Are you on Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Reddit? Social media has done much to bring together people of every interest imaginable to share their fascinations, desires, and, occasionally, delusions. From fans of frogs (FrogStomp) and proponents of clean public toilets (Benjyo Soujer) to a group that challenged an Iranian cleric's statement that women's flimsy attire causes earthquakes (Boobquake), social media is a global town square in which anyone with a keyboard and an attitude has an equal voice.
Like all self-respecting Facebookers, audiophiles also have their groups, including Audiophile Network, High End & Vinyl Lovers United, Audiophiles North America, and Hi Fi Audio, with memberships ranging from 3000 to 10,000. On these virtual forums audiophiles exchange opinions, upload system photos, and discuss the inexhaustible pros and cons of cables, tweaks, noise isolation, and, of course, analog
vs digital.
For fun, I recently took a break from posting to my own FB group, Jazz Vinyl Lovers, to ask FB audiophiles a handful of age-old but still-relevant questions: "Why do so many music lovers dislike the audiophile state of mind? Is it envy of audiophiles who have more long green to spend on music reproduction than the rest of us? Or is it that only the music should matter, and not the gear? Or, since most people can't hear the difference anyway, why the serious expenditure on what amount to boys' toys?"
I was gobsmacked. Responses to my queries rolled in at a seemingly exponential clip— more than 500 in less than three hours, and more continued to arrive for a week, eventually totaling 50 single-spaced pages. That's a lot of kvetching about cables and soul-baring about speaker sensitivities!
A sampling of the responses:
"If you have a nice high-end audio system," said Aleksandar Matijaca, "post a pic on
http://www.reddit.com/r/audiophiles/ and wait for the hatred."
One member boasted: "Who says it has to be shared? I'm an audiophile for me. It satisfies, entertains and pleases me."
Another paraphrased Friedrich Nietzsche: "Egoism is the very essence of the noble/audiophile soul."
"I find the hobby to be pedantic and petty," wrote John Fiebke, "filled with socially awkward dweebs who argue constantly about minuscule details that have nothing to do with music and everything to do with just winning a contest of 'my stereo is better than yours.' If this hobby . . . were about the music I wouldn't hear Diana Krall on every device at audio shows year after year."
Ouch!
But does the other green play a role?
"Your suggestion that [envy] might play a role could easily be perceived as a hostile, elitist sentiment," Dan Sorrells replied. "Even your benignly posed question—'or perhaps most people can't hear the difference?'—implies some sort of superiority over mere 'average' listeners."
Think again, Dan.
"Does [envy] play a part?" mused one correspondent. "People nowadays have access to credit and other means to spend on gear. Having an extremely expensive set-up doesn't necessarily mean someone has enough disposable income to justify buying the gear, kinda like if a guy drives a Ferrari but lives in his mom's basement with student loans and credit card debt."
Still another suggested that all human beings are essentially created equal: "I believe any human can hear the difference in quality given the opportunity," wrote Conrad Hunter. "It's just that some people choose to place value on that difference while others don't. But once you've recognized the difference you can never 'unhear' it. I'm always surprised at the number of audiophiles that can't tell when speakers are out of phase."
Popular New York City radio DJ Paul Cavalconte thinks it's all in our heads: "The dichotomy is that audio is satisfying on both lo-fi and hi-fi levels. A great rock oldie on a transistor radio is just as sweet as a symphony on a cathedral-filling system. There's a limitless path to better, but no right or wrong."
This, from a sensualist: "I believe the senses can be developed till you die and the pleasuring of those is mostly the center of our existences," said Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic.
And a well-positioned comment from Bob Weiniger: "I believe that the general disdain for 'high end audio,' generally, and audiophiles, in particular, stems from the present day attraction to egalitarianism, especially amongst the 'have-nots,' who having found a rationale for 'putting down their betters' and others who have accomplished (and therefore amassed) more than they, somehow feel less inadequate by demonizing the 'haves' and trivializing their well-earned fortunes and accomplishments. Cognoscenti have ALWAYS known that irrespective of the pursuit, 'the best' shall always cost more than the 'run of the mill.' There is no substitute for quality and quality costs money. This is as it should be."
Still curious, I posted a follow-up question: "How can we win converts to our music-loving audio pursuit?" This time, unfortunately, the number of responses from the audiophile groups was close to nil.
Quizzing a Facebook group isn't a scientific survey, but perhaps audiophiles harbor mixed emotions about their hobby, if it is a hobby. How do we defeat the us-against-them mentality that frames audiophiles either as nerds focused on sonic artifacts or as men obsessed with expensive hardware? Perhaps we are OCD patients more intent on interacting with merchandise we can buy than relationships we should cherish. A handful of munificent FB audiophiles responded with positive advice: appeal to friends and family, rely on what you love best and appeal with the music.
"Start playing music at shows that is found in actual music lover's collections rather than 'audiophile' shite that lives in a different universe to what real people listen to," wrote Eric van Spelde.
"They get it or they don't," wrote another respondent. "If they come to my place and ask how to get a system together, that's different. They can spend their money how they want."
"After setting up my system I had my son come over for a listen," said one audiophile, "telling him it wasn't merely good, it was going to be 'oh my God' good, and played some tunes he was familiar with. He agreed with the OMG assessment. At least he has a reference point now."
Roscoe Trey Nicholson said it best: "The greatest reaction I have had from a non–audio nerd was an ex-girlfriend hearing her favorite album (Radiohead's
Kid A) on my system. In tears. And from then on, we'd wake up, make coffee, and put on a record every weekend morning."
