What are your goals with this hobby?

[PHC1]

Curious as to how audiophiles quantify their audio goals? For the longest time, I was just going with the flow. Reading all the reviews from all the sources starting from the mid 80's and continuing being interested in gear to today. I have pretty much stopped reading reviews over the last decade. Not going to get into the politics of it but let's just say I am no longer interested in the not so unbiased opinions. The specs, measurements, features, functions, overall take on the product are obviously still useful but can be found elsewhere.

So my question was formulated out of analyzing my own experiences over the three decades plus and asking myself the same question. What is your goal with this hobby?


Now, the answer may be very obvious. Why, the best quality music I can afford! I want the truest, most accurate, most realistic reproduction of sound that is possible. I want all the emotional content, all the heart and soul the musicians poured into that piece of music and all the careful and hard work the sound engineer put into the mixing and mastering process to be reproduced in my listening room as if I was there.

What do you need for that? Why I need the best speakers, the best amps, the best preamps, the best cables and all the tweaks I can afford!

Do speakers sound different? YES! Absolutely! Do amps sound different? YES, Absolutely! Do cables make a difference? Oh Yes! I need a power cord the diameter of a 20 foot South American Anaconda!

So if all the components make a difference AND sound different brand to brand, model to model..... How do you know you are getting an accurate reproduction of music?

Easy! Joe, John, Peter and Malik have confirmed on the forums that my new power cord sounds MUCH BETTER than what they were running before. We are all in agreeance.

Define better please.... The bass is tighter, the soundstage is deeper and wider... The noise floor is lower... The piano sounds more realistic...

Do you realize the sound engineer was NOT using the same power cord or cables for his mixing console? He did not use your speakers. Eeeeh.. So what? Do you think he heard it the same way you are? NO... But the engineer used EQs and other sound processing to master your music... It is not the exact copy of what the music sounded like in the studio... Do all the studios use the same speakers/cables/microphones and do they all sound the same? NO... Do all audiophile rooms sound the same, even with the same gear? NO...



Ok, so then we agree there is no UNIVERSAL GAUGE.

The "this sounds better" argument is purely subjective and means absolutely nothing. Worse yet.... we all hear differently and have a difference preference for sound. Musically untrained, pitch imperfect ears of the average audiophile are no gauge for musical instrument's truth in timbre. Even the professional musicians mistake a Stradivarius to a modern violin blindfolded. No argument there can be made.

But.... Let's assume that one speaker, one cable, one power cord is actually the defining standard of ALL that we envision as being the perfect instrument of accuracy of what the musicians wanted to achieve as they pulled the bows across the strings of their violins....

If one of those power cords, speakers, amps, preamps, cables, etc.. ARE RIGHT, then ALL THE REST are WRONG... Now there is a dilemma...


So what do you realistically want to achieve with this hobby? Do you admire the state of the art gear? Do you covet big, brawny amps costing as much as a Porsche? Does music even matter all that much?

Perhaps if being honest with oneself and saying, I am a gear junky and there are worse habits out there, would more accurately describe a typical audiophile?

I've certainly been guilty of it myself over the years and had a lot of fun along the way.

I have been much more involved with the actual music aspect of the hobby the last decade for sure. I have just enough gear and of adequate performance where my music is quite enjoyable, emotionally gripping and offers satisfying enough fidelity of playback. Whether it is accurate or not, I personally could care less. To my musically untrained but experienced audiophile ears, I am quite satisfied with end result!

How about you? What are your goals and do you view it differently?