense to turn off at night and the first to switch on in the morning (hence the invention of the alarm clock). My question is; Is the human male hearing slightly more sensitive than the female to certain frequencies? Those perhaps that would alert us to the impending dangers of an approaching Sabre-Tooth or some such stealthy predator skulking over to chomp on his kids? Mix that with the natural human love of music and rhythms and, just perhaps, tens of thousands of years later, with this trait still intact, the audiophile was born...?
Just wondering....
I have never met any,, I am 67, but my wife likes my Audio note speakers
Where I'm from, it's hard enough finding women who can get beyond smooth jazz. Ugh!
Than move to a decent place!
I knew 2 women who visited our audio club meetings.
I see you there often but don't want to bother you because, as a celebrity you get mobbed all the time and it must be tiring when people surround you and ask for autographs and such. (back to the topic) One of the women would borrow really high end gear from the men, using her feminine charms and then not return the equipment. However, my exwife was a great audiophiole, she would ask me all the time when are we upgrading? and do you think a separate DAC would really help us? I miss her!!!
Testosterone begets technical interests methinks. 15 years selling hifi and I want to say only 2 times can I remember when a woman came in and wanted a good pair of speakers. The first one, by "good" she mean't under $1k a pair for towers. She wanted a speaker that would go loud, so she could get high and listen to Pink Floyd at concert level and space out. Completely non-technical for sure. The second one was an obvious lesbian and seemed to want to try and assert her masculinity by shopping for a speaker with her partner. She didn't buy one however, just kicking the tires so to speak, and was also completely non-technical. It's not being sexist if you just happen to notice an obvious trend. The only women at shows are booth babes or work for the company in marketing or some such pursuit. All our metrics on our RUclips videos show a hugely male audience, etc. So you are correct and delivered the question very PC too I thought. Anyone claiming sexism is a loony. Differences are fine, we all weren't born with the same genes and there's differences between the sexes, thank goodness. I too wish there were more women Audiophiles, that would make my job a lot more fun/interesting. It's also the #1 excuse why the man who wants to buy, can't. It's always "My wife says no...", so not only are they not joining us in this hobby, but they're the main resistance to the hobby from what I can tell...which is probably why I'm single, haha.
I do however, know women who go to concerts religiously. Like more than one a week. They seem to enjoy the experience of live music better, especially for performers who they're attracted to. I myself don't like the lines, expense and sound volumes of live music, I rather have it at home reproduced perfectly for me.
Who is the young Asian woman you used into the thumbnail???
Byron B. She’s Jana Dagdagan from Stereophile
Seeing how loose Steve has mounted his mike on the shirt he looks not like a dedicated audiophile...
Steve, I thoroughly enjoy listening to your take on things, and definitely respect you, BUT, that was total "click-bait"! I was thinking we were going to get to meet the young woman behind the cute little face on the cover of the video, lol...
ruclips.net/channel/UCNqMrzZG0wUBwrNepdprwVQ
Women are practical beings, most of them, not irrational as we are.. That is the difference
Every time I’ve seen this topic brought up in any forum, the Neanderthals come out of the woodwork - men commenting that women only care about shoes, or about how a setup looks, or some such nonsense. And then the ones who have wives or girlfriends start complaining about them. It’s pretty messed up, because they do it regardless of the intention of the original post.
Women think the included Apple earbuds are high end. It's just not in their genes, and that's not a knock on them. There are things women care about that guys don't, like shoes. Men see shoes are utilitarian. Women see audio as utilitarian. Yes, it's a generalization, because generally speaking it's generally true.
Steve I met one, she had a body for sin, and a mind for Great Sound!!!😎
Here’s one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD we are out here but the guys make it very uncomfortable to admit it without having to one up you all the time, it gets exhausting, so I personally keep it to myself as I did when I taught myself to play guitar, got my first 4 track, my midi to make my own music.. it is this constant need that guys seem to feel like they are smarter than you are, and it still goes on - well into middle age, as a professor myself, it still happens. That’s why.
This reminded me of the early 70's Sony's (Philips) cassette radio ad, where the boyfriend is introducing his new girlfriend to his new car stereo, and she sayeth in a Valley Girl-like high pitched voice "Stereo's stereo". Says it all. We don't start them early enough, and ads of that day used females to sell but they don't appear to be selling to females. At all. And that of course was just the mainstream stuff, so how does -anyone- get exposed to being an audiophile? And, really, when exposed, why do at least a few females not climb aboard? Keep in mind, not many males do either - I can't think of one friend, male or female. To have a female audiophile friend - OMG. :)
Women just dont give audio equipment a chance.
If they did,there would be more female audiophiles,for sure!
I feel like a lot of audiophiles are impossible to talk to because they can't help but immediately shifting any discussion to shitting on the other person's gear and talking about how much better their gear is rather than trying to have any kind of semi-productive conversation about music or gear. I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking they'd rather keep their head down than deal with the treat of that hostile toxicity whenever they want to have a nice conversation about a hobby let alone the women who can often expect some nice sexism in the mix. Seen it over and over again, always much easier for a guy to "prove" himself to such people no matter what the domain. Probably safe to assume the women are listening to their music rather than wasting too much pf their time getting talked down to by the so called audiophiles. Hell, I wonder how much of people not being content with their gear is actually THEM not being happy with it rather than some other audiophile not being happy with it. Makes sense they'd be swapping gear less if that's the case.
That's my question!!!
One thing is for sure and it matters not if the cause is social or let's say biological, far fewer women have much interest in the engineering aspects of machines. HiFi equipment are machines. I've recently retired from a company which made custom industrial machines, for production, I a shop floor builder, and there was a flood of women into mechanical engineering design jobs. As a general thing I perceived that even though they choose to work with machines they were still not as animated or involved in them. For instance in having a hobby involving machines like cars or motorcycles or boats or drones or whatever.
In the past it was a pretty male dominated thing, partly due to the gender pay gap. Good audio costed money and still does but to a lesser extent. Women rarely owned a car of their own when I was in my 20's let alone had the disposable income for audio gear. It was seen very much as the males 'domain' unfortunately. There would have been exceptions, but sadly I never met one. + Mark Donan's comments on women's attitude to music and playback quality.
now there's a man who respects whamen
I would love to meet a Dutch audiophile woman!
I would take it one step further and say audiophiles are single men. I don't even listen to music with my wife, I spend less money on audio than when I was single, and my system is based on TV, all because I have a wife.
David Kereluk Of course they're single... What self respecting male would get married if they have to put up with a couple of little bookshelf speakers tucked away in the corner with ornaments on top 😂
The secret is finding the right wife. I have 3 surround sounds and 13 subs in my 1400 sq ft house.