I got an email last night from a disturbed audiophile. He asked me if I was for or against high end audio? Seems he was a little put out that I have singled out the expensive components as being not so good. I answered first by asking him "what do you have?". He of course has a very expensive system. I said in order to answer we need to remove all bias. He had a problem with this, so we hopped on the phone. I told him no charge this time, but.... he agreed.
He said so why are you down on this stuff? I said I'm not down on stuff as much as I'm up on stuff. I'm not in the music industry to promote an audio product. I'm here to promote a sound. The best sound, the absolute sound. I talked with him about taste and that all of us have an absolute sound in our heads and that all recordings are different and all that jazz, but he kept pushing his agenda that the higher end produces the better sound. I said "does it?". "Are you absolutely convinced that the more you spend the better sound gets?, even if you hear the sound getting worse instead of better?". He said "how can you prove it's worse?". So I asked him to spend a moment with me.
I asked him to turn on his system an put on a piece of music we both had. He did, and I proceeded with a test. He within 5 minutes agreed that I was getting something that he wasn't, and that I was getting every thing he was getting and then some. I didn't beat this fella up at this point, I simply pointed out why he was not getting what I was and that he could.
High End Audio
To me high end audio is not a price tag or a fancy look, it's a sound, and the search of that sound. It's something inside of our heads that says "I am there" and "this is it". It's the ability to walk over to that CD or vinyl shelf, or pull up on the file any and all music and reach a level of satisfaction. It's not so much a talk as it is a walk. When the forum thread is walked away from and the club members have left the building, it's that thing that you do in your private time. Not something you show off in front of your audio buddies but something you do after they leave. It's that feeling of "I can't wait to get to the music".
No debate in the world can make this happen for us, and maybe the debate takes us further away from that sound. Maybe a lot of things in this hobby distracts us from sitting in that chair and floating away to our dream audio land. Is it about the dollar? Not for me, I have raise my level above such things. For me it's how do I uncover the secrets of each and every recording. It's not playing the sound through the sound of my system, but making my system disappear. Disappear to the place where I don't even know a system is playing. I'm not thinking about what to fix, or I wish I had. The only "wish I have" is to get to that record store.
If we're still dreaming about components we haven't yet gotten there have we? We're still in the hobby of collecting components and really not just listening. The collecting is a fun hobby but it's a different one than the music collection and listening one. High End Audio to me is the freedom of being able to play, and play it all. It's being able to make my system portray any part and piece I wish. It's a hobby of being able to walk in that room and be totally satisfied every time. It's not a dollar amount or a brand name, it's looking and thinking about those music titles and when can I get to them. It's "I'll get to it, but let me listen to this one, just one more time".
michael green
MGA/RoomTune
I got an email last night from a disturbed audiophile. He asked me if I was for or against high end audio? Seems he was a little put out that I have singled out the expensive components as being not so good. I answered first by asking him "what do you have?". He of course has a very expensive system. I said in order to answer we need to remove all bias. He had a problem with this, so we hopped on the phone. I told him no charge this time, but.... he agreed.
He said so why are you down on this stuff? I said I'm not down on stuff as much as I'm up on stuff. I'm not in the music industry to promote an audio product. I'm here to promote a sound. The best sound, the absolute sound. I talked with him about taste and that all of us have an absolute sound in our heads and that all recordings are different and all that jazz, but he kept pushing his agenda that the higher end produces the better sound. I said "does it?". "Are you absolutely convinced that the more you spend the better sound gets?, even if you hear the sound getting worse instead of better?". He said "how can you prove it's worse?". So I asked him to spend a moment with me.
I asked him to turn on his system an put on a piece of music we both had. He did, and I proceeded with a test. He within 5 minutes agreed that I was getting something that he wasn't, and that I was getting every thing he was getting and then some. I didn't beat this fella up at this point, I simply pointed out why he was not getting what I was and that he could.
High End Audio
To me high end audio is not a price tag or a fancy look, it's a sound, and the search of that sound. It's something inside of our heads that says "I am there" and "this is it". It's the ability to walk over to that CD or vinyl shelf, or pull up on the file any and all music and reach a level of satisfaction. It's not so much a talk as it is a walk. When the forum thread is walked away from and the club members have left the building, it's that thing that you do in your private time. Not something you show off in front of your audio buddies but something you do after they leave. It's that feeling of "I can't wait to get to the music".
No debate in the world can make this happen for us, and maybe the debate takes us further away from that sound. Maybe a lot of things in this hobby distracts us from sitting in that chair and floating away to our dream audio land. Is it about the dollar? Not for me, I have raise my level above such things. For me it's how do I uncover the secrets of each and every recording. It's not playing the sound through the sound of my system, but making my system disappear. Disappear to the place where I don't even know a system is playing. I'm not thinking about what to fix, or I wish I had. The only "wish I have" is to get to that record store.
If we're still dreaming about components we haven't yet gotten there have we? We're still in the hobby of collecting components and really not just listening. The collecting is a fun hobby but it's a different one than the music collection and listening one. High End Audio to me is the freedom of being able to play, and play it all. It's being able to make my system portray any part and piece I wish. It's a hobby of being able to walk in that room and be totally satisfied every time. It's not a dollar amount or a brand name, it's looking and thinking about those music titles and when can I get to them. It's "I'll get to it, but let me listen to this one, just one more time".
michael green
MGA/RoomTune