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How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

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Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#21

Post by ladzoppelin »

octoploid wrote: post #15
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can fix the soundstage somewhat using an xfeed filter. It's simplistic, but does help move the soundstage out from inside your head to being perceived more in front. It's pretty easy to set this up for most software sources, sadly not typically supported by hardware players or phones.

The bs2b crossfeed plugin is pretty good for that purpose: http://bs2b.sourceforge.net/ I'm using it on Linux (alsa) for my in-ear-phones. From /etc/asound.conf: pcm.crossfeed { type plug slave.pcm "ladspa" } pcm.ladspa { type ladspa slave.pcm "plughw:0,1"; path "/usr/lib/ladspa"; plugins [ { label bs2b input { controls [ 700 4 ] } } ] }

One of the best crossfeeds is the VST plugin hdphx from Refined Audiometrics Laboratory. They don't offer it anymore on the original site but you can still find it. I am sure crossfeeds built into an amp are better but for a software solution it sounds the best to my ears.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#22

Post by jvdongen »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #10
TylerE wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that way for a long time too - but ultimately I think the limited/artificial soundstage with headphones has to hold them back a bit, in the realm of merely "very good" rather than "nearly perfect". My headphone rig objectively sounds better than my speaker rig, but the speakers ultimately sound more natural, even if by objective measurements (e.g. frequency response) they're markedly inferior. (Neither rig…

You can fix the soundstage somewhat using an xfeed filter. It's simplistic, but does help move the soundstage out from inside your head to being perceived more in front. It's pretty easy to set this up for most software sources, sadly not typically supported by hardware players or phones.

For me part of the music experience is also feeling the music. That's not something you can get with headphones (well, safely at least :-)

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#23

Post by syassami »

joevandyk wrote: post #17
syassami wrote: post #12

Audiophile & Student checking in here. Most people don't realize that there is gold on craigslist that older crowd is throwing out due to their wives nagging ("These speakers are too big.." etc) I've put together an amazing system using Polk SDA-2b's, Parasound HCA-1200, & Onkyo TS-DX787(as a preamp)(donated) and behringer uca-202 DAC for under 300 dollars. Cables are all monoprice and it blows my mind that people pa…

How do you know which of the older stuff is good?

In this day and age, you can just look up the model number and read a review on it, and find plenty of reviews on forums. After a short while you find out what makes a quality model and not (construction quality, driver quality etc). Best way imo is to start looking stuff up and reading.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#24

Post by gte910h »

syassami wrote: post #12

Audiophile & Student checking in here. Most people don't realize that there is gold on craigslist that older crowd is throwing out due to their wives nagging ("These speakers are too big.." etc) I've put together an amazing system using Polk SDA-2b's, Parasound HCA-1200, & Onkyo TS-DX787(as a preamp)(donated) and behringer uca-202 DAC for under 300 dollars. Cables are all monoprice and it blows my mind that people pa…

I question the long term survival and accuracy of the capacitors in electronics that old. You often have non-fatal (to the device) but defective caps in say, filters, etc.

http://www.antiqueradio.org/recap.htm for some things on checking old caps.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#25

Post by fusiongyro »

petrilli wrote: post #2

I would disagree with the initial premise that it's about the pursuit of "perfect sound reproduction". There's many people who do that, but that's not what the audiophile world really has become. It's about a bunch of hand waving and big checkbook spending to impress other audiophiles. Oddly, that describes a lot of "hobbies". Nobody who feels that a $4,000 power cable is important has any semblance of sanity remaini…

I have a $2500 setup so I may not be a sane voice on this issue, but I honestly think part of it (the mid-range?) is partly about setting up an environment in which "just" actively listening to music is acceptable (as opposed to watching TV or a movie).

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#26

Post by stinkypete »

petrilli wrote: post #2

I would disagree with the initial premise that it's about the pursuit of "perfect sound reproduction". There's many people who do that, but that's not what the audiophile world really has become. It's about a bunch of hand waving and big checkbook spending to impress other audiophiles. Oddly, that describes a lot of "hobbies". Nobody who feels that a $4,000 power cable is important has any semblance of sanity remaini…

I also question the sanity of anyone spending that much on equipment and seemingly nothing on room treatments. If your goal is accurate sound reproduction, your room is going to be one of the biggest sources of problems (phase smearing, standing waves/room nodes, flutter, etc), especially in smaller square-shaped rooms. Spending $10k on a sound system and zero on room treatment is like putting monster truck tires on a lawn mower. It's no coincidence that studio control rooms, especially ones that do commercial-quality mastering, use all kinds of room treatment tricks to ensure the mastering engineer can accurately hear everything in a mix.

And while I don't think audiophiles are just about spending money to impress friends, sometimes they go about things in incredibly inefficient ways and pretend they are not susceptible to placebo effects.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#27

Post by fusiongyro »

rdl wrote: post #3

A $100-500 set of headphones, decent headphone amp ($50-500), and FLAC files will probably get you to "98" on the log scale, too. (I'm a little wary of buying used headphones, at least without replacing all the soft parts and cleaning thoroughly, though.)

A $20 USB soundcard also seems to help, if your source is a laptop.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#28

Post by Le_SDT »

petrilli wrote: post #2

I would disagree with the initial premise that it's about the pursuit of "perfect sound reproduction". There's many people who do that, but that's not what the audiophile world really has become. It's about a bunch of hand waving and big checkbook spending to impress other audiophiles. Oddly, that describes a lot of "hobbies". Nobody who feels that a $4,000 power cable is important has any semblance of sanity remaini…

Agree, a real audiophile is not one who pays 250k his system. After a few thousand dollars there is no real difference.. I'm sorry but I've been mixing/mastering for over 10 years and for 2000$ plus a great room, you have it, the best sound you can imagine. Buying more and more expensive stuff is more like a drug than a true need. Audio entertainement (and) professionnal are two of the most overpriced fields.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#29

Post by brianpan »

mikeash wrote: post #13
w0utert wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who spends far too much money on 20+ years old cars, I think I have to agree with you. Being an audiophile is a bit like being a car enthusiast: there really is nothing rational about spending so much money on something that most people don't see the value of, something that is so subjective that you can't explain it to them. I think in the end, it's more about the joy you get out of the idea of being able…

At least you could tell the difference between a cheap car and an expensive car in a blind test.

But it's not about cheap and expensive, and it's only partly about measurable performance. It's just as much about style (this car was designed with the "perfect" stance) and about personal preference. Things you're not going to get everyone to agree on, and occasionally are plain irrational.

Re: How much does it cost to be an audiophile?

#30

Post by Yhippa »

Lukeas14 wrote: post #18

"At the same time, it’s hard not to think that audiophiles are on the wrong side of history. As the rest of the world joyfully listens to Spotify and Pandora on their iPhones, audiophiles still listen to CDs! The march of technological progress has many casualties, and sound quality may just be one of them. The product desires of audiophiles are so idiosyncratic and contrary to popular tastes; they have an uphill bat…

I can't help but think that for the average person this guy is right. The audiophiles are going deeper and deeper into owning high-quality media to play on their high-quality systems.

I have several large boxes of CD's which I know look at with scorn. I haven't used a CD or even a ripped copy of them in years. I've tried Audiogalaxy, Google Music, iTunes Match, and Amazon MP3. It takes a lot of effort to migrate your music to each of those services.

What I've found by using subscription services is what the author is saying: cheaper, faster, and more social access to music. Audiophiles will continue to have their niche but I tend to agree that that is not the way history is going.

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