What Matters and What is Nonsense

+1, shadorne

It is truly sad of the mark-ups of audio tweaks. You see so much stuff out there that is so outrageously priced. I guess the magical claims by the designers of these tweaks make this stuff worth hundreds or thousands, at least in their minds. I know a speaker designer who would order heavy gold plated binding posts for all of his speakers. He paid the vendor a dollar a pair, considering the fact he ordered thousands of these. When that vendor found out he was using them in high end audio applications, he immediately raised the bulk price to five dollars per pair.

"Having said all that, obviously you don’t have to look around too hard to find some poor guy somewhere who complains he can’t hear it, whatever the device in question is. We already know that." EXACTLY! And, in my book:  what DOESN’T, "matter", is what SOME consider, "nonsense".

I have been trained as a classical musician (gave up going to music school for Physics), been an audiophile for 50 years (sometimes I refer to myself as an "audioidiot" - kindly) and also owned one of the larger hi-end audio and video dealerships in the country for about 20 years.
Now I have been retired from the A/V business for  8 years, but the audiophile part will never go away.  Nor do I want it to go away.

I learned a lot about the current topic in my interaction with customers of all types and budgets (from a few thousand dollars to a few million dollars).  I think that …….
There are three types of people when it comes to music:
The gearheads: those who love the equipment above all else.  
The true music lovers - the lucky ones.  They can break into joyful tears when they hear a magnificent performance over a $1,000 system.
The folks who are both.  They love music and they also love the pursuit of audio reproduction.

We all, sort of, fit into one or the other of the categories.  And there is no reason to criticize people who share different goals than do we.  And different budgets as well.

Being "in the business" for 2 decades and having only modest budgetary constraints has given me the opportunity to try pretty much everything that there is to try - for the last 40 years.  My audio system has often seemed like a revolving door.
And the lesson that I think I have learned is that "what matters" in reproduction changes every decade or so. (I am not going to address the quality of the music recordings issue - it is well covered already).  And knowing a bit about where we all come from lends great insight into what matters most to many audiophiles.

In the early years (70s and 80s) it most certainly was all about the equipment.  All of it, and many of us built our own speakers since we could do things that the manufacturers could not build and sell in a nascent market.

In the following decades the industry blossomed with an increase in audio lovers and an increase in wealth in the country.  The high-end business matured into a competitive race for the highest quality gear possible.  And it often seems (as usually was) that the more money you spent, the better the end result.

The early part of the 21st century has brought on the ability to have a good system for a fraction of what used to be required.  And to have, for a larger sum, a system that is better than previously possible.

And this decade has finally  introduced the power of processing (that finally actually works) into our systems.  And what a difference that can make!  I was an early adopter of some of the miniDSP gear and used it to good effect in numerous systems.  

So enough about history: what have I learned?  As the third type of person - audiophile AND music lover, I believe the following to be true:     

First: get your room right as best as it can be done!  Go for symmetry and use appropriate acoustic materials (are these tweaks?) where they belong.  Diffusors and absorbers.  The electronics now available can help resolve many of the faults in your room, but they cannot, even the most expensive units, completely eliminate the problems presented by your listening space. So if you can get "permission" to do some acoustic modifications in your room - do them first.  Electronics do NOT change the principles of acoustic engineering.                                                                Second: pick your processing.  There are a few good choices, from the modest miniDSP to the current state-of-the-art in the Trinnov Altitude and its "pro gear" siblings.  These units that deal with the "psychoacoustics" of timing/amplitude/phase are changing everything and will continue to change everything.  And more gear will continue to bleed into the audio market from the professional recording domain.  This is the stuff that is used to produce the recordings, and it is only to be expected that it should be part of the reproduction chain as well.                Third: look at your overall budget.  None of us have completely unlimited resources to drive into audio gear, but take what you have and apportion it out wisely.  This often does mean that the key ingredient in the mix is your choice of speakers.  This determines the dispersion patterns in your room as well as the power requirements for proper dynamics.                              Next: FIND DOMEBODY THAT YOU CAN TRUST that has tried  the rest of the gear you contemplate purchasing.  The choices are so complex.  This includes the "tweaks".

So, do your choices of speaker cables, analog and digital interconnects, preamps, amplifiers, power cords, racks/isolators, grounding cables/systems, etc. matter.  Yes they do!  Perhaps a bit less than before the computer processing/software that has emerged.  But they still DO make a difference.  Especially in the more discriminating systems where small changes can have a significant effect on the ability of a system to reflect reality.                                                                                                The trick is to discern which of these "tweaks" is important for YOUR system.  And not to be concerned with what makes a difference in somebody else's system.  We can learn from each other without criticizing.  There is always someone with more experience and knowledge.  Tap that experience and knowledge.      

I have met quite a few interesting audiophiles through Audiogon over the years.  They have learned from me, and I have also learned from them.  And this accumulation of "audio buddies" is what makes the sport of high-end audio really satisfying.
And I am always happy to talk "audio talk".

+1 barrarich
Agree completely with your emphasis on room control and the changes from the new computer reality. Have described several times on Audiogon my belief that soon there will be only one box and it will include a media server, open-ended preamp with room correction (= accepts plug-ins), class D amp and as much memory as appropriate. All currently exists, it's just a question of some company making the business model and copyrights work out.