audiophiles always make me laugh...

DJ_LBP · Post by **DJ_LBP** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:17 pm

I'm just ready for more base. SO worth it.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:12 pm

Mmm. This is making me hungry. I gotta get me some of that 24 carrot gold bouillon. They tell me it makes a good bass.

Nathangrn · Post by **Nathangrn** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:19 am

I got one of those plugs for my microwave and it'll heat up a corn dog in about 5 seconds now. It's amazing.

I think they should come with a bottle of sugar pills so you can get a double dose of the placebo effect.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:01 am

OK, so we've got 24-carrot bouillon soup bass, and sugar pills for dessert... somebody hit the circuit breaker and give us some juice. That way we'll have a balanced meal.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:01 am

Gawd. Did I just actually write that? I need to find an excuse to get out of the house.

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:49 am

calaverasgrandes wrote: another thing strikes me as funny. What do these audiophiles think the mix engineer listened to when he mixed the record? a $40,000 custom system with tube amps, zirconium shielded AC wire and superconducting speaker cable, or a pair of NS10s! Do they think the music was recorded in a perfect studio with zero AC noise? If anything you can do all you want to purify your home systems AC current. At some point you will just be creating the perfect environment to listen to the noise floor of the studio it was recorded in. You cant hear past that!

I have always wondered this exact thing myself. Don't get me wrong, if i had the disposable cash, I would absolutley spend it on a great amp, turntable and a set of nice speakers. But the fact that people spend so much on cables and AC systems when some of these albums were mixed on NS-10's has always cracked me up.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:06 pm

It is kinda fun when you can listen to a recording someone else made, and hear some artifact of the recording process that's otherwise inaudible, because you've got a good ear and a good stereo. But you totally don't need a six million dollar system to do that.

GREGL · Post by **GREGL** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:51 pm

There are audiophiles and then there are audiophiles. There is a certain segment of audiophiles that carry things too far. But there is another subset of these people that know and understand audio far more deeply than most recording engineers (some of them are recording engineers) and really should'nt be lumped in with the fringe set.

On the other hand , I could never understand buying $5000 microphones and then mixing on NS10's. Especially when its going to only heard on an MP3.

Ryan Silva · Post by **Ryan Silva** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:21 pm

GREGL wrote:On the other hand , I could never understand buying $5000 microphones and then mixing on NS10's. Especially when its going to only heard on an MP3.

Can't argue with results however.

a $5000 mic, mixed with NS10's, have made some of my favorite mp3s.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:50 am

okay I guess I will step up to defend the lowly MP3. It really isnt that bad if you use a decent encoder. It certainly isnt any worse than AM broadcast! And there were many hits that propagated via that medium that were recorded with fantastic fidelity.

Though most of what I record is destined for MP3, I like to think that I am capturing at a higher fidelity for posterity sake.

about audiophiles, I actually read a thread discussing the merits of removing the faceplate from a preamp. Apparently the resonances that built up in this faceplate were destroying the soundstage and reducing the imaging that the amp was capable of.
Now I might, after a couple of joints and a nice sunset, be able to entertain the theory that a tube amp can be affected by the vibrations of the speakers near to it. And possibly modifying the enclosure of the amp/preamp might mitigate those problems. however this was a solid state preamp!
I actually once got all snappy with a co-worker that called me an audiophile.
"NO! I am an audio engineer!"
Then I ruffled my cape and stomped out of the room.

GREGL · Post by **GREGL** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:32 am

calaverasgrandes wrote:I actually once got all snappy with a co-worker that called me an audiophile.
"NO! I am an audio engineer!"
Then I ruffled my cape and stomped out of the room.

Even though I have spent considerable time designing, building repairing and modifiying high performance audio gear (including recording gear) it has gotten to the point where I don't want to be called "audiophile" because of the attitudes displayed above (and a lot of other places). As soon as recording types find out you are into the electronics optimization aspect of audio you are immediately classified as a nut (or worse "audio whore"). Despite the fact that I would be the first to tell you when it comes to recording its the talent, not necessarily the gear (and by the way, one of the best "audiophile" recordings I've heard was made with some very cheap op amp preamps).

Sometimes weird little things do make a difference. Unfortunately this has been seized upon by a group of oppurtunists to convince people they need $1000/meter interconnects to enjoy good sound or other such BS. The same people who are suckers for this kind of stuff then put on a pedestal classical recordings made in the 1950's with good old Belden cables, paper caps and carbon comp resistors. No gold connectors or shun mook blocks.

I also prefer to be called an "audio engineer". At which point the non-fanatical audiophiles assume you install PA systems or run house sound for a local metal act (nothing against sound engineers for metal acts!). Guess ya just can't win....

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:01 am

I can appreaciate genuine audiophile gear. My dad is a french horn player, and only the best audio equipment was allowed to play back his classical records.
It's just the gullibility and flat earther irrational thinking of a few that makes a lot of them loo insane.
its just way too acceptable to write reviews in audiophile magazines which cite the difference in tonality of a toslink cable when used in one direction, vs another. I mean, whether a cable can have directionality aside (what is it a frequency dependent diode?). Toslink merely transmits digital information. For it to sound more "mid forward" inone direction would mean that the cable has some daemon inside able to ferret out just the ones and zeros that belong to the midband and attenuate or amplify those by performing binary transforms, in the cable.

Brian Brock · Post by **Brian Brock** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:55 pm

I would like to see some enterprising company come out with an "audio grade" table, or perhaps an audio-grade wine glass.

mcsquishytooshy · Post by **mcsquishytooshy** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:28 pm

new for 2010:
24k gold plated breaker feeds, and cryogenically heat-treated 24k gold plated overhead power lines.

mcsquishytooshy · Post by **mcsquishytooshy** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:38 pm

new for 2010:
Is your household wiring getting in the way of truly experiencing your music?

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audiophiles always make me laugh...

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