The Music-First Audiophile Manifesto
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
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I like watching audiophile RUclips channels, but the number of those that understand music first is close to zero
The music coming first was what made me, and does, watch your videos.
Steve G.
“ … music playback is its own art-form. After all, a movie is not made by pointing cameras at a stage play.” These may be the wisest words in our hobby, ever.
Recorded music playback is it's own artform. Wow. Thank you, John. This is so simple, yet surprisingly liberating to my audiophile psyche.
48 years ago I sat on the floor of my friend’s living room as he played Miles Davis “Sketches of Spain”. I only remember what that music came from out of curiosity because of the impact; with friends, a quiet evening, and a suggestion of “you need to hear this”. I’ve listened to the same music many times since and it hasn’t lost it’s appeal, though never quite the same as that one time. Music stirs memories, no matter how it’s conveyed. Many thanks!
In French we are lucky enough to have a dedicated word for that "Music-First audiophile" you describe : Mélomane
Great point!
Melómano, in Spanish
This is so spot on. I initially wasted THOUSANDS of dollars trying to build a "high end" system just thinking more expense = better sound for me.
The set up ended up mismatched and so "revealing" that some recordings were simply unlistenable.
After a selling it all and doing much more homework, I spent less and listen more, dance more and collect much more ❤️🔊
Music first! ❤️🔊🙌
Totally agree. You could make it your catch phrase: "this is Darko Audio, and I am the music-first audiophile." 😉
Music is oxygen. Without it we die. At least for me.
Bit of a stretch
Music is almost as important as a healthy dose of CO2 plant food in the atmosphere!
Literally for me...
Your manifesto confirmed my own feelings about how I sell gear while respecting the tech. Loved the last words in the post - Music-loving audiophiles are open to everyone. In other words, it’s unisex. Bravo, Tall One.
Brilliant. Fully agreed, music comes first!
This is wonderful. Thanks for creating this manifesto. So good!
Thank you. Keeping my focus on what matters keeps me enjoying what I love, music.
Darko just performed a slap from across the globe! Somebody felt that one😳
Dunno. Some of those somebodies are beyond feeling.
Respect for adding Tipper at 1:34 His tracks would sound good on a cell phone speaker because they are mastered so well
When I bought my turntable, I took along two 7” singles to demo, the Cure’s “High” and a noise recliner band who never got past singles called Death at Sea. The salesperson told me after aboutbthe 5th option we tried that the D@s was “not a particularly sophisticated recording”. At the time I said “garage rock do be like that.” A better answer might have been “but it’s the sort of music I listen to, because I like it, and I know it.” I can sympathise with a version of the guitar shop “no stairway” rule, whereby you’re endlessly having to put up with other people’s idea of a good tune, but at the end of the day you are conducting sales of music reproduction gear. Your customers may want to reproduce their music on it occasionally.
Thank you John......this has been my philosophy for a while and it's so nice to hear someone else have the same feeling. The reason why we have audio equipment is to listen to MUSIC. And your system should make you happy, and put a smile on your face.
The “music first” audiophile enjoys doorstops on top of his audio gear. That’s how crazy we are 😂
Annnd the music first audiophile uses aesthetically pleasing weights (door stops??) to stop cable bunches pulling small devices off of shelves. It aint stupid if it works
0.001% improvements add up.
This video was refreshing to watch, thank you for making it. Like so many other hobbies it's easy to forget about why you started your journey into it - hi-fi should be about enjoying the music you love above all else.
Music first, always 🤙🏻
Keep up the great work sir!
I started listening to music on a JBL Clip 4 recently instead of getting out nicer headphones simply because it's more accessible, and I find myself worrying less about where I'm streaming from, etc. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm enjoying it more. Thanks for this reminder! It's about the music!
Right on!!! Too many listening to their gear and not the music…the worst part is many will not admit it. I know many. Sad but true.
The live music one speaks to me. I have been trying to articulate that for years. In a time when an album can be made by 5 musicians on 5 different continents who never meet, or where no actual instruments are played at all, the idea of replicating live music and the sound of "real" instruments, is meaningless. This is actually one of the arguments for Atmos. In skilled hands it can be it's own artform, not analogous in anyway to live music or a studio band.
Thank you!
Yes! This is the reason why I love RUclips Music. I can play a lot of not-audophile low bitrate tracks of my not-audiophile favorite music genre; DEEP TECHNO. Tracks that are not available on other streaming platforms (except of Bandcamp but unfortunately I cannot afford all music I love).
"Mastering quality matters more than bit rate." Excellent point. I would rather hear an MP3 of an album that was mixed and mastered well than a hi-res file, DSD, SACD or vinyl copy of an album that wasn't.
Loved the video. Thank you for putting into words how I feel about audio and for acknowledging that some of us are indeed females. I would describe myself as a music lover 1st and an audiophile 2nd. I have very few 'audiophile quality' recordings, preferring to have more music, vinyl is expensive these days, but like an audiophile I have boxes of cables, more dacs than I need in 1 form or another 5 cartridges (only 1 is in use.) and a headphone problem😬 I don't frequent hifi shows as I prefer not to listen to gear that I could never afford, that way I can stay reasonably content with what I have and feel lucky to enjoy music playback that sounds lovely to me and keeps me wanting to listen to music.
This is soo true for me as well!
Great! ❤
Spot on!
Absolutely, 100% true John. Thank you for reminding this basic truth and rising the awareness of the audiophile community.
Darko is right, hats off. It's proven that rhythms are part of our human DNA, and we cannot help it! Back in the day, just after the dinosaurs, give or take several million years, us primitive humans had a blast banging stones together and discovered the joy of rhythms. Fast forward a couple of years, hardware first types deserve their despair. Music is beautiful, in any form and first!
Thank god for your channel.
I love gear and will not deny it! Stopped streaming over a year ago and solely listen to cd's and enjoy adding to my collection of said cd's. I believe it should be enjoyed and not critical. Some can afford the latest some are jist starting and the only thing we should have in common is the love of the music! It is not about being better or having the most. It is great if an individual can afford whatever they want, yet it does not make them better than others.
Good video!
Music first, always!
Have you considered they, their?
the comparison to replicating home theatre is spot on. The same “audiophile” companies that claim to make speakers to recreate the live experience at home are also used for home cinema. Imagine trying to recreate at home the same explosions or car crash noises in an action film. Impossible.
And the Music-First audiophile will always live and let live!
Funny but when I was a young lad I went to visit a friend of my dad’s. This was in the mid-50’s mind you, and he was an audiophile. I wasn’t aware of what he had for equipment but he had transformed his garage into a listening room. What he played for us to listen to was recordings of freight trains rolling from left to right through his, what I remember, big impressive speakers. It was impressive but I remember thinking, oh, you are recreating sound dramatically but where’s the music?
Labels didn't start releasing Stereo until 1958 and most was still mono well into the sixties. He must have only had some experimental recordings.
I love the thought of that. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same.
Yes!
@DarkoAudio, As a Music _Mostly_ First Audiophile: sometimes I listen for the enjoyment and wonder of the technology and craftsmanship of audio gear. And it is a very valid and honest avenue of appreciation, complementary to the appreciation of the musical art being played.
Great!
I recognize myself with my three thousands albums, on different medium ou formats.
An ex-audiophile, that still want great restitution but not to spend too much on that, preferring great music on a correct affordable system than bad music on a perfect system.
CLASSICALBmusic. Nothing without classical. There is classical music also.
90% agree, especially about the room acoustics being above the gear. I would argue the point about brining home the live experience. Of course it isn't possible, but coming as close as it gets is a good idea in my view.
Well said. And to the SQ obsessed that fuss and fret over which interconnect to use, I applaud their pursuit too. A system in a room can be an art installation as well.
Yes. Easy to get lost with hype. Keep up the good work. My mantra has always been music first; make those crappy awesome tunes I find in random places sound amazing pls 🙏. Well as good as they can, so I enjoy them to their fullest, right? Or if not I will still enjoy them on something perceived as ‘rubbish’; the essence here is whether you genuinely enjoy. Always my dilemma in how much to spend on hifi. Enjoy yourself and I love sharing the experience and tunes too. Keep making it about the music and I appreciate your views & reviews. Cheers Darko.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like your manifesto (or womanifesto). You've created a new category and defined it succinctly. So many people have ideas of what an audiophile is and they are often contradictory. My favorites are those who proudly proclaim "I am not an audiophile!' and yet they have a audio gear review channel! Thanks and take care John.
Thanks for including the JakoJako song at 1:00 . Never heard of her. I am listening to the Metamorphose album now and it reminds a bit of Tangerine Dream.
❤❤❤ man, you really nailed my entire mindset! I listen to EVERYTHING and if it moves me I love it. My system was carefully chosen and refined over years to ensure that even the worst recordings will be listenable. When I travel I sometimes stay in fancy hotels in world class cities but I also often find magnificent corners of the world by backpacking and staying in hostels. I will never limit my chance at profound experience by setting strict limits on my chance of discovery.
I love this! This is exactly my view (except I don't really think I'm even an audiophile) and so well put.
Proudly reporting that I'm a music-first audiophile!
Thank you for provoking thought in audio. For what it’s worth, I am with you on most of the points, except “choosing audio equipment that elevates albums I already have”. There is SO much NEW music that sounds good on my equipment, that I have transformed from being stuck in the past with old music, to saving only new music that sounds good on my system. In other words, I don’t feel like I’m missing out by letting go of old loves that don’t sound good on my system, BECAUSE they are SO easily replaced by an endless stream of wonderful-sounding new recordings. I have naturally evolved from buying equipment to suit old music, to streaming music that sounds great on my great-sounding equipment. I have cobbled my system together over decades now, to a point where many genres of NEW music sound mesmerizing. And by the way, for the old stuff that I return to occasionally, it’s easy enough to just twist the knobs of my Schiit Lokius EQ and make even that sound very good. I enjoy how much BETTER (generally speaking) new recordings sound. I’m not referring to most popular music, but rather newer jazz, indie, instrumental, folk, and many other sub genres of these; the latest recordings sound incredibly spacious, meaty, deep, crystal clear, with good instrument separation, etc. Much of the older music I used to listen to does NOT sound as good. I suppose at the end of the day I’ve morphed from a music first listener to a sound/gear first listener. Thanks again for sharing your perspective.
I have never connected with a message more than this one
Just to add IMO: the music-first audiophile can pursue the illusion of "live sound" as long as he or she knows that live is different; & feels that a scorching performance of a piece of music of any genre in a lower-fidelity format is typically a better listening choice than a lesser performance in a higher-fidelity; & can still from time to time geek out on sound/gear first, but always returns to the music first.
Yeeeees! Thank goodness there is still common sense in the audio world. Thank you.
MFA - Great concept 👏👏👍
100% agree it is music over everything else and I squirm with frustration seeing a £100k+ system on show with one small box of vinyl, surely library spend should significantly exceed hardware.
For me it is finding hardware to live with, yes I have spent a lot on components but I lived with my previous setup for 20+ yrs, before replacing it component by component. I think this system will last longer than my last.
Most of us do not have a music listening room for one person to sit in the ‘sweet spot’. We have a room that if we are lucky serves for AV, music and as an entertaining space, if you want beautiful walls there is no room for room treatments, and if you are lucky you don’t need them either.
If you spend listening time only analysing micro-dynamics etc you are not doing what music was made for, just enjoying it as much as possible.
Much of the most important and memorable music was not recorded to test your HiFis envelope but this is the music that made you want to go out and buy the HiFi in the first place.
You just described me… 👍🏻
I agree. I think there is a point in the maturity of an audiophile and music lover where the obsessive compulsive disappears, and he or she becomes more concerned with the general scene. In the end, the experience and what you feel is what is important. Without forgetting, the idea of everything is to enjoy the music that you like
Haha nice rant method! Well said. The emotions are much more enhanced by music than by sound. I'm 68 and can sometimes still cry about music
When I hear rap, grime or musical theatre I often cry as well.
I love music!
I'll listen to a small transiter radio
On a Bluetooth speaker ( of various sizes )
With headphones of various size and quality
via cassette or record or cd
And with different amp and speaker combinations!
What I've realised is that I adapt!
I still enjoy a great song on a tiny radio ( at mums ) aswell as on my best combination of audio gear.....
Sure I hear more detail, but even at the lowest quality I can still enjoy the music 😍
Nice reminder to all of us to stay honest with our music. Perhaps this heavily cliched quote of Alan Parsons bears repeating over and over again “Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.”. We either don''t learn our lessons easily, or forget them easily, or both.
That tipper album is one of the most perfectly mixed albums I've ever heard. Incredible depth and detail you can zoom and zoom in on, making use of the full spectrum of audio, and incredible dynamics that push the limits without ever being harsh on the ears
This music first audiophile rips audio from RUclips videos when the live recording is not available anywhere else.
I am a big fan of the music by John Barry, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, Born Free to name a few. He rests in peace now, so most of his recordings are ancient, the album Born Free was recorded in 1966 and sounds like it's chiseled on a stone tablet. Nevertheless, I play John's music almost every day, so I guess that makes me a Music First not-so-audiophile.....I am pleased 😀
Well yes. I'm 63 therefore II agree with All your points.
It's how it was in the 60's and 70's.
The audiophilia is a more recent concept.
WELL SAID SIR! Thank you!
Number three is what spoke to me the most. I am at core a metalhead, and I've listened to Metal and Heavy Rock music since I was a kid, but I enjoy most genres of music. From Jazz to IDM, Bluegrass, Blues, Psychedelic rock, Funk, Dub, Spoken Word, and many others. If there is something in the music that I feel is made with passion, maybe it's the production, lyrics, or anything that may provoke or awaken any of my senses, I will devour it. That doesn't take away the fact that I also enjoy having the music sound as best as I can get it to sound or experimenting, both with headphones and IEMs or via DACs+amplifiers+speakers. That is possibly related to the more nerdy side of me; I enjoy tweaking and experimenting in general with things I have a passion for. Today, for example, it was a very sunny day. I took the Genelec 8040B out on the terrace and connected them directly to the Qudelix 5K and my phone and listened to some Isaac Chambers tunes. I tried to place them in order to sound as good as they can out in the open, but they didn't have a fancy DAC or a subwoofer, and they sounded gorgeous. Especially after a couple of pints :D Enjoy music and yourselves as much as you can, people! It does stuff for your souls. P.S.Music comes first, always !
How. Dare. You. I'm so angry I'm going to swap out my Mundorf bypass capacitors for Duelund and rage!
I have to add one more. The music first audiophile elicits an emotion from the lyric/music before the quality of the playback.
I am just about to pinch the transcript, put it into a nice arty font, print it out and hang it by my hi-fi as a reminder to myself of what actually matters. Well said, sir, well said.
An audiophile's journey transcends mere equipment; it's a pursuit of sonic perfection tailored to individual taste. Exploring the nuances of each persons system, we uncover its unique strengths and vulnerabilities. In this odyssey of sound, we embrace diverse perspectives, growing and evolving towards self-realization with every note. And oh, the music-its power to elevate and inspire knows no bounds. Yeeesssssssssssss!!!
Bravo....Well said.
Some of my favourite music is Charlie Parker recorded live with wire recording equipment by amateurs in the 1940's/50's. Performances are marvellous (music first)..but I still want it to sound the best it can be.
That is very interesting to me, because I truly can’t identify - I can certainly respect their incredible talents, but if it “sounds” bad, I won’t listen twice. But hey, different strokes…thanks for sharing. 👍
Very, very true.
Well said.
I can’t believe Im saying this: I totally agree 100% with you! 👍
Amen!
Very well said, John! There's already enough discrimination in this world, without your Hi-Fi discriminating against your music tastes, too!
Exactly and so good to hear! I got into HiFi as a teenager in the 70s because I wanted to get the most enjoyment out of the music. I reckoned that if the artist(s) and engineers took the trouble to choose this instrument over that and record it in a certain way that I should honour those choices by recreating it as well as seemed affordable and practical to me.
At one point I had a Pink Triangle, QUAD ESLs etc and it was truly wonderful but life changes mean that’s all now had to go and instead I’ve got some great KEF LSXs and a pair of superb headphones and play everything off my iPad Pro - by album, usually! I sing along and love it all like I used to despite the change in equipment and I’m still doing my best in 2024 to honour those artistic choices the creators made decades ago. The music is always the ❤️ of any sound system.
love it
I am a music first audiophile
Realising this fact a few years ago, before you have it a label, saved me a fortune as I was sliding into buying gear for gears sake. Now I just enjoy the tunes.
I just wish there were a heart to punch instead of merely a thumps up! Love it John!
Amen! You could not be so right. Thanks for saying what sound be the obvious.
Nice vid Darko! So agree. It’s the music that started it all for me.
Great Manifesto... 100% accurate... Music First, Hardware second, format third... and very important... mastering quality matters more than bit rate
100% agree. btw it is a great time for music lovers. it's easy to discover and stream a new album a day and buy a record per week. however, there are fewer of us than we think. i know maybe 3 or 4 in my circle of friends and they have turned me on to so much music. you need at least one friend like that. yes it's true that the majority of people listen to the same 10 albums they got in high school. however! if someone exposes them to interesting music and they might get the music bug too ;)
One of my favorite video of this channel. Thanks Darko
Great video! and this is exactly me
I like how this rolls on, without apology.
I agree with your tenets of audiophileness… but it didn’t stop me from taking a screenshot of the bingo card. You know, to be sure to be sure.
That's me then, spot on!
Love your attitude towards our hobby!
We stand with you John. Loving the manifesto. Try being an car audio audiophile..
Actually I consider this hobby or passion of ours as problem of constraint-based optimisation. At each point in our musical journey we have one constraint or another - finances, space, room issues, availability of equipment, etc. We proceed to optimse within the constraints. At each and every point in the journey Music remains primary - for all this equipment has that as its goal - unless, of course, one enjoys listening only to test-tones and calibration noises. Optimal-Fidelity or Op-Fi 🙂
I was tired of the music played in most audiophile demos. And the worst part is that some people only listen to these at home. This was the vlog that expressed my feelings best. thanks a lot.
I adhere to this concept 👍
I'd vote for him
Amen
You forgot to mention Disco John. It's some of the last music that was still made with real instruments and has great beats.
John might not be old enough to have witnessed the rise of disco. His first music-first Aha-Erlebnis happened in the 80s I guess.
Wow John you hit the nail on the head! I completely agree. I have found a new home.
I admit to having misconstrued the topic at first, even though I've been following this channel for some time. On the Martin Logan owner's forum (my favorite loudspeaker brand) I am always amazed at the number of people who say they are primarily into home theater, and only occasionally music. Not me at all! While a movie at home is enhanced by my audio system compared to listening on TV speakers or even a decent sound bar, there is no way I would have spent the money and effort if it were just for movies.
I'm a techno-geek with a background in physics and engineering, and fascinated by al aspects of audio reproduction in the home. I'm also an amateur pianist and frequent concert-goer, and need not prove my love of music to anyone. So I am particularly triggered by item #8, people virtue-signing about how much they love the music then going on about how their $2,000 loudspeaker cables enable them to squeeze the last bit of emotion from their music. Yes, the room you listen in is important. About 1,000,000 times more important than loudspeaker cables and at least 100 times more important than any reasonable amp (I don't consider a flea powered single ended triode tube amp reasonable). Loudspeakers and room acoustics are probably about even.
Also, while it's true the pursuit of the exact sound of a live experience is a fool's errand--we are far from being able to achieve that--the thing that really tickles my audiophile fancy (as opposed to the emotional impact of the music which, as correctly stated, is mostly available through cheap ear buds or portable radios) is when I can hear a vocalist, instrumental soloist or orchestra recording and think "Wow! That sounds like the musicians are right in front of me!" The extent to which you can experience that depends on whether the recording was designed to do that, and what imperfections (since it will always be imperfect) are important to you and which ones you are willing to ignore. The late Gordon Holt, Harry Pearson and Tony Cordesman (who just passed on last January though TAS just got around to writing an obit) were all into reproducing the sound of live acoustic music. When the focus of high fidelity shifted away from primarily classical music, the goal shifted to "reproducing the sound the record producer intended", which I think is a cop-out. How on earth are you supposed to judge whether what you are hearing on your home system is what was intended?
Of the music genres cited, folk is the only one even remotely amenable to reproducing the live sound. Most of them also happen to be of little interest to me. My interest is about 90% classical, 9% jazz and 1% other. I am non-judgemental about the music other people enjoy, but most of those other genres are totally a product of the studio, and nothing to do with anything you would hear at a live performance. Given my tastes, I feel entitled to pursue the sound of live music to the extent possible. Shooting a stage play with a single wide camera shot is not a good analogy, since our senses of vision and hearing are different. More like seeing a color hologram of a stage play, if it were possible with today's tech, is what I am after. One time, due to the train into New York City running late, I was forced to consume the first act of a Metropolitan Opera performance exactly that low tech way on a small TV monitor, since they would not seat me. I would not recommend it to anyone.
p.s. do people who own 50 albums, chosen exclusively for sound, really exist, or are they straw men created by the "all about the music" people? And yes, I forgive the politically incorrect pronouns. I have yet to meet a woman audiophile geek interested only in sound anyway.
Amen, brother 💪
“A movie is not made by pointing a camera at a stage play.” 😂
Just had this conversation with some guys at my local HiFi shop
I cannot agree more. We used to have a music association with around 25 to 30 members. There were two groups: the technical guys who we used to call the Model Train Guys, and us, the music lovers. You can imagine which discussions we had at the time.