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RE: Summertime Blahs

Posted by op48no1 on July 19, 2014 at 20:44:30

In Reply to: Summertime Blahs posted by drlowmu on July 19, 2014 at 07:06:20:

Jeff, your troll is uninspired and I was planning on ignoring it. But then I started thinking about something I've been meaning to say for a while, and now seems as good a time as any to talk abut it.

I know this will horrify some of you, but I have reached the point in my career as an enthusiast of reproduced music (notice, I did not say "audiophile") where I just don't care anymore about "hi-fi." Correction: I do care about "hi-fi" to the extent that when I listen to music I want it to sound clean and clear and realistic. But having owned and/or listened to many audio systems over the years, I honestly feel that most modern equipment is just really, really good, and the differences between them are increasingly irrelevant. The audiophile passion for obsessing over the tiniest details of so-called "sound quality" has ceased to interest me. Audio reviews (I still subscribe to "Stereophile," though I give it probably about ten minutes of attention every month) seem pointless and ridiculous to me. There is nothing of interest left for them to say.

In my opinion, well-designed equipment, solid-state or tube, vinyl or CD, sounds great. The biggest differences are in the speakers, turntables, cartridges, and the room setup. A system either sounds right or it doesn't, and the difference is immediately obvious to me. I find nothing wrong with a good solid-state amplifier, and worrying about "skewed sonics" and other such malarky seems to me to have absolutely nothing to do with music, and only detracts from whatever enjoyment I get from the music.

"Audiophilia nervosa" has no appeal for me.

Some of this, no doubt, has to do with my ongoing musical training. Jeff, you once described yourself here as a "musically sensitive listener." I have been taking serious piano lessons for twelve years now. I'm currently learning Beethoven piano sonata #30, op. 109. One of the most magnificent pieces of music ever composed, IMHO. This is a very challenging piece to play, and it's not just because of the technical difficulties. It's because of the profundity and subtlety of the musical ideas inherent in the piece. The differences between a superb and a mundane performance are easy to hear on even the most modest system. It does not take an esoteric SET/horn system to perceive them.

I defy you, as a "musically sensitive listener," to say one relevant, non-trivial thing about what makes for a musical performance of op. 109, or any other piece of important music, for that matter.

It's become apparent to me that the things audiophiles listen for, by and large, are orthogonal to the business of music. Being an audiophile in the contemporary sense is an interesting hobby (for some), but it is distinct from music appreciation. That's probably why, as the cliche goes, most musicians have crappy audio systems. They are listening for something different.

I have most recently built a handful of solid-state amplifiers, the last of which is really quite nice to my ears. It's currently on loan to my friend, Bryan, who uses it with a pair of Reference 3A MM de Capo speakers. It's a very, very nice system. Due to WAF issues, I don't have the right environment to set up real high-end loudspeakers optimally in my listening room. So I don't really do "serious listening," which saddens me, but it's one of the compromises I've been forced to accept in my life. But I can tell you confidently that for my purposes, that amp and those speakers and my Teres turntable, V15VxMR, and cheap op-amp phono preamp are all that I would ever need to be a very happy audiophile camper. One of these days, after the kids are done with college, I'll move to a new house with a dedicated listening room and set up my modest "dream" system, and that will be the end of it.

Another thing that has really turned me off to "hi-fi" is the proliferation of ever-more-exotic, overbuilt, overpriced boutique components that are obviously intended primarily to extract money from wealthy poseurs than to provide meaningful value or increments of performance. It's a hugely self-serving endeavor, IMHO, and the snake oil and general nonsense have become a huge turn-off to me.

I think hi-fi technology has matured to the point that the high-end as it was, say, back in the eighties, is largely irrelevant. Very nice systems can be had off the shelf for relatively affordable prices. Ninety-nine percent of what I read in hi-end magazines and on high-end forums strikes me as mental masturbation.

There will always be pleasure in the craft of building one's own audio equipment. This is a very legitimate and worthwhile hobby. And the really deep details of audio engineering remain complex and challenging for those who want to dig in that direction.

But the domain of "skewed sonics" and faith-based, golden ear self flagellation means nothing to me. Honestly, it never satisfied me. Call me names and deride me for not being a "real" audiophile. I just don't care. It's just nonsense words to me.

As far as I'm concerned, what you and your tweako ilk talk about is deeply divorced from good sound and from music. It's more of a cult and a mental illness that I am thrilled to have nothing to do with anymore.

-Henry

Edits: 07/19/14

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