www.patreon.com/cheapaudioman Tidal Deal bit.ly/3siuqSF Crutchfield shop-links.co/cguPK8XEGmt Best Buy Deals shop-links.co/cf9yDZeYtUH amzn.to/3GkNaop CAM Store (New Products!) bit.ly/30Lgu4K apos.audio?sca_ref=552340.TY98BPcZ6P massdrop.7eer.net/qnOye5 Amazon Unlimited Music and Disney Plus Free Trial amzn.to/3DRAVj9
I was an audiophile for 24 years. Then I decided it was more fun to have fun. When I accepted that I wasn't in the booth with the engineer/producers ears when the recording was created and that perfect fidelity was literally impossible, suddenly the fun got way more funnererier. Once I accepted that a lot of the snake oil is perfectly ok because it looks super awesomely cool and if you want $84k* worth of pigtails coming out of your mono blocks blasting through your zillion dollar Wilsons into your flagstone floor and wood paneled walls then HELL YEAH!!! Have the time of your life. I still chase "hi fi" gear and demo equipment and have way too many systems in my house. I still listen critically in search of that magic balance between soundstage air and non fatigue. I still mostly prefer a flat sound...Mostly. I just don't care if sometimes a little color gets into the mix or if I dig one of my shiny boxes mostly because the volume knob seems like it was created by one of those guys who makes those machined rich guy spiny stress relieving top things. I have been historically guilty of every crime listed in this video and probably laughed at the "idiot" jokes a little harder than most because of that...But now that I am ten years into being an audio gear enthusiast, I couldn't be having more fun with it. Great video CheapAudioMan, thanks. *Could you maybe get some $24k pigtails instead and throw some cash at the foodbank? I am sure the optically perfect, gold shielded, nanobot, functionally perfect alumitanium microsheilding of the nucleic (tm) organic free trade copper coated nickeladmium (patent pending) will be almost as good at rattling your back windows and creating massive room reverb as the big dogs would have been.
Yes, you are full of crap. If I had a dollar for every arbitrary sound descriptor you've used, I'd have enough money to sail the world on a private yacht.
@@NotSure723 You are correct!!! But the reason I don't call myself an audiophile any more is that I know I'm full of crap (I am pretty sure we all are). And when that made sense to me the hobby became a lot more fun.
I am 45 and have been an audiophile for 50 years. I guess the first five years being in a liquid state, really shaped me as an audiophile to an atomic level.
Though I consider audiophile music to be the subset of music I use for equipment evaluation. When I listen to enjoyment, I don't care, it's just music.
@@andyreichert499 I'm would class myself as an audiophiliac, that does not preclude me from any type, genre or recording of music. ANY - just like good music
@@AbsoluteFidelity I know.. I need to transition to a K9 audiophile program. Dogs have top notch hearing AND I could add 35 more years of experience in only 5 years!
This video inspired me to become an audiophile and immediately I began to hear another level of detail, the soundstage became a vista, it was a revelation! I could smell top notes, see deep blacks, thank you!
My father was a master carpenter. He used to say that the moment that someone thinks that they know everything is when they lose a finger or worse. I can’t afford to be a true audiophile. Most of my kit would be considered entry level or mid fi by the cognoscenti. It’s enjoyable to me and as you often say, that’s all that matters.
My friend used to work at Richer Sounds- the biggest audio retailer in the UK. He told me it genuinely didn't matter how much someone spent on their audio system- £50 or £500,000 they ALWAYS had the same niggles, issues, grievances and irritations.
I'm just a guy that loves to listen to all kinds of music. I like it loud, I like it clear and rich and detailed. I like to go "WOW that sounds so cool!" And I need it on a 1k budget. So I don't know what that makes me but I don't really care about labels. So to you Randy, thank you for helping me find what I needed to enjoy my music
I've wanted to be an audiophile for at least the past 65 years, but can't afford it. In the meantime, I've just listened to my music on the best sounding systems I could cobble together.
That's me too. Until now, at 52 as my hearing is slipping, I have splashed out on Sennheiser 569 s and enjoying them while I can still appreciate it. It is worth it.
@@richyfoster7694 Sorry to hear that, man. I knew a deaf kid who listened to music despite only being able to appreciate the super low end, but he still loved it.
@@ProteinFromTheSea I attended the wedding of my Aunt's brother , who is deaf, back in the 80's. so a large number of the folks attending were deaf. A couple of things struck me. first, when walking into the crowded hall, it was unusually quiet. Second, when the music started the dance floor filled up. The DJ had the Bass turned way up. They were enjoying the music far more than any "audiofile" !
I've been an audiophile for 51 years so I can officially talk down to that audiophile of 50 years and make fun of their system. If I meet an audiophile of 55 years on the street, I have to bow down to their feet like in Wayne's World. That's how that works.
WOW...You went on a tear brother man! Straddling both the ProAudio and Audiophile world's, I have dealt with the snobbery forever...this podcast was pure therapy!!! Bravo
Me too. As a guy who loves music and sound systems of almost any kind I have seen a lot of crap. Currently have my own sound company and am an Auditorium Manager for a school district. I also have some nice home equipment. Amazing the misinformation and sneers I hear from Audiophiles.
I agree 100%. Back in the mid 70's I bought my first good audio system: a Marantz amp/tuner, a pair of Harmon Kardon speakers, a Technics turntable and a TEAC 3340 four track reel to reel. I was the envy of all of my friends. Since those day I have changed and upgraded many times but I did it based on my own personal tastes and my ears. Sometimes a less expensive piece of gear was just perfect for my system at that time. I spent many years as a recording engineer and worked in studios with the best high end gear, speakers from Altec, JBL, Electrovoice, amps from Macintosh, Crown, Phase Linear etc. Often when I bought reel to reel mixes home I thought they sounded equally great on my own home system. I never considered myself an "audiophile", just someone who spent thousands of hours in the recording world. I have to wonder how "audiophiles" adapt the output of their speakers to the room without having an EQ or tone controls to adjust for the rooms acoustics. That nonsense about no tone controls or an EQ giving you the purest sound is as crazy as saying you can't put mustard on your hot dog or salad dressing on your salad to maintain the purity of the meats taste or the lettuce in your salad. Nonsense.
I've been an audiophile for just 1 minute, but the rush of power and feeling of superiority has changed the man I am. Suddenly my tackle is working again and my hair is growing back, lol, can't believe how I was a pathetic mortal when now our lord and saviour must be worshipping me.😂 Anyhow, I'm off to berate some people and be a general douche, this must be how Mussolini felt. Great video as always.👍
I have old equipment from the late 70's, early 80's. I still buy records and CD's. I listen to music on my iPhone etc. I still find it hard to believe the prices of audio equipment. Love the channel. Keep it up.
With my allergies, my *ears* don't stay the same week to week! Also, the bass/treble and later, eq's in my system have always been part of the fun of listening to recorded music. Oh, and tweaking controls I find is a lot less expensive than buying new gear all the time. Thanks for the common-sense approach to audio hobbies!!
If they talk like an idiot, write like an idiot, troll like an idiot, and look smugly down at all others from their 50-year-old audiophile mountain, they might be an idiot! Love the commentary, Randy. Keep up the battle against audio ignorance.
Another thing that irks me is when seeing someone with a set budget asking about something that fits reasonably within that budget how it performs, then they’re met with a chain of “save up a little more and get xxxx”. Very quickly that $300 becomes $1000 and it just strays completely off the course of what the dude simply asked.
That's not always wrong though. For example, if your IEM budget is 300 USD, you are better of saving for the Moondrop Variations. This is valid because youll end up bouncing around dog**** products. Buy once, cry once. +
Spending more on Audio never ends I thought I was happy then listened to something else then spent another $660 on another item to improve the sound getting close to $5000 now. 10 grand ain’t to far off.
@@jeffjohnson3504 sure but still, in every industry there exists products that are the pinnacle of price vs performance. Denafrips ares. Moondrop variations. Topping G7, decware zen triode. If you want to spend more you can buy if you are spending less than the price of these products you might as well save up and buy them and be happy for a few years instead of a few months.
@@siddharthjaiman4712 the problem is going cheap telling yourself it sounds good doesn’t work go out and listen to hi end mid fi stuff and then go home and listen to yours. To get impressive sound you need to spend that is what I have come to.
The problem with that is there's always going to be something better than what you have, and that will never stop no matter how many times you upgrade, period. I'm all for buying something way better than something else for the same amount of $$, but at some point you yourself have to stop your spending habits and just enjoy your sources the way your system is, unless you're just the type of guy that likes buying stuff. You do you.
OH where did you go wrong?? You need enough tubes in your equipment to heat your house in the winter - and they all have to be new old stock, only available in a back alley with cash; you have to drive a Porsche and oh yes only listen to vinyl pressings that you own, and are no longer available to the 'unwashed masses' .... oh my > dude you are the greatest, love your video's your honesty and integrity ... and the humor of course!!
If being an audiophile means listening to music carefully and critically, with full attention to the music and without being preoccupied by something else, then I’ve been an audiophile for 40’years.
@540マンモス Merriam-Webster defines it as “A person who is enthusiastic about high fidelity sound reproduction”. Now, you might ask, what is an example of such a person? Answer: See my initial comment above.
@@edd2771 What you described is a person who just really likes music. An audiophile is a person that will drop $300 on a machine that will "demagnetize" a CD. I'm not joking, that's a real thing that people really bought.
@@pookie2986 yes I watch techmoan as well. The suffix “phile” means to like something. Audio is self-explanatory. I stand by my personal definition as it largely overlaps with the dictionary definition.
Ed D I like your description of ‘careful and critical listening’. That pretty much sums it up for me. I would probably only add a minor gear reference, i.e. ‘… on typically higher resolving systems’. But the point you make is spot on, namely setting time aside and being mindful about it. I think the issue many people have has more to do with audiosnobbery than the actual definition of audiophile. I might add I unfortunately don’t have enough time to fit that ‘audiophile’ category, even though I purposely listen to an album here and there on my headphones on rare occasion.
What a refreshing rant! I've been into amplifiers since I was 12. That's 51 years ago, so I guess I've been an audiophile for 51 years! Back in the "early" days I built Heath Kits, Knight Kits, Dynaco Kits that included amplifiers and tuners. Then I breadboarded my own amps, some of which actually worked! Back in those days we only had LPs and the surface noise drove me CRAZY. When CDs came along, I was overjoyed, only to find that "experts" scoffed at the compression used in digital formats. I didn't care, as I knew what was important to my listening taste. So I guess I have a tin ear. Anyway, thanks for validating my my opinion that you can listen to what you like. I do sort of miss those audiophile test records of certain types of sounds like a jet flying from left to right, etc....
I'm looking at this vid in 23, but we're maybe close in age. So, I've good audio gear since that time, Dual 1229 TT w/Shure V15, Kenwood inetgratec, JBL L55's, and JBL L100's so here, this just popped back into my Head and lo, I Googled, and there he is Richard Burwen, a pop and scratch filter that I remember as THE most expensive component period 4K$ and this in 72--74? Also the ver first Dolby outboard (that was all there was) had to hand calibrate it. Wollensak/Advent cassette days. and older Sony units, the new TD127 incorporated one
I am an Audiophile...have been since I was 10 listening to KJR AM radio on a cheap plastic made in Japan table top in the morning before school....my 1st stereo that I purchased was from a swap meet in southern California for 115 bucks....played it loud, sitting right in front of it, sounded good to me. I have what people might say is a mediocre system, but it sounds good to me, and I listen to it every day . Love your channel.
I really appreciate you, Randy. Thanks for being welcoming to everyone who wants to enter this hobby. I only started getting into hifi recently after a long stint out of the hobby. I'm glad to see your channel showing people that they don't need the 5,000 amp to get great sound. Thanks for calling out the jerks and gatekeepers. Anyone who appreciates music and cares about how it gets reproduced in their home is an audiophile, even if you can't or don't want to spend a lot of money. Just watching these channels and learning is all it takes.
Love this! It makes me think of the days when people told me that if I put an effects pedal between my Strat and my Deluxe Reverb I wasn't a real guitar player. This audio hobby(disease 😊) is fun! I don't want to get to the point that I think I've got it all down and cop a resentment every time someone disagrees with me. This is why I patron this channel Randy. It keeps me right sized!
I just added an old Yamaha GE 60 EQ to my system because I wanted to adjust the sound from my tape deck ( I just got one after 30 years ) and I love it. It is cool to watch and made that unit sound better. Every forum had "that guy" who told me they are the devils work. I think it works great to help correct crappy recordings or old tapes. Oh, and it does light up and its very cool to watch.
I agree with you. I'm a member of several audio groups, and I never cease to be amazed at some of the snobbishness and also the ignorance among people who call themselves audiophiles. It really ticks me off when some of these guys criticize people who have equipment that didn't cost many thousands of dollars. One story that comes to mind was a young guy who made his first post there; he was so excited, just starting out on his audio journey and he had purchased a pair of Dayton B-652s. The snobs jumped all over him and his "crap speakers". Hey, this was a kid just starting out, he didn't have any money and this was exciting to him. There was a time when that's all I could afford too, so I get it. Oh and..."we don't use tone controls because we want to hear the music as the artist intended it to sound". Haha, BS. The artist mixed on studio monitors in a room with near perfect acoustics. We use all kinds of speakers with different sound signatures, we listen in our homes that usually have sonic problems, etc. We usually need the correction to make it sound right. Lastly, the hardcore measurement guys who go ONLY off the calibrated mics. Some of them use Klippel machines, but use them wrong. Some of the most boring speakers I've ever heard are the ones that measured perfectly flat in their tests.
I used to be so stuck on what accurate sound was. Then I was reminded that the artists may not have even recorded in the same studio. The engineer may have collected tracks from the different musicians from all over the country. So it would be impossible to know, even with a "perfect" room, how they intended it to sound. So just go ahead and adjust to your personal tastes.
That "I don't use EQ because I only will listen to what the artist intended." is the purest form of snobbery, because it is the purest form of horseshit. It's like ignorantly arrogant.
Finally someone who cuts through the BS and gets down to reality! As a musician who has worked in studios, mastering and media production I can say "audiophile" never enters the process. Professional recording gear is made to tech specs and robustness. The final mix is designed to sound "good" on most consumer kit such as radios, car stereo, All in one box, mobile phone etc. The flaws only show up on decent kit and that's when the "audiophile" starts playing with snake oil. The consumer can play with different gear, cables , speaker stands etc until they find a sound signature they like for the type of music they enjoy. Let's not forget as we get older are ears degrade and tone controls can be your friend. 😀
As a 20-year Sith-Audio-Certified Audiophile, audiophiles must only deal in absolutes. Every piece of gear is either what I own and by definition therefore superb, or what I don't own and either amazing and out of my price range or awful.
Playing with EQ is a great way to test your ears. I did an AB test between my phono stage and CD stage of the same album. It helped me noticed what was different and where to tweak. Great video thanks
I've been an audiophile for.... Well I'm not, but I discovered your channel on your first "Audiophile's are full of crap" video. I like good quality audio, and I've always had a tight budget and strived to get the most out of my audio dollars. Thank you for your content, and wishing you continued success!
i have loved music for 50 years! Had a crap turntable with the speaker in the lid! The music was amazing and i eagerly moved from band to band devouring sound like each new band was a revelation. I have seen so many live bands and experienced the joy of a song that can make me cry or punch the air (Pink Floyd - Pulse Comfortably Numb). What did i hear it on? RUclips! You hit the nail on the head with what if your 5k DAC is in a sale at 80% off, does it now become crap? And the comment in the previous video that a store mark-up is 100% I can imagine it being higher. Keep it real and down to earth you rock!
Genuinely the only experience that counts. I once lived near a hi-fi shop and walked past the manager when I was out getting milk, so I'm like second to you in my audiophile cred.
Thank you, Randy. That was great and you are 100% right about everything that you said. Forget about the bullcrap and just let your music fill your soul with happiness!
Don't you just love it when your friend invites you over to listen to his//her latest bit of kit and spends all afternoon selecting various sections of tracks from everywhere to impress you......instead of getting a beer, feet up and let the music flow.
@@steve-hs6fi Once remember a friend and the audiophile hanger on who came to listen to Pulse on my horns.... the guy accused of having a large sub somewhere in the house as the bass at the end of disc one drops through the floor and had never heard that before...he spent two hours on a sub hunt spoiling the afternoon for all........he hasn't had an invite back......sub never found as it was never there just large horns built by me.
This is mostly true. The recording and mastering phase of music production can be just as involved as playing an instrument, I have music I enjoy hearing such as Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, The Gorillaz, but I don't listen to them on my HiFi system because the bass compression is quite high and it just doesn't sound right on my subwoofer anymore. So now I'll gladly listen to music I enjoy a little less for a listening experience I'll find more pleasing.
@@miagi1337 Yep. For example, back in the olden days, there were many fewer good sounding stereo albums available. Think pre-Dark Side of the Moon. In the studio, 4 track was SOTA. So audiophiles searched out old classical albums like RCA Shaded Dog disks. Often, they were titled "Someone you never heard of conducts a second rate orchestra in a good sounding hall playing a cliché piece by some great composer". And they sounded better than anything else, so they got listened to.
Every now and again I browser audiophile youtube as a working studio owner and audio engineer I find your channel to be a breath of fresh air. I saw the video last year and I have to say it is so hilarious how serious audiophile are about their playback systems and how they claim they want it to reproduce the recording like the original intention. Yet I don't see any of them using the tools we use in the pro audio world. Up until a few years ago the industry standard was Yamaha NS10 speakers now there is a little more competition but no audio engineer uses hi-fi speakers or tube power amps for playback they aren't clean enough and are mostly gimmicks. No albums have been actually recorded as DSD the only mediums we use analog tape (and very rarely today) and PCM digital audio mostly at 24 bit 48K and some engineers use 24 bit 96k because they like it. No one talks converter DAC/ADC chips in the pro audio world except Julian Krause because he loves to test things and get down to real numbers. But it all comes down to this if you use music to listen to your equipment you are and audiophile, if you use good equipment to listen to music you are a music fan. Don't take that the wrong way either, because in all honesty you should listen to music on good gear but the gear you have shouldn't stop you from enjoying something you love like music!! Whether that be on a pair of $20 iems or a $20,000 Genelec Dolby atomos system, enjoy the music and support the artist making it. Go to live concerts if you want to hear what the artist intended and support local musicians so they can make more music so audiophiles can listen to their tube DACs and $5000 toslink cables and other expensive stuff!!
I'm so glad to hear your thoughts. I mixed TV audio at the local and network back in the 90s and early 2000s, and I can say for certain, it's not gold connectors and such. It's about getting the job done. It sounded great, but not the kind of 'great' I'd listen to at home. Too flat, too - oddly enough. - 'clear'. You want to know what's in the mix. AND not over drive the limiters and cover every word in compressed room hiss. Not my idea of a relaxing time with my music at home, but great for 'getting the job done." Anyway, my 2 cents.
When people say that they've been an audiophile for 30 40 or 50 years, it just means that they really haven't been listening to music for all those years.
My dad turned me on to audio in the early 70’s, that’s 50 years ago!! Considered myself an audiophile since then. And I have to agree with you I wasn’t really listening to the music but I could tell how every piece of my equipment I owned sounded!! Just plain stupid. Been trying to divorce myself of audiophile status the last couple of years. Listening to the music now instead of the equipment. 😜 Yep and now I’m using loundness controls and tone controls. Music has never sounded better!
It also means that they're older and can't hear anything above around 15khz, or, in many cases, even lower, depending on how much they abused their ears with too much volume over the decades
@@DougMen1 When I worked my job required an annual physical including a hearing test. So ya even though at 15k my hearing is in a definite downward spiral, there’s no music at that frequency!! And for that spiral I have a tone control!😜 And I guarantee you ain’t hearing flat to 15k either. Straight wire with gain preamps are useless as our hearing isn’t linear regardless of age and as we age it becomes even less linear. A straight wire with gain preamp cannot compensate for a humans non linear hearing therefor is incapable of reproducing music accurately for the listener. Any preamp without tone and or loudness compensation circuits is not a hifi piece of equipment. The sooner “audiophiles” wake up to that fact the sooner they will be enjoying what music should really sound like. And we haven’t even addressed bass that is felt and not heard!!😜
I’ve been an audiophile for 30 years….and my favorite speakers I’ve ever owned were a third of the cost of the most expensive “audiophile quality” speakers I’ve ever had.
Do what I did - get 3-4 pr of speakers that sound completely different from each other. Hook them all up to a high quality amplifier (with a switch-box in between) and then you can change your speakers for what music you're listening to! I have two pair of Magnepans but it's the truth that not all music sounds good on them. Small scale classical or solo piano or guitar sound amazing on Magnepan, my large scale orchestra and denser jazz & rock goes through a pair of Vandersteens, ultra-compressed music is brought back to life with a super-efficient speaker like Bozak or Klipsch.
Great training class on eliminating audiophile snobbery ✌️ EQ is my favorite thing to salvage nonaudiophile mixing or adjust for my 50 year audiophile hearing loss 😂
I've always found it so neat that you can unpack hidden layers in basically ANY recording with getting into nicer sounding gear. Even if the music doesn't have the clearest recording or best mix, it can still present with great clarity and depth. Great video! Sometimes hearing the 'imperfections' is so so awesome
Good to hear someone speaking sense at last. How many people understand all this tech mumbo jumbo. I buy what I can afford and probably wouldn't be able to tell a budget system from something audiophile. Thanks again from the UK.
It’s not just audio, man. Every hobby or personal interest group is exactly the same. From lawn guys to motorsport guys and everything in between. It’s an issue of information bias. 90% of vocal participants are either clueless newcomers with eye rolling opinions and loads of bad ideas or arrogant snobby old-hands that want to gatekeep and preserve their imaginary status. The good news is that regular guys that just want to enjoy the hobby actually far outweigh both these categories, they are just quietly enjoying the hobby and not drawing attention to themselves. Those who know the least know it the loudest. Don’t allow the few to speak for the many. It’s our hobby and we should do it however we please.
Unfortunately in my experience whenever someone self identifies as audiophile it's usually code for self entitled snob whos sole purpose in life is to put down other people's experiences and opinions, usually in an online forum.
I have been an audiophile for 50 years since I got my first Stereo Review magazine for Christmas back in 1972. I was an audiophile 5 minutes after I read my first article, and the pursuit of higher fidelity, lower distortion, and a full and balanced frequency spectrum became my focus. Or maybe it was when I stopped listening to AM radio. Or possibly when I turned the music down to stop the speaker from distorting, or the amp from clipping. Or maybe it was when I upgraded from a turntable with a crystal cartridge to one with a moving magnet.
Audiophile music is stripped down vocal driven tracks that sound good on everything. That's why companies use it to demo their stuff, bc it always impresses and will not expose any inherent weaknesses. I'm convinced that's the reason.
This is so true...Everybody plays Nils Lofgren Keith Don't Go and marvels at the detail. That recording sounds amazing on my laptop. Anything can sound good with that track. IT is actually useless for testing equipment.
I'm not an audiophile. Perhaps I could have been years ago but my tinnitus ringing old man ears are just not up to the task. I do find that your channel is very valuable. There's tons of information that I can use to assemble an interesting alternative to a TV sound bar while keeping costs down. Keep up the good work.
I’ve been an audiophile for 28 years! I’m ashamed to admit in my early years I may have been a bit of a jerk about it. Then I got treated like a punk at a hifi store and changed my behavior. As I’ve gotten older I’m far less likely to talk about it unless asked. Most people dgaf about hifi.
I've been an audiophile for about 3 weeks now... It's been a long and arduous journey flanked on all sides by cheap plastic speakers. The final straw was a Samsung soundbar that had fancy marketing on the box. Got it home, excitedly hooked it up and was immediately victimized by terrible audio. Every audio listening experience up to this point led me to your RUclips channel. I wanted better. But I was under the impression that I might be priced out of GOOD AUDIO. After all, good audio is not an indulgence lowly plebs like me deserve. I want to thank you for disabusing me of my audio misapprehensions. I "binged" about 30 of your videos then headed to Amazon with hope in my heart and a dream that I too could be an audiophile. I ended up getting the Ayima D03, a set of Sony SSCS5's and snatched up a used Polk Audio PSW10 from FB Marketplace. About $375 later, my stint in bad audio purgatory is over. I don't know how I lived so long without good quality audio in my life. So... This entire thought dump was meant to serve one purpose. To express my gratitude to you sir for opening my eyes and ear balls to the reality of good affordable audio. You are doing the lord's work good sir. I salute you.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video so much, I had to subscribe and look up your video from a year ago. I became an 'audiophile' at age 10 in 1965. I am not a 'gate keeper' either. It was a different time and critical thinking was pretty common then, and other things like learning listening disciplines, etc, that resulted in my going into the recording industry and settling into mastering as a passion. I am retired after 22 years with the same dupe/rep/press house, some 30 years in all, and have mastered for LP, CD and cassette digital bin loops for high speed duplication. You make the same points and observations I often make in regard to the difference between preference and reference. Subjectivity in home audio is fine, and it should be that way. But the problem is people take their 'preferences' as definitive. At home, I have my own preferences I like to add to the sound. I use vintage gear by choice, but I am well aware of the current products because, well, I'm also an audiophile. LOL!! Bu t I know what my preferences are and can separate that when working in a reference enviroment. BTW, that Metallica Black album is brilliantly recorded and I would regard anything as representative of the actual performance as audiophile. That is what HiFi is all about: getting things as real as we can and still allowing our own tastes to influence those great sounding recordings. Your other choices are great too. It stopped being purely about classical and jazz in the late 60's. EQ's are such a sore subject with me too: it is an innocuous add-on. As you point out,. not all recordings are created equal and need a boost or cut here and there. Or some systems or rooms need a bit of help. I always counter with the fact, that if most audiophiles visit a mastering studio, they would balk at the amount of processors and 'EQ' a recording goes through to end with the result they buy at the shop and take home. The funniest part is having audiophiles tell me how defective studio sound systems are. Really? LOL!!! And then they claim to want to get the artist's intent. LMAO!!! The artist's intent is to have the end product sound good and sell a lot of copies. The engineers and producers make the actual calls to make an end product that sounds good and is playable. Cutting a lacquer is all compromise. Mastering for CD is less of a constraint. For HD digital, it gets a lot easier. And don't get me started on 'analog purity' LMAO!!! For myself I am not brand specific at home. I am result oriented. The maker's name means little if the piece performs and sounds great. I have my own mastering and archival set up at home as well, and occasionally take revenue jobs for restorations and conservation to digital. My turntable is a Technics SP15. Why? It is one of the recognized reference tables for all record formats, and does not 'add or detract' from records played on it. That's watcha call 'reference'. It's also a devastatingly great 'AUDIOPHILE' table too, LMAO!!! Too many audiophile products make the 'reference' claim, but it is not their call. It is the call of the studio professionals. And there I go again! Bottom line: you can be an audiophile for under $500.00 with a bit of learning. it is the result, not the price. Anywho, great vid, informative and entertaining! Keep it up!
I’m a 58 year old amateur aspiring audiophile. I hope to go high in the audiophile draft next year. Signed with an agent. I also EQ my equipment in a V shape and LEAVE IT THERE. There I said it.
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. You are the one voice out there that helped me actually make sense of the audio world and audio equipment when I was just starting to look into creating a home theater setup. KEEP THE SALT FLOWING MAN 🧂
I've been an audiophile since the mid-1980s, when I worked in what we used to call the classical record industry. Many classical recordings from that period sound awful! Truly awful - due to the idiot producers and engineers choosing to use to too many microphones and attempting to balance the sound of the orchestra from the control room, instead of insisting that the conductor balance the sound from the podium. So classical recording are not automatically audiophile recordings. In fact, given that my passion was orchestral and operatic repertoire, I went out of my way to balance my system to make these awful recordings sound at least passable on high resolution gear! You have to balance your system to make it work with whatever music you listen to...unless you're a masochist and you want to experience pain. Not my thing...
Former classical musician here. YES! There were truly terrible recordings from that era, usually distorted as all get out. I still listen every day, and honestly, we get so much better quality recordings today.....of EVERYTHING. It's been a great way to kick off my retirement.
The fact is, all stereo gear accounts for exactly half of the recording process, the reproducing part. We have no control of the production side of the recording and we are at the mercy of the recording engineer. Equally true is the fact that there are great recordings as well as awful recordings out there and no recording and playback medium, or recording chain, or digital or analogue type of recording will GUARANTEE good quality sound.
You inspired me. I watched a lot of your videos and found a fantastic Amazon Warehouse deal on a pair of Sony SSCS5's for 60 bucks in LIKE NEW condition. Also found a great Yamaha Receiver for 20 bucks on Facebook marketplace to power them. I get so much enjoyment out of these speakers. They sound fantastic and I get a great deal of pride knowing that I was all-in for less than $100 for the setup. Keep making great content! Love your channel
@Randy looking forward to your Audiophile Master Class Certification Training! All jokes aside, as an audio enthusiast who has been slowly upgrading the tech to which I enjoy my audio over the past 5 years, I very much enjoy the condemnation to the arse-holes who claim to know best while only serving as a barrier to entry to such a rich diverse hobby. A hobby that needs its community to pass the knoedge forward should learn to be kinder to those who will carry the torch!
Nailed it! I had a guy on a Hi-Fi Facebook group just destroying my choice of a turntable. I left him go and then took my turn. I said: So you are one of those guys, you get up every morning and turn on the stereo, get a different flavor of coffee each day, go to a different room each day and sit upside down in a chair all while listening for the lost chord and a new note. Have fun with that! I am going to go enjoy my music. Minutes later I received a private message from the group moderator and he has hysterical.
I like where you talk about tone controls. Everyone’s ears and brains process auditory sensations differently. People who like less bass might be more sensitive to lower frequencies so the amount of bass I need to feel happy, could very well be drowning out other frequencies to them. Sound is subjective, it is all about finding your match and not what everyone claims is the best. However, the majority of people probably fall under similar auditory processing abilities and thus there will be certain products that work better for the majority.
I'm 72 years old; I've been interested and fascinated with high quality music reproduction since I was 7, when my dad brought home a "hifi set". The first things he played were "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Scherezade"...I was hooked! In the intervening years I've heard many systems and individual components and have owned a long cavalcade of gear. At one time I worked in "high end" audio and sold it very successfully. One thing that has astonished me is how much really great sounding gear has appeared in the last decade that is very affordable. I don't care where it's made, so long as it performs reliability and delivers a superior listening experience. I owned am audio system that many enthusiasts would consider a "wet dream". It was expensive but not the most expensive. The Great Recession put an end to that and I had only my computer to listen on for a couple years; when I could afford something better I started looking around and reading about some new Chinese designs that others were raving about. Opportunities presented themselves and after consideration I purchased a Topping DX7x DAC/preamp and a Hypex NC252 Ncore power Amp. It was all less than $800. I figured if I didn't like it. It was at least going to be better than my computer. I was FLOORED at how good it was! Completely destroyed lots of "audiophila nervosa" I'd developed from my years with high end gear. I now believe that really great sound is available to anyone, even on a very low budget. I believe the only component worth spending big money on are speakers, which is largely tied to very high manufacturing cost of a quality enclosure. In the case of a super premium maker such as Wilson or Magico, cost of making their superior enclosures accounts for something like 90% of the total manufacturing cost of the entire speaker. Same thing for the B&W Nautilus line. Yet that's another area where other makers are making huge strides in the value for money category. I am an audiophile, but really I'm a music lover above all else!
If you are handy with woodworking you can get some pretty fabulous diy speakers as well. Otherwise you can still get some pretty good speakers without paying Wilson Audio prices. Technology and competition has reduced the price of good speakers (not the amazing ones sadly).
I've been an audiophile for 37 minutes, and when I get my Journeyman Audiophile union card, I'm going to be incensed by this video. Incensed I say!! But for now, I think you're completely right Randy. I love music and gear. I have ears and a wallet. I can do whatever the hell I want with those. Qualifications or not.
First time I spoke to someone older about my system, he turned up his head and told me why his was better, 20 yrs later, and I still dgaf. So long as you can hear it, good for you!
It is a medical fact that most people start to lose hearing capabilities around 40 years old and it worsens as we age. (The term is Presbycusis) A third of folks between 65-74 have tested loss. The likelihood of impairment increases for people who have been exposed to loud sounds, particularly rock concerts or high volume amplified music. So, the long term audiophile will probably be older and have been exposed to damaging sound in their audio journey. This makes age and experience a detriment to critical evaluation of recording and equipment.
And yet, many of the most respected recording/remastering engineers are 50+ years old. In fact, Bernie Grundman, Steve Hoffman & Bob Ludwig are all past 70. Yet, their 70 year old ears are responsible for many critically acclaimed reissue projects.
Since discovering your channel, I decided to become a real audiophile. I reached out to Sith Audio and their rigorous accreditation body certified me as a professional audiophile.
Nice video,another thing to consider is that as we age our hearing is not as sensitive as it once was and unless there is a major difference we couldn’t tell any way .
I've been an audiophile for over 40 years... and when it was time to upgrade my stack I turned to you and other professional audiophiles to guide me to a great system. Tone controls? Pfft. I'm thinking about getting a new graphic equalizer! How about some reviews on them sonny?
You are correct about tone controls and EQs. The quality from song to song can very and from type of music to type of music. I prefer some control of the tone, if it changes enough.
I just rebuilt/restored a pair of vintage KLH Model 5 speakers given to me by my uncle, the original purchaser. I'm told some audiophiles really like these speakers. I'm not an audiophile (I record and mix music professionally), but I can honestly say I really like listening to music on these. Great sound! Great video!! Love it.
I'm in my 60s, worked in heavy industry, and I still don't need hearing aids. Sure, I can't hear above about 13.5 kHz. Neither can the youngsters that blast their IEMs and headphones.
I"ve been an audiophile for over 40 years and am still constantly learning more and have had many of my previous opinions challenged and often changed. I have learned so much from Randy, Steve Guttenberg, John Darko, etc. Keep it up guys. I still have a lot more to learn! I think Steve Guttenberg had the best definition of audiophile. It's someone who sits and listens to music and doing nothing else. No reading, working, doing chores, whatever. Just giving 100% of your time and attention to listening through whatever system you have.
Did you check your room acoustics for cat placementl? My cat lays on the floor next to my right speakers when I play music. So I just bought another cat for the other speaker and now everything is so balanced. Organic room treatment is the future
@@dmgmail7021 holy s**t I’m laughing so hard I’m crying and coughing over here. This is truly the funniest comment I have ever read. Thank you. I needed that.
@@dmgmail7021 that’s great…Tabby’s I hope (but not orange) feline room treatments are best when a chubby tabby is used. They have audiophile grade hair.
I remember sitting on the back steps of my house in Scotland when I was five years old listening to the Beatles on a tiny transistor radio. It is the music that brings the joy! I buy what I can afford and enjoy the music.
OK CAM...I have been an audiophile for only 2 years! I got back into the hobby when I retired 3 years ago and it took me a year to begin to understand what the hell I was doing and listening to. I have 2 buddys that are audiophiles and we all have different systems and tastes (of course I like mine best). Guess what, they all like their systems best. The best system is the one you like...PERIOD! Currently I have 2 systems. First one has a vintage integrated with CD and turntable setup. Second has a cheap Chinese tube
For thirty years I've listened to "audiophile" friends and acquaintances poo poo the LOUDNESS button. I love it, especially when listening at lower volume. It enriches the music. Great video!
Great video, thanks. I have friends who think that the more expensive their components are, the better they are. I was given a demo once by one of these friends…and I walked away thinking…my “cheap” system sounds better. Didn’t tell them this though because I know they would take offense. I’ve got an SMSL A300 amp with Schiit Modi3, “cheap” JBL 530’s and Elac sub1010 and I couldn’t be happier!
I’m City and Guilds qualified in Audiofilia .. have been since ‘78… Really happy with my distinction’s in speaker placement and cable dressing!!….( I’m still clueless on what’s amps do though!!..🤪🤪🤪) …. Great video!!
I’ve been an audiophile for over 40 years & served proudly in The Loudness Wars. I was awarded the Golden Ears certificate issued by The Absolute Sound back in the mid 1980s! In the early 1990s I got a 27-band equalizer from Crutchfield.
I love this. Well put. I'm in my 70's and consider myself a poor man's Audiophile. Music listening of all kinds has been a major part of my life since the late 60's. Endless hours in store listening rooms and my own. I agree there are SO many things that control what and how we hear it. Even when we were born (ie, the love for accentuated bass). I will say there are certainly things that make music sound better, like equipment, high quality recording and mixing, even your room and speaker placement. But like you said at the end of the day it's what makes you happy. There is still music that absolutely gives me chills. Yup, I'm an Audiophile!
How refreshing. Having suffered the nonsense of the various "Audiophile Absolutes" on the Audiogon and Stereophile forums, the honesty of the cheapaudiomen is quite welcome.
Those guys on Audiogon say that to equal the sound of a $800 CD player you have to spend $4K on your streaming set up...I'm currently using a WiiM Mini into a Schiit Magni 3+ and I am very happy...LOL...(But I'll hang onto my CD player as long as I can).
I've perused Audiogon, and continue to check in on it every once in a while, and have found it to be extremely snobbish and basically super cliquish. That, and their forum comment section is terrible (that is, whatever code they used to set up comments, and replying to comments).
There are "audiophile recordings". It has more to do with using quality microphones and equipment, and how the performers are mic'd. Plus minimal studio intervention post edit. So yes, audiophile recordings are are real thing that actually exists. It's like how not all printers are "photo printers", but all printers can print photographs. The difference is clear when you see or hear the results.
You are so refreshing to listen to! I just listened to a guy talk about how "holographic" his $20,000 speakers were that he put on his credit card. It made me feel anxious. Thank you for your video!
I always go with music lover instead. An Audiophile is like a guy who tells you he is a woodworker, but really he collects $3700 handmade hammers and $10,000 saws and sometimes makes really nice boxes. Others, however, are not qualified to put things in his boxes until they learn just exactly how appreciate them.
It’s like anything else that people get into. So many people are super-opinionated and many look down their noses at people who may not agree. It’s just better to stay away from others 😂
I built my first tube amp., mono speaker, and turntable in 1956 . This led to an engineering career in consumer electronics where I witnessed the switch from tubes to "solid state" to the digital revolution. I write for Audio Express and still build tube amps and speakers, and have fallen in love with class D technology. Still , I do not consider myself and expert but still learning and enjoying it. Am I an audiophile? Probably, but not in the sense that I consider it a badge of accomplishment. I just like good music reproduction .
You forgot those people who come to give lessons on how to hold vinyl. Some of them even insult us by holding/touching "in the wrong way" something that is ours!
I started listening to Gilbert and Sullivan @78 RPM in 1946 on a horrible Zenith radio record player with a black snake tone arm. Sometime about 10 or 12 later I heard a good quality record player that just nailed me to the spot. That was early hi fidelity mono. I was interested enough to build an Allied Radio amp kit and hook up a speaker and turntable. Later in the 70s I built Dyna amps and tuners and played records, tapes, and eventually CDs. After a long lay off from decent gear I bought a cheap Chinese KAGUSS DAC and plugged a nice pair of 10 year oldSenheiser earphones into it. Wow! What an improvement! I was so impressed that I bought an iFi Zen DAC and then put the KAGUSS on my Wiim Mini streamer running into an SMSL class D with exciter driven polystyrene panel speakers. I mostly stream the free and ad free Venice classical radio and let the highly detailed rendition of the rig feed my preference for beautifully reproduced intricate Baroque music but also sitar music and yes Cajun music and Earl Scruggs playing banjo. Still my ears can detect that a CD playing through the same setup sounds better so I am open to hi res streaming, but resistant to paying a lot for it. So I too am a cheapaudioman. More than an audiophile.
Back in 2000 I used to drive a Ford Escort. I switched out the stock speakers and head unit and added a subwoofer and amp, using what I could afford with my grocery store job. It sounded much better, but still didn't have much mid-range or mid-bass and lacked. I had a roommate who loved to say things like, "You know, you're stereo really isn't that good..." to which I would always reply, "Did you hear me bragging about it? No, so either buy me something better or shut up."
The EQ comments... I'm sitting here doing the 'showcase' motion with my hand next to my Behringer DEQ2496. And it is awesome, indeed. One of my favorite audio buys ever. I use it for all of my headphones. And I'm running two studio monitors and a 12" sub for bass, so when I play any kind of bass music, I load the preset with max offset and nice low-end boosts to bring the sub up in the room. Normally, it's kind of subdued in the mix right from the amp, to make room for metal. I just make the signal hotter in the bass to make the sub REALLY go when I want it to. Really helpful when you go from very tight and fast metal that is just mud with a loud sub, to electronic music with a lot of melodic and dynamic information moving close to and into the sub-bass range. On the flipside, I find a lot of the metal I've liked over the years to just be terribly mixed. I don't WANT to hear it accurately, because I'm betting I wouldn't have liked it any better in their studio listening room. I'd rather fix the problems in the presence and 400-800hz regions myself. I've always kind of wondered about impressions of mixing and mastering in the audiophile world. I think you can very much question the intent and execution of the artists and technicians behind the mix. Death of the artist and all that. So I can say "I see what you were going for, but no, I don't like it and don't think you got there." And I can say this about any mix. Because when it comes to art, explanations mean little in the face of the actual experiencing of it. You as an artist can say it's about this or that, but it won't matter to anyone who doesn't experience the work that way. Artists know this, too. They recognize that they can't expect everyone to listen to it the way they might want them to, on the gear they prefer. Basically, you don't have to hold the intent of the musicians and techs as gospel. They don't control how their audience processes their work. I like to think that a song is only at best half-finished, if everything is written and recorded to perfection. The other half only comes in when people actually hear it. IF they don't they kinda don't last long. Again, the high-level stuff means literally nothing if people are unable to reasonably access the experience you want to give them. Gatekeep that, and all I can say to you is "Good luck with your art." because a lot of people won't even see you. They'll go for artists more willing to reach them. HUGE rub for me with the audiophile world. The idea that the artists get the final word belies the fact that there is intent, execution, and then individual context. And listen... THAT debate goes back to the time of Socrates. However, since modernity, death of the artist has been commonplace in critique and analysis. We ask about what intent is being indicated, and then we ask how closely that's actually being represented in the work. Audiophile music world kind of shies away from this. They are over 200 years behind the times on art. Everyone else has since come to understand that it really doesn't matter what the artist thinks their art is or isn't, should or shouldn't be, if people experiencing the art do not find those things in their experience. You can't take that from people, tell them they're experiencing it wrong. Art is about expression. The audience doesn't run to meet the artist. The whole point of being an artist is to bring new expression-driven experiences TO people. Show them something, with an understanding of both them and you. Asking people to do a bunch research and buy gear? I mean, you can do that... but it's probably not a good way to get respect or attention as an artist. Audiophiles will PUT that on you though... even if none of their favorite artists would EVER agree. You can do the same with music, as it is also an art form. "What sound was this artist/group going for?" and then "Is it hitting for me?" From this, you can decide, for yourself, what to think. There's nothing you need to do with gear in order to make a valid decision on the music. You don't have to ask or listen to the artist at all. One day, they'll be dead and all that will be left for most people to understand is the music itself, the experiencing of the sounds. Everything anyone should need to know about the art to appreciate it... is in the art. It's in whatever you are able to hear, from where you are, with what you have. And if it doesn't reach you there, it's on the artist to figure out how to reach you, if they even want to. All that said - is my cheap EQ set-up how that music was meant to be heard? When my eyes light up and I start moving around reflexively, I tend to think so. It's very hard for me to focus on things like that when I am already intuitively enjoying the music.... like actively, in the moment. I may contemplate it later, but when you are feeling it - just dialed into every detail in a flow state, it is absolutely irrelevant. I do not care what the artist wanted for me. I hope they'd just be happy to see me jamming out so hard to what they worked on. And I do enjoy watching the meters, even if on an LCD matrix. It's ORANGE!
www.patreon.com/cheapaudioman
Tidal Deal bit.ly/3siuqSF
Crutchfield shop-links.co/cguPK8XEGmt
Best Buy Deals shop-links.co/cf9yDZeYtUH
amzn.to/3GkNaop
CAM Store (New Products!) bit.ly/30Lgu4K
apos.audio?sca_ref=552340.TY98BPcZ6P
massdrop.7eer.net/qnOye5
Amazon Unlimited Music and Disney Plus Free Trial amzn.to/3DRAVj9
I was an audiophile for 24 years. Then I decided it was more fun to have fun. When I accepted that I wasn't in the booth with the engineer/producers ears when the recording was created and that perfect fidelity was literally impossible, suddenly the fun got way more funnererier. Once I accepted that a lot of the snake oil is perfectly ok because it looks super awesomely cool and if you want $84k* worth of pigtails coming out of your mono blocks blasting through your zillion dollar Wilsons into your flagstone floor and wood paneled walls then HELL YEAH!!! Have the time of your life. I still chase "hi fi" gear and demo equipment and have way too many systems in my house. I still listen critically in search of that magic balance between soundstage air and non fatigue. I still mostly prefer a flat sound...Mostly. I just don't care if sometimes a little color gets into the mix or if I dig one of my shiny boxes mostly because the volume knob seems like it was created by one of those guys who makes those machined rich guy spiny stress relieving top things.
I have been historically guilty of every crime listed in this video and probably laughed at the "idiot" jokes a little harder than most because of that...But now that I am ten years into being an audio gear enthusiast, I couldn't be having more fun with it.
Great video CheapAudioMan, thanks.
*Could you maybe get some $24k pigtails instead and throw some cash at the foodbank? I am sure the optically perfect, gold shielded, nanobot, functionally perfect alumitanium microsheilding of the nucleic (tm) organic free trade copper coated nickeladmium (patent pending) will be almost as good at rattling your back windows and creating massive room reverb as the big dogs would have been.
Yes, you are full of crap. If I had a dollar for every arbitrary sound descriptor you've used, I'd have enough money to sail the world on a private yacht.
@@NotSure723 You are correct!!! But the reason I don't call myself an audiophile any more is that I know I'm full of crap (I am pretty sure we all are). And when that made sense to me the hobby became a lot more fun.
Might be dumb ? But what are the best speakers in your opinion for Metallica. I have the elac debut 2. But very interested in what you think
A key question for audio pontificators is “How good are your ears?”
I’ve been an audiophool for 30 years, now I listen to music.
🤣
Haha!
I am 45 and have been an audiophile for 50 years. I guess the first five years being in a liquid state, really shaped me as an audiophile to an atomic level.
🤣
And your DNA being in two separate bodies -- you'd get greeeeattt stereo!
@@CloudyMcCloud00 minimal crosstalk!
I've been an audiophile for 15 years, and I'm constantly amazed and grateful for how much more accessible great sound is getting every year.
Though I consider audiophile music to be the subset of music I use for equipment evaluation. When I listen to enjoyment, I don't care, it's just music.
Just 15? Will take at least another 35 to make your comment valid
ha
@@andyreichert499 I'm would class myself as an audiophiliac, that does not preclude me from any type, genre or recording of music. ANY - just like good music
@@AbsoluteFidelity I know.. I need to transition to a K9 audiophile program. Dogs have top notch hearing AND I could add 35 more years of experience in only 5 years!
I'm not an audiophile, I'm a music lover, and I love your channel!
Same here Jules😀😀
same here
@@04yellowjacket GT Won😀
Is this channel music
Let’s just face it … we’re all swimming in an ocean of BS and probably always have been.
I'm glad you feel the way as me.
This video inspired me to become an audiophile and immediately I began to hear another level of detail, the soundstage became a vista, it was a revelation! I could smell top notes, see deep blacks, thank you!
Lol
My father was a master carpenter. He used to say that the moment that someone thinks that they know everything is when they lose a finger or worse. I can’t afford to be a true audiophile. Most of my kit would be considered entry level or mid fi by the cognoscenti. It’s enjoyable to me and as you often say, that’s all that matters.
80:20 rule is real. Not everyone agrees with spending more on their audio equipment than their family car.
My friend used to work at Richer Sounds- the biggest audio retailer in the UK. He told me it genuinely didn't matter how much someone spent on their audio system- £50 or £500,000 they ALWAYS had the same niggles, issues, grievances and irritations.
Todd, you ARE an audiophile, and your humbleness about it is refreshing.
@@geraldmcmullon2465 You don't know what the 80:20 rule is bro, chill out.
Have you seen audiophile Mikey his system is so bright it's painful why does audiophile sound like crap?
I'm just a guy that loves to listen to all kinds of music. I like it loud, I like it clear and rich and detailed. I like to go "WOW that sounds so cool!" And I need it on a 1k budget. So I don't know what that makes me but I don't really care about labels. So to you Randy, thank you for helping me find what I needed to enjoy my music
I've wanted to be an audiophile for at least the past 65 years, but can't afford it. In the meantime, I've just listened to my music on the best sounding systems I could cobble together.
amen to that
That's me too. Until now, at 52 as my hearing is slipping, I have splashed out on Sennheiser 569 s and enjoying them while I can still appreciate it. It is worth it.
@@richyfoster7694 Sorry to hear that, man. I knew a deaf kid who listened to music despite only being able to appreciate the super low end, but he still loved it.
@@ProteinFromTheSea I attended the wedding of my Aunt's brother , who is deaf, back in the 80's. so a large number of the folks attending were deaf. A couple of things struck me. first, when walking into the crowded hall, it was unusually quiet. Second, when the music started the dance floor filled up. The DJ had the Bass turned way up. They were enjoying the music far more than any "audiofile" !
@@MrLoup24 That's a great story. Goes to show that deaf people can enjoy music just as well as any of us.
“I’ve been an audiophile for 30 years” likely also means ‘I can’t hear a thing above 10k anymore.’
I've been an audiophile for 51 years so I can officially talk down to that audiophile of 50 years and make fun of their system. If I meet an audiophile of 55 years on the street, I have to bow down to their feet like in Wayne's World. That's how that works.
"I'm not worthy!"
Where is the LOL emoji when you need it? 👍😁
On your knees brother, I'm on ya by nine years! Daddy got me started early!
@@stevied4334 i wear kneepads at all times for situations like this.
Great.
WOW...You went on a tear brother man! Straddling both the ProAudio and Audiophile world's, I have dealt with the snobbery forever...this podcast was pure therapy!!! Bravo
Me too. As a guy who loves music and sound systems of almost any kind I have seen a lot of crap. Currently have my own sound company and am an Auditorium Manager for a school district. I also have some nice home equipment. Amazing the misinformation and sneers I hear from Audiophiles.
I really miss those spectrum analyzers and vu meters in the old EQs and Amps . They should really make that the norm again
I agree 100%. Back in the mid 70's I bought my first good audio system: a Marantz amp/tuner, a pair of Harmon Kardon speakers, a Technics turntable and a TEAC 3340 four track reel to reel. I was the envy of all of my friends. Since those day I have changed and upgraded many times but I did it based on my own personal tastes and my ears. Sometimes a less expensive piece of gear was just perfect for my system at that time. I spent many years as a recording engineer and worked in studios with the best high end gear, speakers from Altec, JBL, Electrovoice, amps from Macintosh, Crown, Phase Linear etc. Often when I bought reel to reel mixes home I thought they sounded equally great on my own home system. I never considered myself an "audiophile", just someone who spent thousands of hours in the recording world. I have to wonder how "audiophiles" adapt the output of their speakers to the room without having an EQ or tone controls to adjust for the rooms acoustics. That nonsense about no tone controls or an EQ giving you the purest sound is as crazy as saying you can't put mustard on your hot dog or salad dressing on your salad to maintain the purity of the meats taste or the lettuce in your salad. Nonsense.
I've been an audiophile for just 1 minute, but the rush of power and feeling of superiority has changed the man I am. Suddenly my tackle is working again and my hair is growing back, lol, can't believe how I was a pathetic mortal when now our lord and saviour must be worshipping me.😂 Anyhow, I'm off to berate some people and be a general douche, this must be how Mussolini felt.
Great video as always.👍
I've been an audiophile for 2 mins, my tackle is growing back and my hair is working again
So what you’re saying is… the $2,000 cable was worth it, huh? 😉
I have old equipment from the late 70's, early 80's. I still buy records and CD's. I listen to music on my iPhone etc. I still find it hard to believe the prices of audio equipment. Love the channel. Keep it up.
With my allergies, my *ears* don't stay the same week to week! Also, the bass/treble and later, eq's in my system have always been part of the fun of listening to recorded music. Oh, and tweaking controls I find is a lot less expensive than buying new gear all the time. Thanks for the common-sense approach to audio hobbies!!
If they talk like an idiot, write like an idiot, troll like an idiot, and look smugly down at all others from their 50-year-old audiophile mountain, they might be an idiot! Love the commentary, Randy. Keep up the battle against audio ignorance.
Another thing that irks me is when seeing someone with a set budget asking about something that fits reasonably within that budget how it performs, then they’re met with a chain of “save up a little more and get xxxx”. Very quickly that $300 becomes $1000 and it just strays completely off the course of what the dude simply asked.
That's not always wrong though. For example, if your IEM budget is 300 USD, you are better of saving for the Moondrop Variations. This is valid because youll end up bouncing around dog**** products. Buy once, cry once. +
Spending more on Audio never ends I thought I was happy then listened to something else then spent another $660 on another item to improve the sound getting close to $5000 now. 10 grand ain’t to far off.
@@jeffjohnson3504 sure but still, in every industry there exists products that are the pinnacle of price vs performance. Denafrips ares. Moondrop variations. Topping G7, decware zen triode. If you want to spend more you can buy if you are spending less than the price of these products you might as well save up and buy them and be happy for a few years instead of a few months.
@@siddharthjaiman4712 the problem is going cheap telling yourself it sounds good doesn’t work go out and listen to hi end mid fi stuff and then go home and listen to yours. To get impressive sound you need to spend that is what I have come to.
The problem with that is there's always going to be something better than what you have, and that will never stop no matter how many times you upgrade, period. I'm all for buying something way better than something else for the same amount of $$, but at some point you yourself have to stop your spending habits and just enjoy your sources the way your system is, unless you're just the type of guy that likes buying stuff. You do you.
OH where did you go wrong?? You need enough tubes in your equipment to heat your house in the winter - and they all have to be new old stock, only available in a back alley with cash; you have to drive a Porsche and oh yes only listen to vinyl pressings that you own, and are no longer available to the 'unwashed masses' .... oh my > dude you are the greatest, love your video's your honesty and integrity ... and the humor of course!!
If being an audiophile means listening to music carefully and critically, with full attention to the music and without being preoccupied by something else, then I’ve been an audiophile for 40’years.
@540マンモス what is the correct definition?
@540マンモス Merriam-Webster defines it as “A person who is enthusiastic about high fidelity sound reproduction”. Now, you might ask, what is an example of such a person? Answer: See my initial comment above.
@@edd2771 What you described is a person who just really likes music. An audiophile is a person that will drop $300 on a machine that will "demagnetize" a CD. I'm not joking, that's a real thing that people really bought.
@@pookie2986 yes I watch techmoan as well. The suffix “phile” means to like something. Audio is self-explanatory. I stand by my personal definition as it largely overlaps with the dictionary definition.
Ed D I like your description of ‘careful and critical listening’. That pretty much sums it up for me. I would probably only add a minor gear reference, i.e. ‘… on typically higher resolving systems’. But the point you make is spot on, namely setting time aside and being mindful about it. I think the issue many people have has more to do with audiosnobbery than the actual definition of audiophile. I might add I unfortunately don’t have enough time to fit that ‘audiophile’ category, even though I purposely listen to an album here and there on my headphones on rare occasion.
What a refreshing rant! I've been into amplifiers since I was 12. That's 51 years ago, so I guess I've been an audiophile for 51 years! Back in the "early" days I built Heath Kits, Knight Kits, Dynaco Kits that included amplifiers and tuners. Then I breadboarded my own amps, some of which actually worked! Back in those days we only had LPs and the surface noise drove me CRAZY. When CDs came along, I was overjoyed, only to find that "experts" scoffed at the compression used in digital formats. I didn't care, as I knew what was important to my listening taste. So I guess I have a tin ear. Anyway, thanks for validating my my opinion that you can listen to what you like. I do sort of miss those audiophile test records of certain types of sounds like a jet flying from left to right, etc....
I'm looking at this vid in 23, but we're maybe close in age. So, I've good audio gear since that time, Dual 1229 TT w/Shure V15, Kenwood inetgratec, JBL L55's, and JBL L100's so here, this just popped back into my Head and lo, I Googled, and there he is Richard Burwen, a pop and scratch filter that I remember as THE most expensive component period 4K$ and this in 72--74? Also the ver first Dolby outboard (that was all there was) had to hand calibrate it. Wollensak/Advent cassette days. and older Sony units, the new TD127 incorporated one
I am an Audiophile...have been since I was 10 listening to KJR AM radio on a cheap plastic made in Japan table top in the morning before school....my 1st stereo that I purchased was from a swap meet in southern California for 115 bucks....played it loud, sitting right in front of it, sounded good to me. I have what people might say is a mediocre system, but it sounds good to me, and I listen to it every day . Love your channel.
I really appreciate you, Randy. Thanks for being welcoming to everyone who wants to enter this hobby. I only started getting into hifi recently after a long stint out of the hobby. I'm glad to see your channel showing people that they don't need the 5,000 amp to get great sound.
Thanks for calling out the jerks and gatekeepers. Anyone who appreciates music and cares about how it gets reproduced in their home is an audiophile, even if you can't or don't want to spend a lot of money. Just watching these channels and learning is all it takes.
Love this! It makes me think of the days when people told me that if I put an effects pedal between my Strat and my Deluxe Reverb I wasn't a real guitar player. This audio hobby(disease 😊) is fun! I don't want to get to the point that I think I've got it all down and cop a resentment every time someone disagrees with me. This is why I patron this channel Randy. It keeps me right sized!
Strat into mxr distortion into mxr dynamic compressor into marshall tube stack. Turn volume right.... I must also be a terrible guitarist...
I just added an old Yamaha GE 60 EQ to my system because I wanted to adjust the sound from my tape deck ( I just got one after 30 years ) and I love it. It is cool to watch and made that unit sound better. Every forum had "that guy" who told me they are the devils work. I think it works great to help correct crappy recordings or old tapes. Oh, and it does light up and its very cool to watch.
I agree with you. I'm a member of several audio groups, and I never cease to be amazed at some of the snobbishness and also the ignorance among people who call themselves audiophiles. It really ticks me off when some of these guys criticize people who have equipment that didn't cost many thousands of dollars. One story that comes to mind was a young guy who made his first post there; he was so excited, just starting out on his audio journey and he had purchased a pair of Dayton B-652s. The snobs jumped all over him and his "crap speakers". Hey, this was a kid just starting out, he didn't have any money and this was exciting to him. There was a time when that's all I could afford too, so I get it. Oh and..."we don't use tone controls because we want to hear the music as the artist intended it to sound". Haha, BS. The artist mixed on studio monitors in a room with near perfect acoustics. We use all kinds of speakers with different sound signatures, we listen in our homes that usually have sonic problems, etc. We usually need the correction to make it sound right. Lastly, the hardcore measurement guys who go ONLY off the calibrated mics. Some of them use Klippel machines, but use them wrong. Some of the most boring speakers I've ever heard are the ones that measured perfectly flat in their tests.
I used to be so stuck on what accurate sound was. Then I was reminded that the artists may not have even recorded in the same studio. The engineer may have collected tracks from the different musicians from all over the country. So it would be impossible to know, even with a "perfect" room, how they intended it to sound. So just go ahead and adjust to your personal tastes.
That "I don't use EQ because I only will listen to what the artist intended." is the purest form of snobbery, because it is the purest form of horseshit. It's like ignorantly arrogant.
Unless the “I want to hear it as the artist intended it” guy was at the recording sessions, he doesn’t know how the artist intended it.
@@kennethmccullough1342 I was going to say the same.
Finally someone who cuts through the BS and gets down to reality! As a musician who has worked in studios, mastering and media production I can say "audiophile" never enters the process. Professional recording gear is made to tech specs and robustness. The final mix is designed to sound "good" on most consumer kit such as radios, car stereo, All in one box, mobile phone etc. The flaws only show up on decent kit and that's when the "audiophile" starts playing with snake oil. The consumer can play with different gear, cables , speaker stands etc until they find a sound signature they like for the type of music they enjoy. Let's not forget as we get older are ears degrade and tone controls can be your friend. 😀
As a 20-year Sith-Audio-Certified Audiophile, audiophiles must only deal in absolutes. Every piece of gear is either what I own and by definition therefore superb, or what I don't own and either amazing and out of my price range or awful.
like they say only Sith audio can make deals in absolutes
😂😂Only sith audio can make absolute audiophile sound anywhere in the universe even in the emptiness of interstellar space
@@johan5660 That's to improve distortion. Everyone knows that 😁
Also, if you spent a lot of money on something, you're not allowed to say it's bad.
Sith? What the Hoth!?!
Playing with EQ is a great way to test your ears. I did an AB test between my phono stage and CD stage of the same album. It helped me noticed what was different and where to tweak. Great video thanks
I've been an audiophile for.... Well I'm not, but I discovered your channel on your first "Audiophile's are full of crap" video. I like good quality audio, and I've always had a tight budget and strived to get the most out of my audio dollars. Thank you for your content, and wishing you continued success!
i have loved music for 50 years! Had a crap turntable with the speaker in the lid! The music was amazing and i eagerly moved from band to band devouring sound like each new band was a revelation. I have seen so many live bands and experienced the joy of a song that can make me cry or punch the air (Pink Floyd - Pulse Comfortably Numb). What did i hear it on? RUclips! You hit the nail on the head with what if your 5k DAC is in a sale at 80% off, does it now become crap? And the comment in the previous video that a store mark-up is 100% I can imagine it being higher. Keep it real and down to earth you rock!
I once parked outside a high end audio store while my wife was getting her nails done next store. Its hard to argue my level of audiophile cred.
Genuinely the only experience that counts.
I once lived near a hi-fi shop and walked past the manager when I was out getting milk, so I'm like second to you in my audiophile cred.
Also, I have been buying milk for over 40 years, so I am the most experienced bovine-o-phile ever. (wait, that sounds wrong).
Thank you, Randy. That was great and you are 100% right about everything that you said. Forget about the bullcrap and just let your music fill your soul with happiness!
I’ve been a human for over 40 years, and I agree with this message.
I agree with your message.
Im Joe Biden and I forgot this message.
Don't you just love it when your friend invites you over to listen to his//her latest bit of kit and spends all afternoon selecting various sections of tracks from everywhere to impress you......instead of getting a beer, feet up and let the music flow.
Thanks for pointing out the difference between an audiophile and a music lover perfectly!
@@steve-hs6fi Once remember a friend and the audiophile hanger on who came to listen to Pulse on my horns.... the guy accused of having a large sub somewhere in the house as the bass at the end of disc one drops through the floor and had never heard that before...he spent two hours on a sub hunt spoiling the afternoon for all........he hasn't had an invite back......sub never found as it was never there just large horns built by me.
To me, an "audiophile" album is one which gets listened to because of how good it sounds, and not because it contains great music.
Funny because it’s too true. And shouldn’t be.
This is mostly true. The recording and mastering phase of music production can be just as involved as playing an instrument, I have music I enjoy hearing such as Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, The Gorillaz, but I don't listen to them on my HiFi system because the bass compression is quite high and it just doesn't sound right on my subwoofer anymore. So now I'll gladly listen to music I enjoy a little less for a listening experience I'll find more pleasing.
In other words, audiophil albums dont contain great music.
that actually makes sense
@@miagi1337 Yep. For example, back in the olden days, there were many fewer good sounding stereo albums available. Think pre-Dark Side of the Moon. In the studio, 4 track was SOTA.
So audiophiles searched out old classical albums like RCA Shaded Dog disks. Often, they were titled "Someone you never heard of conducts a second rate orchestra in a good sounding hall playing a cliché piece by some great composer". And they sounded better than anything else, so they got listened to.
Every now and again I browser audiophile youtube as a working studio owner and audio engineer I find your channel to be a breath of fresh air. I saw the video last year and I have to say it is so hilarious how serious audiophile are about their playback systems and how they claim they want it to reproduce the recording like the original intention. Yet I don't see any of them using the tools we use in the pro audio world. Up until a few years ago the industry standard was Yamaha NS10 speakers now there is a little more competition but no audio engineer uses hi-fi speakers or tube power amps for playback they aren't clean enough and are mostly gimmicks. No albums have been actually recorded as DSD the only mediums we use analog tape (and very rarely today) and PCM digital audio mostly at 24 bit 48K and some engineers use 24 bit 96k because they like it. No one talks converter DAC/ADC chips in the pro audio world except Julian Krause because he loves to test things and get down to real numbers.
But it all comes down to this if you use music to listen to your equipment you are and audiophile, if you use good equipment to listen to music you are a music fan. Don't take that the wrong way either, because in all honesty you should listen to music on good gear but the gear you have shouldn't stop you from enjoying something you love like music!! Whether that be on a pair of $20 iems or a $20,000 Genelec Dolby atomos system, enjoy the music and support the artist making it. Go to live concerts if you want to hear what the artist intended and support local musicians so they can make more music so audiophiles can listen to their tube DACs and $5000 toslink cables and other expensive stuff!!
I'm so glad to hear your thoughts. I mixed TV audio at the local and network back in the 90s and early 2000s, and I can say for certain, it's not gold connectors and such. It's about getting the job done. It sounded great, but not the kind of 'great' I'd listen to at home. Too flat, too - oddly enough. - 'clear'. You want to know what's in the mix. AND not over drive the limiters and cover every word in compressed room hiss. Not my idea of a relaxing time with my music at home, but great for 'getting the job done." Anyway, my 2 cents.
@@cjc363636 Exactly!!
When people say that they've been an audiophile for 30 40 or 50 years, it just means that they really haven't been listening to music for all those years.
My dad turned me on to audio in the early 70’s, that’s 50 years ago!! Considered myself an audiophile since then.
And I have to agree with you I wasn’t really listening to the music but I could tell how every piece of my equipment I owned sounded!!
Just plain stupid.
Been trying to divorce myself of audiophile status the last couple of years. Listening to the music now instead of the equipment. 😜
Yep and now I’m using loundness controls and tone controls. Music has never sounded better!
It also means that they're older and can't hear anything above around 15khz, or, in many cases, even lower, depending on how much they abused their ears with too much volume over the decades
@@DougMen1
When I worked my job required an annual physical including a hearing test.
So ya even though at 15k my hearing is in a definite downward spiral, there’s no music at that frequency!! And for that spiral I have a tone control!😜
And I guarantee you ain’t hearing flat to 15k either. Straight wire with gain preamps are useless as our hearing isn’t linear regardless of age and as we age it becomes even less linear.
A straight wire with gain preamp cannot compensate for a humans non linear hearing therefor is incapable of reproducing music accurately for the listener. Any preamp without tone and or loudness compensation circuits is not a hifi piece of equipment.
The sooner “audiophiles” wake up to that fact the sooner they will be enjoying what music should really sound like.
And we haven’t even addressed bass that is felt and not heard!!😜
I’ve been an audiophile for 30 years….and my favorite speakers I’ve ever owned were a third of the cost of the most expensive “audiophile quality” speakers I’ve ever had.
Do what I did - get 3-4 pr of speakers that sound completely different from each other. Hook them all up to a high quality amplifier (with a switch-box in between) and then you can change your speakers for what music you're listening to! I have two pair of Magnepans but it's the truth that not all music sounds good on them. Small scale classical or solo piano or guitar sound amazing on Magnepan, my large scale orchestra and denser jazz & rock goes through a pair of Vandersteens, ultra-compressed music is brought back to life with a super-efficient speaker like Bozak or Klipsch.
Great training class on eliminating audiophile snobbery ✌️ EQ is my favorite thing to salvage nonaudiophile mixing or adjust for my 50 year audiophile hearing loss 😂
I have a Soundshaper 110. It's old but perfect condition. I've been reluctant to add it to my separate amp. I want to now.
Ohhh... that is so true. Flexible EQ certainly helps offset the loss of the Audiophile quality hearing I once had. 👍😊
I've always found it so neat that you can unpack hidden layers in basically ANY recording with getting into nicer sounding gear. Even if the music doesn't have the clearest recording or best mix, it can still present with great clarity and depth. Great video! Sometimes hearing the 'imperfections' is so so awesome
Good to hear someone speaking sense at last. How many people understand all this tech mumbo jumbo. I buy what I can afford and probably wouldn't be able to tell a budget system from something audiophile. Thanks again from the UK.
It’s not just audio, man. Every hobby or personal interest group is exactly the same. From lawn guys to motorsport guys and everything in between. It’s an issue of information bias. 90% of vocal participants are either clueless newcomers with eye rolling opinions and loads of bad ideas or arrogant snobby old-hands that want to gatekeep and preserve their imaginary status. The good news is that regular guys that just want to enjoy the hobby actually far outweigh both these categories, they are just quietly enjoying the hobby and not drawing attention to themselves. Those who know the least know it the loudest. Don’t allow the few to speak for the many. It’s our hobby and we should do it however we please.
Unfortunately in my experience whenever someone self identifies as audiophile it's usually code for self entitled snob whos sole purpose in life is to put down other people's experiences and opinions, usually in an online forum.
It's a red flag for person with terrible music taste too.
I have been an audiophile for 50 years since I got my first Stereo Review magazine for Christmas back in 1972. I was an audiophile 5 minutes after I read my first article, and the pursuit of higher fidelity, lower distortion, and a full and balanced frequency spectrum became my focus. Or maybe it was when I stopped listening to AM radio. Or possibly when I turned the music down to stop the speaker from distorting, or the amp from clipping. Or maybe it was when I upgraded from a turntable with a crystal cartridge to one with a moving magnet.
Audiophile music is stripped down vocal driven tracks that sound good on everything. That's why companies use it to demo their stuff, bc it always impresses and will not expose any inherent weaknesses. I'm convinced that's the reason.
This is so true...Everybody plays Nils Lofgren Keith Don't Go and marvels at the detail. That recording sounds amazing on my laptop. Anything can sound good with that track. IT is actually useless for testing equipment.
I'm not an audiophile. Perhaps I could have been years ago but my tinnitus ringing old man ears are just not up to the task. I do find that your channel is very valuable. There's tons of information that I can use to assemble an interesting alternative to a TV sound bar while keeping costs down. Keep up the good work.
I’ve been an audiophile for 28 years! I’m ashamed to admit in my early years I may have been a bit of a jerk about it. Then I got treated like a punk at a hifi store and changed my behavior. As I’ve gotten older I’m far less likely to talk about it unless asked. Most people dgaf about hifi.
I've been an audiophile for about 3 weeks now... It's been a long and arduous journey flanked on all sides by cheap plastic speakers. The final straw was a Samsung soundbar that had fancy marketing on the box. Got it home, excitedly hooked it up and was immediately victimized by terrible audio. Every audio listening experience up to this point led me to your RUclips channel. I wanted better. But I was under the impression that I might be priced out of GOOD AUDIO. After all, good audio is not an indulgence lowly plebs like me deserve. I want to thank you for disabusing me of my audio misapprehensions. I "binged" about 30 of your videos then headed to Amazon with hope in my heart and a dream that I too could be an audiophile. I ended up getting the Ayima D03, a set of Sony SSCS5's and snatched up a used Polk Audio PSW10 from FB Marketplace. About $375 later, my stint in bad audio purgatory is over. I don't know how I lived so long without good quality audio in my life. So... This entire thought dump was meant to serve one purpose. To express my gratitude to you sir for opening my eyes and ear balls to the reality of good affordable audio. You are doing the lord's work good sir. I salute you.
I've been trying to get a movement going to get rid of the term 'audiophile' and replace it with 'Audio-Enthusiast'.... Audiophile should be retired.🤔
I thoroughly enjoyed this video so much, I had to subscribe and look up your video from a year ago.
I became an 'audiophile' at age 10 in 1965. I am not a 'gate keeper' either. It was a different time and critical thinking was pretty common then, and other things like learning listening disciplines, etc, that resulted in my going into the recording industry and settling into mastering as a passion. I am retired after 22 years with the same dupe/rep/press house, some 30 years in all, and have mastered for LP, CD and cassette digital bin loops for high speed duplication.
You make the same points and observations I often make in regard to the difference between preference and reference. Subjectivity in home audio is fine, and it should be that way. But the problem is people take their 'preferences' as definitive.
At home, I have my own preferences I like to add to the sound. I use vintage gear by choice, but I am well aware of the current products because, well, I'm also an audiophile. LOL!! Bu t I know what my preferences are and can separate that when working in a reference enviroment.
BTW, that Metallica Black album is brilliantly recorded and I would regard anything as representative of the actual performance as audiophile. That is what HiFi is all about: getting things as real as we can and still allowing our own tastes to influence those great sounding recordings. Your other choices are great too. It stopped being purely about classical and jazz in the late 60's.
EQ's are such a sore subject with me too: it is an innocuous add-on. As you point out,. not all recordings are created equal and need a boost or cut here and there. Or some systems or rooms need a bit of help.
I always counter with the fact, that if most audiophiles visit a mastering studio, they would balk at the amount of processors and 'EQ' a recording goes through to end with the result they buy at the shop and take home.
The funniest part is having audiophiles tell me how defective studio sound systems are. Really? LOL!!! And then they claim to want to get the artist's intent. LMAO!!! The artist's intent is to have the end product sound good and sell a lot of copies. The engineers and producers make the actual calls to make an end product that sounds good and is playable.
Cutting a lacquer is all compromise. Mastering for CD is less of a constraint. For HD digital, it gets a lot easier.
And don't get me started on 'analog purity' LMAO!!!
For myself I am not brand specific at home. I am result oriented. The maker's name means little if the piece performs and sounds great. I have my own mastering and archival set up at home as well, and occasionally take revenue jobs for restorations and conservation to digital. My turntable is a Technics SP15. Why? It is one of the recognized reference tables for all record formats, and does not 'add or detract' from records played on it. That's watcha call 'reference'. It's also a devastatingly great 'AUDIOPHILE' table too, LMAO!!!
Too many audiophile products make the 'reference' claim, but it is not their call. It is the call of the studio professionals.
And there I go again!
Bottom line: you can be an audiophile for under $500.00 with a bit of learning. it is the result, not the price.
Anywho, great vid, informative and entertaining! Keep it up!
I’m a 58 year old amateur aspiring audiophile. I hope to go high in the audiophile draft next year. Signed with an agent. I also EQ my equipment in a V shape and LEAVE IT THERE. There I said it.
V-curve makes turtles 😭
Bass boost is a must for me, every bass notes and drop. This is how i like my music, i dont care about neutral sound.
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. You are the one voice out there that helped me actually make sense of the audio world and audio equipment when I was just starting to look into creating a home theater setup. KEEP THE SALT FLOWING MAN 🧂
I've been an audiophile since the mid-1980s, when I worked in what we used to call the classical record industry. Many classical recordings from that period sound awful! Truly awful - due to the idiot producers and engineers choosing to use to too many microphones and attempting to balance the sound of the orchestra from the control room, instead of insisting that the conductor balance the sound from the podium. So classical recording are not automatically audiophile recordings. In fact, given that my passion was orchestral and operatic repertoire, I went out of my way to balance my system to make these awful recordings sound at least passable on high resolution gear! You have to balance your system to make it work with whatever music you listen to...unless you're a masochist and you want to experience pain. Not my thing...
Former classical musician here. YES! There were truly terrible recordings from that era, usually distorted as all get out. I still listen every day, and honestly, we get so much better quality recordings today.....of EVERYTHING. It's been a great way to kick off my retirement.
The fact is, all stereo gear accounts for exactly half of the recording process, the reproducing part. We have no control of the production side of the recording and we are at the mercy of the recording engineer. Equally true is the fact that there are great recordings as well as awful recordings out there and no recording and playback medium, or recording chain, or digital or analogue type of recording will GUARANTEE good quality sound.
You inspired me. I watched a lot of your videos and found a fantastic Amazon Warehouse deal on a pair of Sony SSCS5's for 60 bucks in LIKE NEW condition. Also found a great Yamaha Receiver for 20 bucks on Facebook marketplace to power them. I get so much enjoyment out of these speakers. They sound fantastic and I get a great deal of pride knowing that I was all-in for less than $100 for the setup. Keep making great content! Love your channel
Wow. What a great story. Truly cheap audio man approved!
@Randy looking forward to your Audiophile Master Class Certification Training! All jokes aside, as an audio enthusiast who has been slowly upgrading the tech to which I enjoy my audio over the past 5 years, I very much enjoy the condemnation to the arse-holes who claim to know best while only serving as a barrier to entry to such a rich diverse hobby. A hobby that needs its community to pass the knoedge forward should learn to be kinder to those who will carry the torch!
Nailed it! I had a guy on a Hi-Fi Facebook group just destroying my choice of a turntable. I left him go and then took my turn. I said: So you are one of those guys, you get up every morning and turn on the stereo, get a different flavor of coffee each day, go to a different room each day and sit upside down in a chair all while listening for the lost chord and a new note. Have fun with that! I am going to go enjoy my music. Minutes later I received a private message from the group moderator and he has hysterical.
Been an audiophile for 70 years. Got my first system when I was 3. Any systm that doesn't date back to the Eisenhower administration sucks.
that made me chuckle
@@cheapaudioman Your rant was spot-on
😂😂
I've been an audiophile for 200 years, and nothing sounds as great as a live fife-and-drum duo.
@@tommccarthy3385 nailed it, Tom
I like where you talk about tone controls. Everyone’s ears and brains process auditory sensations differently. People who like less bass might be more sensitive to lower frequencies so the amount of bass I need to feel happy, could very well be drowning out other frequencies to them. Sound is subjective, it is all about finding your match and not what everyone claims is the best. However, the majority of people probably fall under similar auditory processing abilities and thus there will be certain products that work better for the majority.
I'm 72 years old; I've been interested and fascinated with high quality music reproduction since I was 7, when my dad brought home a "hifi set". The first things he played were "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Scherezade"...I was hooked! In the intervening years I've heard many systems and individual components and have owned a long cavalcade of gear. At one time I worked in "high end" audio and sold it very successfully. One thing that has astonished me is how much really great sounding gear has appeared in the last decade that is very affordable. I don't care where it's made, so long as it performs reliability and delivers a superior listening experience. I owned am audio system that many enthusiasts would consider a "wet dream". It was expensive but not the most expensive. The Great Recession put an end to that and I had only my computer to listen on for a couple years; when I could afford something better I started looking around and reading about some new Chinese designs that others were raving about. Opportunities presented themselves and after consideration I purchased a Topping DX7x DAC/preamp and a Hypex NC252 Ncore power Amp. It was all less than $800. I figured if I didn't like it. It was at least going to be better than my computer. I was FLOORED at how good it was! Completely destroyed lots of "audiophila nervosa" I'd developed from my years with high end gear. I now believe that really great sound is available to anyone, even on a very low budget. I believe the only component worth spending big money on are speakers, which is largely tied to very high manufacturing cost of a quality enclosure. In the case of a super premium maker such as Wilson or Magico, cost of making their superior enclosures accounts for something like 90% of the total manufacturing cost of the entire speaker. Same thing for the B&W Nautilus line. Yet that's another area where other makers are making huge strides in the value for money category. I am an audiophile, but really I'm a music lover above all else!
Same, but also had the 1812 overture in three channel stereo. Some Kingston Trio as well.
If you are handy with woodworking you can get some pretty fabulous diy speakers as well. Otherwise you can still get some pretty good speakers without paying Wilson Audio prices. Technology and competition has reduced the price of good speakers (not the amazing ones sadly).
65 years an audiophile, correction music lover!
I've been an audiophile for FIFTY-THREE YEARS...
...and you are 100% correct!!!
I've been an audiophile for 37 minutes, and when I get my Journeyman Audiophile union card, I'm going to be incensed by this video.
Incensed I say!!
But for now, I think you're completely right Randy.
I love music and gear. I have ears and a wallet.
I can do whatever the hell I want with those. Qualifications or not.
Where do I get my Audiophile union card. I want one too.
First time I spoke to someone older about my system, he turned up his head and told me why his was better, 20 yrs later, and I still dgaf. So long as you can hear it, good for you!
It is a medical fact that most people start to lose hearing capabilities around 40 years old and it worsens as we age. (The term is Presbycusis) A third of folks between 65-74 have tested loss. The likelihood of impairment increases for people who have been exposed to loud sounds, particularly rock concerts or high volume amplified music. So, the long term audiophile will probably be older and have been exposed to damaging sound in their audio journey. This makes age and experience a detriment to critical evaluation of recording and equipment.
I'm pretty sure presbycusis is the act of having a swearing fit in a Scottish church.
And yet, many of the most respected recording/remastering engineers are 50+ years old. In fact, Bernie Grundman, Steve Hoffman & Bob Ludwig are all past 70. Yet, their 70 year old ears are responsible for many critically acclaimed reissue projects.
@@SamWesting Even though the hearing frequency range decreases with age, the best sound is always in the midrange anyway.
Since discovering your channel, I decided to become a real audiophile. I reached out to Sith Audio and their rigorous accreditation body certified me as a professional audiophile.
Which belt are you: blue, brown, black?
Nice video,another thing to consider is that as we age our hearing is not as sensitive as it once was and unless there is a major difference we couldn’t tell any way .
I've been an audiophile for over 40 years... and when it was time to upgrade my stack I turned to you and other professional audiophiles to guide me to a great system. Tone controls? Pfft. I'm thinking about getting a new graphic equalizer! How about some reviews on them sonny?
You are correct about tone controls and EQs. The quality from song to song can very and from type of music to type of music. I prefer some control of the tone, if it changes enough.
I've been thinking about becoming an audiophile for forty years, but my intolerance for horseshit keeps me from making the leap.
I just rebuilt/restored a pair of vintage KLH Model 5 speakers given to me by my uncle, the original purchaser. I'm told some audiophiles really like these speakers. I'm not an audiophile (I record and mix music professionally), but I can honestly say I really like listening to music on these. Great sound! Great video!! Love it.
If someone has been an audiophile for 50 years, does that mean they should be able to pick out the most neutral-sounding hearing aid?
😁You beat me to it.
I'm in my 60s, worked in heavy industry, and I still don't need hearing aids.
Sure, I can't hear above about 13.5 kHz. Neither can the youngsters that blast their IEMs and headphones.
@@Old_Sailor85 I am happy for you. It was meant in a joking mannor.
No, being an audiophile for 50 years probably means that you don't need anything that plays above 14KHz
The biggest red flag is when an audiophile talks about the difference a cable makes😂
I"ve been an audiophile for over 40 years and am still constantly learning more and have had many of my previous opinions challenged and often changed. I have learned so much from Randy, Steve Guttenberg, John Darko, etc. Keep it up guys. I still have a lot more to learn! I think Steve Guttenberg had the best definition of audiophile. It's someone who sits and listens to music and doing nothing else. No reading, working, doing chores, whatever. Just giving 100% of your time and attention to listening through whatever system you have.
Please tell me you started putting little weights on everything in your house.
If the cat would only sit still I could make her audiophile.
@@mychildrenareashamedtobese3398 No, but I hired a shaman from Sith Audio to come in and reset the aura of my listening room.
Did you check your room acoustics for cat placementl? My cat lays on the floor next to my right speakers when I play music. So I just bought another cat for the other speaker and now everything is so balanced. Organic room treatment is the future
@@dmgmail7021 holy s**t I’m laughing so hard I’m crying and coughing over here. This is truly the funniest comment I have ever read. Thank you. I needed that.
@@dmgmail7021 that’s great…Tabby’s I hope (but not orange) feline room treatments are best when a chubby tabby is used. They have audiophile grade hair.
I remember sitting on the back steps of my house in Scotland when I was five years old listening to the Beatles on a tiny transistor radio. It is the music that brings the joy! I buy what I can afford and enjoy the music.
OK CAM...I have been an audiophile for only 2 years! I got back into the hobby when I retired 3 years ago and it took me a year to begin to understand what the hell I was doing and listening to. I have 2 buddys that are audiophiles and we all have different systems and tastes (of course I like mine best). Guess what, they all like their systems best. The best system is the one you like...PERIOD!
Currently I have 2 systems. First one has a vintage integrated with CD and turntable setup. Second has a cheap Chinese tube
For thirty years I've listened to "audiophile" friends and acquaintances poo poo the LOUDNESS button.
I love it, especially when listening at lower volume. It enriches the music.
Great video!
I've been an audiophile for about 5 minutes. I like what I like. Keep up the good work.
Great video, thanks. I have friends who think that the more expensive their components are, the better they are. I was given a demo once by one of these friends…and I walked away thinking…my “cheap” system sounds better. Didn’t tell them this though because I know they would take offense. I’ve got an SMSL A300 amp with Schiit Modi3, “cheap” JBL 530’s and Elac sub1010 and I couldn’t be happier!
I've been an audiophile for near 6 months and I can say for a complete fact hifiman xs is the greatest headphone of all time.
I love my pair of HE400S, so I'm in near-agreement with you.
I’m City and Guilds qualified in Audiofilia .. have been since ‘78… Really happy with my distinction’s in speaker placement and cable dressing!!….( I’m still clueless on what’s amps do though!!..🤪🤪🤪) …. Great video!!
I’ve been an audiophile for over 40 years & served proudly in The Loudness Wars. I was awarded the Golden Ears certificate issued by The Absolute Sound back in the mid 1980s!
In the early 1990s I got a 27-band equalizer from Crutchfield.
@Emperor Imsdaluntil now feedback & response have been relatively infrequent. However the signal to noise ratio is within the desirable range.
I love this. Well put. I'm in my 70's and consider myself a poor man's Audiophile. Music listening of all kinds has been a major part of my life since the late 60's. Endless hours in store listening rooms and my own. I agree there are SO many things that control what and how we hear it. Even when we were born (ie, the love for accentuated bass). I will say there are certainly things that make music sound better, like equipment, high quality recording and mixing, even your room and speaker placement. But like you said at the end of the day it's what makes you happy. There is still music that absolutely gives me chills. Yup, I'm an Audiophile!
How refreshing. Having suffered the nonsense of the various "Audiophile Absolutes" on the Audiogon and Stereophile forums, the honesty of the cheapaudiomen is quite welcome.
Those guys on Audiogon say that to equal the sound of a $800 CD player you have to spend $4K on your streaming set up...I'm currently using a WiiM Mini into a Schiit Magni 3+ and I am very happy...LOL...(But I'll hang onto my CD player as long as I can).
I've perused Audiogon, and continue to check in on it every once in a while, and have found it to be extremely snobbish and basically super cliquish. That, and their forum comment section is terrible (that is, whatever code they used to set up comments, and replying to comments).
1:22 "is there an apprenticeship program?"..... and my heart is set on full LOL, and it's only just begun!
There are "audiophile recordings".
It has more to do with using quality microphones and equipment, and how the performers are mic'd. Plus minimal studio intervention post edit.
So yes, audiophile recordings are are real thing that actually exists.
It's like how not all printers are "photo printers", but all printers can print photographs. The difference is clear when you see or hear the results.
You are so refreshing to listen to! I just listened to a guy talk about how "holographic" his $20,000 speakers were that he put on his credit card. It made me feel anxious. Thank you for your video!
I always go with music lover instead.
An Audiophile is like a guy who tells you he is a woodworker, but really he collects $3700 handmade hammers and $10,000 saws and sometimes makes really nice boxes.
Others, however, are not qualified to put things in his boxes until they learn just exactly how appreciate them.
My monacle popped out, flew across the room, and knocked my cables off their risers after hearing what you had to say here.
I've been an audiophile since birth
Beat that
Every word that came out of mom has been music to me😍😍😍
Love you mom❤❤❤
Thanks for the tips on the tiny Dali speakers for my computer. Your voice is butter smooth through them.
It’s like anything else that people get into. So many people are super-opinionated and many look down their noses at people who may not agree. It’s just better to stay away from others 😂
I built my first tube amp., mono speaker, and turntable in 1956 . This led to an engineering career in consumer electronics where I witnessed the switch from tubes to "solid state" to the digital revolution. I write for Audio Express and still build tube amps and speakers, and have fallen in love with class D technology. Still , I do not consider myself and expert but still learning and enjoying it. Am I an audiophile? Probably, but not in the sense that I consider it a badge of accomplishment. I just like good music reproduction .
I was an audiophile for about 10 minutes and then realized it wasn’t for me 😉
You forgot those people who come to give lessons on how to hold vinyl. Some of them even insult us by holding/touching "in the wrong way" something that is ours!
I started listening to Gilbert and Sullivan @78 RPM in 1946 on a horrible Zenith radio record player with a black snake tone arm. Sometime about 10 or 12 later I heard a good quality record player that just nailed me to the spot. That was early hi fidelity mono. I was interested enough to build an Allied Radio amp kit and hook up a speaker and turntable. Later in the 70s I built Dyna amps and tuners and played records, tapes, and eventually CDs. After a long lay off from decent gear I bought a cheap Chinese KAGUSS DAC and plugged a nice pair of 10 year oldSenheiser earphones into it. Wow! What an improvement! I was so impressed that I bought an iFi Zen DAC and then put the KAGUSS on my Wiim Mini streamer running into an SMSL class D with exciter driven polystyrene panel speakers. I mostly stream the free and ad free Venice classical radio and let the highly detailed rendition of the rig feed my preference for beautifully reproduced intricate Baroque music but also sitar music and yes Cajun music and Earl Scruggs playing banjo. Still my ears can detect that a CD playing through the same setup sounds better so I am open to hi res streaming, but resistant to paying a lot for it. So I too am a cheapaudioman. More than an audiophile.
Back in 2000 I used to drive a Ford Escort. I switched out the stock speakers and head unit and added a subwoofer and amp, using what I could afford with my grocery store job. It sounded much better, but still didn't have much mid-range or mid-bass and lacked. I had a roommate who loved to say things like, "You know, you're stereo really isn't that good..." to which I would always reply, "Did you hear me bragging about it? No, so either buy me something better or shut up."
The EQ comments... I'm sitting here doing the 'showcase' motion with my hand next to my Behringer DEQ2496. And it is awesome, indeed. One of my favorite audio buys ever. I use it for all of my headphones. And I'm running two studio monitors and a 12" sub for bass, so when I play any kind of bass music, I load the preset with max offset and nice low-end boosts to bring the sub up in the room. Normally, it's kind of subdued in the mix right from the amp, to make room for metal. I just make the signal hotter in the bass to make the sub REALLY go when I want it to. Really helpful when you go from very tight and fast metal that is just mud with a loud sub, to electronic music with a lot of melodic and dynamic information moving close to and into the sub-bass range. On the flipside, I find a lot of the metal I've liked over the years to just be terribly mixed. I don't WANT to hear it accurately, because I'm betting I wouldn't have liked it any better in their studio listening room. I'd rather fix the problems in the presence and 400-800hz regions myself.
I've always kind of wondered about impressions of mixing and mastering in the audiophile world. I think you can very much question the intent and execution of the artists and technicians behind the mix. Death of the artist and all that. So I can say "I see what you were going for, but no, I don't like it and don't think you got there." And I can say this about any mix. Because when it comes to art, explanations mean little in the face of the actual experiencing of it. You as an artist can say it's about this or that, but it won't matter to anyone who doesn't experience the work that way. Artists know this, too. They recognize that they can't expect everyone to listen to it the way they might want them to, on the gear they prefer.
Basically, you don't have to hold the intent of the musicians and techs as gospel. They don't control how their audience processes their work. I like to think that a song is only at best half-finished, if everything is written and recorded to perfection. The other half only comes in when people actually hear it. IF they don't they kinda don't last long. Again, the high-level stuff means literally nothing if people are unable to reasonably access the experience you want to give them. Gatekeep that, and all I can say to you is "Good luck with your art." because a lot of people won't even see you. They'll go for artists more willing to reach them.
HUGE rub for me with the audiophile world. The idea that the artists get the final word belies the fact that there is intent, execution, and then individual context. And listen... THAT debate goes back to the time of Socrates. However, since modernity, death of the artist has been commonplace in critique and analysis. We ask about what intent is being indicated, and then we ask how closely that's actually being represented in the work. Audiophile music world kind of shies away from this. They are over 200 years behind the times on art. Everyone else has since come to understand that it really doesn't matter what the artist thinks their art is or isn't, should or shouldn't be, if people experiencing the art do not find those things in their experience. You can't take that from people, tell them they're experiencing it wrong. Art is about expression. The audience doesn't run to meet the artist. The whole point of being an artist is to bring new expression-driven experiences TO people. Show them something, with an understanding of both them and you. Asking people to do a bunch research and buy gear? I mean, you can do that... but it's probably not a good way to get respect or attention as an artist.
Audiophiles will PUT that on you though... even if none of their favorite artists would EVER agree.
You can do the same with music, as it is also an art form. "What sound was this artist/group going for?" and then "Is it hitting for me?" From this, you can decide, for yourself, what to think. There's nothing you need to do with gear in order to make a valid decision on the music. You don't have to ask or listen to the artist at all. One day, they'll be dead and all that will be left for most people to understand is the music itself, the experiencing of the sounds. Everything anyone should need to know about the art to appreciate it... is in the art. It's in whatever you are able to hear, from where you are, with what you have. And if it doesn't reach you there, it's on the artist to figure out how to reach you, if they even want to.
All that said - is my cheap EQ set-up how that music was meant to be heard? When my eyes light up and I start moving around reflexively, I tend to think so. It's very hard for me to focus on things like that when I am already intuitively enjoying the music.... like actively, in the moment. I may contemplate it later, but when you are feeling it - just dialed into every detail in a flow state, it is absolutely irrelevant. I do not care what the artist wanted for me. I hope they'd just be happy to see me jamming out so hard to what they worked on.
And I do enjoy watching the meters, even if on an LCD matrix. It's ORANGE!
Final Boss for an Audiophile is a Sound Engineer.