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Are Audiophiles Obsessive Nuts?

The following is from the website of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/select/0898/tube.html

Agree? Disagree? Why?

“High-end equipment is aimed at the most obsessive audiophiles, famed for worrying about small details which most people ignore or cannot even hear...

“The rise of high-end sales was influenced by the statements of subjective audio reviewers, whose nontechnical and rarely rigorous listening tests at times encouraged near-hysteria among magazine readers. A positive review in a powerful magazine such as Stereophile can trigger hundreds or even thousands of unit sales, and turn an unknown manufacturer into an instant success. A negative review can sink a small firm just as easily (and has done so)...

“Much of high-end is conducted in a gold-rush fashion, with companies advertising exotic connecting cables and acoustical treatment devices while making wild claims
about the supernatural results achieved. The result: negative comments from the professional engineering fraternity. Items have been published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, in electronic-industry journals such as EE Times, and elsewhere that attack the methods and conclusions of the audiophiles...
plasmatronic

Showing 1 response by metaphysics

metaphysics
192 posts
 
One thing that is missing from all of these annoying threads (cables sound the same, power cables don't make a difference, etc.) is a recognition that it takes a trained ear to hear many of the differences between cables, equipment, etc.

Now that I know what to listen for, I can hear phase problems, frequency problems, hissing, rattling, edginess, etc. that very few non-audiophiles can hear even when it is pointed out to them. And when they do hear it, they say "so what!".

I haven't always been able to hear these things, it is through lots of critical listening session that I have LEARNED to hear them. Maybe "hear" isn't the right word, maybe it should be "notice".

When someone like STEVEMJ says that you can not hear the difference between cables, maybe he should be saying that he hasn't learned to notice the difference between cables.

So, in response to this thread's question: Yes, audiophiles are obsessive because they notice lots of things in music reproduction that most of the population doesn't.
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