I don't read any of that crap. Well, hardly. Anymore.
Of course I had subs before the interwebs but those days are long gone. Now I still sometimes read reviews but what you really want to know is:
Top of the list, get and read and study like your life, well wallet anyway, depends on it: Robert Harley, The Complete Guide to High End Audio.
Its not perfect but read it and you will understand exactly what all the components do, and why, and even how. Even better, you will learn the importance of listening, and even more important than that how to listen, what to listen for, and best of all an essential glossary of audiophile terms like grain and glare, attack and decay, on and on.
I love the way you say "learn how to learn" because that for sure is the key. Its not enough for example to read reviews. You need to learn how to read reviews. This like everything else it seems is a multi-step process. Read to learn the terminology. Read to understand where the reviewers are coming from. Fremer for example loves a hyper-detailed fast sound. Also to stick with Fremer he is the champ he is because he works hard to make sure you know where he is coming from. Not many do. Then the essential next step, you actually go and listen and hear for yourself what the stuff they write about sounds like.
Three most important words in audiophiledom: go and listen.
Its not easy. You are now in a field where to be really good at it you have to learn to master a whole bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, which you only realize is indeed mumbo-jumbo after you have mastered it. Then you have to listen for a slew of technically valid audio traits- tone, dynamics, imaging- that in turn must be thrown right out the window. Because you simply cannot enjoy music while listening for technical factors like that. We even have a term for this, audiophilia nervosa, the inability to relax and enjoy the music because you can't stop thinking analytically about how it sounds. So you have to do what ruins the music in order to build something that delivers the music so well that it carries you away and frees you from all this technical mumbo-jumbo.
It ain't easy.
Good luck!
Of course I had subs before the interwebs but those days are long gone. Now I still sometimes read reviews but what you really want to know is:
how to learn about today's audio worldWhich is a different question altogether.
Top of the list, get and read and study like your life, well wallet anyway, depends on it: Robert Harley, The Complete Guide to High End Audio.
Its not perfect but read it and you will understand exactly what all the components do, and why, and even how. Even better, you will learn the importance of listening, and even more important than that how to listen, what to listen for, and best of all an essential glossary of audiophile terms like grain and glare, attack and decay, on and on.
I love the way you say "learn how to learn" because that for sure is the key. Its not enough for example to read reviews. You need to learn how to read reviews. This like everything else it seems is a multi-step process. Read to learn the terminology. Read to understand where the reviewers are coming from. Fremer for example loves a hyper-detailed fast sound. Also to stick with Fremer he is the champ he is because he works hard to make sure you know where he is coming from. Not many do. Then the essential next step, you actually go and listen and hear for yourself what the stuff they write about sounds like.
Three most important words in audiophiledom: go and listen.
Its not easy. You are now in a field where to be really good at it you have to learn to master a whole bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, which you only realize is indeed mumbo-jumbo after you have mastered it. Then you have to listen for a slew of technically valid audio traits- tone, dynamics, imaging- that in turn must be thrown right out the window. Because you simply cannot enjoy music while listening for technical factors like that. We even have a term for this, audiophilia nervosa, the inability to relax and enjoy the music because you can't stop thinking analytically about how it sounds. So you have to do what ruins the music in order to build something that delivers the music so well that it carries you away and frees you from all this technical mumbo-jumbo.
It ain't easy.
Good luck!