What is wrong with audiophiles?


Something that has happened countless times happened again last night. Ordinary people over for a party listening to some music easily hear things audiophiles argue endlessly don't even exist. Oh, its worse even than that- they not only easily hear but are stunned and amazed at what they hear. Its absolutely clearly obvious this is not anything they ever were expecting, not anything they can explain- and also is not anything they can deny. Because its so freaking obvious! Happens every time. Then I come on here and read one after another not only saying its impossible, but actually ridiculing people for the audacity of reporting on the existence of reality.

What is wrong with audiophiles?

Okay, concrete examples. Easy demos done last night. Cable Elevators, little ceramic insulators, raise cables off the floor. There's four holding each speaker cable up off the floor. Removed them one by one while playing music. Then replaced them. Music playing the whole time. First one came out, instant the cable goes on the floor the guy in the sweet spot says, "OH! WTF!?!?!"

Yeah. Just one. One by one, sound stage just collapses. Put em back, image depth returns.

Another one? Okay.

Element CTS cables have Active Shielding, another easy demo. Unplug, plug back in. Only takes a few seconds. Tuning bullets. Same thing. These are all very easy to demo while the music is playing without interruption. This kills like I don' know how many birds with one stone. Auditory memory? Zero. Change happens real time. Double blind? What could be more double blind than you don't know? Because nobody, not me, not the listener, not one single person in the room, knows exactly when to expect to hear a change- or what change to expect, or even if there would be any change to hear at all. Heck, even I have never sat there while someone did this so even I did not know it was possible to hear just one, or that the change would happen not when the Cable Elevator was removed but when the cable went down on the floor.

We're talking real experience here people. No armchair theorizing. What real people really hear in real time playing real music in a real room.

I could go on. People who get the point will get the point. People who ridicule- ALWAYS without ever bothering to try and hear for themselves!- will continue to hate and argue.

What is wrong with audiophiles?

Something almost all audiophiles insist on, its like Dogma 101, you absolutely always must play the same "revealing" track over and over again. Well, I never do this. Used to. Realized pretty quickly though just how boring it is. Ask yourself, which is easier to concentrate on- something new and interesting? Or something repetitive and boring? You know the answer. Its silly even to argue. Every single person in my experience hears just fine without boring them to tears playing the same thing over and over again. Only audiophiles subject themselves to such counterproductive tedium.

What is wrong with audiophiles????
128x128millercarbon
Lol!A transistor radio category should be added here.Just think of the heated discussions about which are the best batteries.Black,blue,or orange:-)
So the non-audiophile, average human being talked about the soundstage collapsing and image depth changing? Yes, very interesting!


Not in those exact words, but yes, definitely. A more literally accurate quote would be, "Its like before it was like the guy is RIGHT THERE and then he wasn't, well not as much, like..." and with arm gestures  and so I tightened it up a bit.

Which brings up yet another "what's wrong with audiophiles" because the #1 thing everyone always finds most amazing and enjoyable is imaging. Yet there's audiophiles who actually question its importance. They should try talking to normal people. They will look at you like you have two heads or something. Like, what is wrong with this guy? Which is what I'm asking.

Very well said Miller.
Gets my vote for a top class thread OP.

Thanks!
Miller what a trouble maker you are!:-) I totally agree with you though.I've heard/seen the same thing happen at my house.


I don't doubt it. Not for an instant. 

One little party, was about 50/50 audiophiles and Porschephiles. Caelin (the Shunyata Research founder and CEO, that Caelin) was there with some new power cords, and we tried them out. 

What I normally do is try and play whatever the one in the sweet spot will enjoy. Which is never the same track over and over again. So when doing demos, same thing. Maybe one time paused and swapped cords in the middle of a song. Never once played anything twice. Couple times even made a change between songs on different albums.

Always the normal folks just sat and listened and responded to whatever they were hearing. Which usually was pretty amazing. I bought one of his power cords on the spot. But all the audiophiles, they were rolling their eyes so much one of my buddies asked me afterwards, "What the $*@T*( is wrong with that guy? He was about to jump out of his skin." Another one was outright mocking certain audiophiles. What I find most interesting is the behavior they were mocking is so common among audiophiles. Not all. But for many its not just common but practically their defining characteristic.

I would say the problem is no one here, unless you know some of us in real life, can be at your home hearing the changes you describe.


Now this is exactly what I'm talking about. 

I had this one friend, he was so into wine and champagne he had this annual champagne tasting party. Everyone would bring a bottle. He was so knowledgeable he would open them in order. A lot like the way I will play recordings of increasingly good quality as the night goes along, he opened the sparking wines, then the Champagnes, then the Doms. 

I learned so much from this. In all the many years since, and all the dozens of people I've told about this, not one has ever said, "Well unless you were there in real life tasting the wines he was pouring at his house...." Not once! 

Now, I'll grant you, one wine enthusiast did suggest a brown bag double-blind test to see if we all really did prefer the wine be allowed to breathe before drinking. (Spoiler: we did.) But then he was an engineer, and we all saw this more as an interesting extra little challenge and excuse to open an extra bottle than as anything else. Not a one of us ever questioned our own sense experience. The way audiophiles do all the time.

Do you see how wrong this is? This is the sort of behavior normal people deride and mock when they see it. Its just so out of touch. 

The only problem I have with guests these days is the difficulty in prying their jaws off of the floor. :-)
Step up your game, Frank. Get stuff that looks cool enough they'll be drooling so much jaw hits the floor, slides right off.
Interesting to use the comparison to wine tasting as it has been shown with multiple studies/experiments that even experts are not consistent or reliable at wine tasting.
Hush, shame on you. What is next? You will go around Kindergärten telling kids that Santa Claus does not exist?
Ordinary people should be so blown away by your system I doubt they would say it sounded any different because you took off a cable elevator.  Have them close their eyes next time instead of you talking it up first.  

Casual listeners used to iPods and AVRs don't even know what to listen for.  95 % of the "ordinary people"  have no idea what a soundstage or imaging is.