Erik Bobeda is a full-time college student. With all sorts of debts and due dates and distractions, Erik Bobeda is also an audiophile.
Can you believe that? I can. It's true: Erik Bobeda is "a rare bird." But I see no reason why it should necessarily be that way.
Mr. Bobeda took the time to share some thoughts with us. In "An Open Letter to My Audiophile Elders," he discusses priorities and conveniences, and presents a call to action.
An Open Letter to My Audiophile Elders I was flipping through the Sunday flyers the other day, having a look at the electronics store ads. I turned to a page dedicated to a game console and saw that the price was $399. "Why would I buy that?" I thought. "I could have an NAD C325BEE integrated amplifier for the same price!" This struck me as something that would not be running through the heads of most people my age. I'm 20 years old and I'm an audiophile. I feel like a rare bird, indeed. These days, cheap mass-market receivers, iPods filled with lossy music files, and disc-spinning boxes that have no business reading CDs are the rule. I know a lot of people who think Bose is the final word in sonic satisfaction. The prevailing philosophy also seems to be that more channels necessarily equate to better sound. Home theaters are in fashion and speaker count is just shy of being a measure of masculinity in some circles. On college campuses, you'll likely see lots of the white earbuds that come with the Apple iPod. Now, I love Apple products and have nothing against the iPod. What bothers me is that the overwhelming majority of people are quite content to play low bit rate MP3s through those atrocious little throw-away earphones. It boggles my mind that someone would pay (or have his parents pay) $250 and gain nothing but convenience. I think that's the key word: Convenience. In our modern drive-through, cell phone, internet, cruise control world, convenience is the priority. My friend thinks I'm odd for spending $300 on a CD player that only holds one at a time. Furthermore, he thinks I'm positively certifiable for desiring a turntable. Imagine having to get up to change tracks, handle the albums carefully, and clean the records and replace the stylus as needed! Perish the thought. Why go to all that trouble only to hear ticks and pops? My answer is always "Because vinyl sounds better." I won't delve into the relative merits of analog versus digital, but my point here is that my generation largely does not value sound quality. Why not? Many have never heard a hi-fi stereo. Superior sound can indeed only be appreciated if it is heard.This is a call to action, brothers. What I propose is simple: Find a young person. He could be a relative, a friend's kid, a neighbor, whatever. Take him under your wing. Demonstrate your system. (Trust me, everyone likes shiny things that make noise. It shouldn't take much convincing. If all else fails, reveal how much it cost.) Tell him to bring some CDs he listens to all the time. If you're really ambitious, find one of his favorite CDs on vinyl and play that as well. If you're close enough to buy birthday and Christmas gifts and notice that he's never without his iPod, get him a pair of nice entry-level earbuds from Shure or Ultimate Ears. I guarantee that those MP3s will sound awful. Assure him that there's nothing wrong with the earbuds and suggest re-ripping his music at a higher bit rate. Audiophiles should start taking more responsibility for the future of high fidelity. If you're up to the task, I guarantee that you'll find few things more rewarding than introducing a new generation to the joys of quality stereo listening.Erik Bobeda
