2. amps-preamps
  3. 168008-87782

Considerations prior to your next purchase

I propose that applying the term audiophile to a person over fifty is an oxymoron and such, that person can’t really be trusted to make competent choices when it comes to purchasing or discerning what actually sounds best.


According to Decibel Hearing Services https://decibelhearing.com/high-frequency-hearing-loss/ it is very hard for a person over 50 to hear over 12,000hrz and I suspect that most in that group who consider themselves audiophiles probably can’t get close to that as we tend to enjoy or enjoyed in the past the louder volumes which is a known destroyer of high frequency hearing


If you notice from the linked chart most people over 18 can’t hear over 17,400hrs so truth be told the only true audiophiles are probably 12 year old girls. Because they can actually hear 20 to 20,000hrs they are the only group who are truly qualified to actually make component sound decisions


(The other option which actually might be easier is to train cats to make the decision but I’ll explore that in a later thread.)


What I’m proposing is actually based on the babysitting model where you would hire the true audiophiles to come either with you to the stereo shop or in your home space to perform the listening tests. The benefits to them would not only be short term CASH but also long term. I fear that the whole high end stereo complex is going to die out when the current crop of wanna be audiophiles die off. Just think in 10 years there would be a population of new listeners that could tell the difference from booming bass and flabby bass. They would be a catch for every 22 year old guy with a stereo. Maybe they could even effect the music scene where recording and dynamics matter.


Thoughts?


128x128danager
danager's avatar
danager OP
874 posts
 
Until my niece or my cat (with training) tells me MOABs are the best I'm not qualified to judge
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hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,795 posts
 
Proposal rejected. Hearing is part ear, part brain/mind. Those with weak minds are bad at hearing, seeing, speaking, writing, or formulating reasonable proposals.
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,911 posts
 
Public school strikes again! It’s immediately apparent that you are educated beyond your learnin’. You aren’t qualified to judge a set of speakers but you are qualified to judge everyone over 50? You are either a troll or fool
You'd better go play in the shallow end of the pool with your peers. This end is for the grown ups. You are in over your head and maybe somewhat delirious. Did you swallow a lot of that chlorine water?
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
This idea of needing to have laboratory perfect hearing is total BS. Even without perfect hearing, we can tell the difference between real life and reproduced music. Hi-fi has a long way to go before you’ll need perfect hearing to tell the difference.

Turns out there are 4k ear cilia cells arranged in rows that are activated and allow us to hear full sine wave frequencies below about 20kHz. How far below varies from individual to individual and gets much worse as we age.

Turns out there are 12k of these same cells that are activated by frequencies far higher than 20kHz. So three times as many cells devoted to detecting sounds we cannot hear?

Turns out our hearing system is highly attuned to detecting leading edge transients. So while we cannot hear a full sine wave at these frequencies we do "hear" them, only this "hearing" is of a nature that is one of the many unconscious aspects of hearing.

This is why, in spite of the fact simplistic sine wave testing says we cannot hear them at all, the addition of a super tweeter does so much to improve perception across the audio range.

Interestingly, it turns out that while we lose the ability to hear high frequency sine waves with age, there is little if any deterioration in our ability to hear these ultrasonic frequencies. This is why for example my hearing rolls off yet I easily hear improvement from the Townshend super tweeter.

The number of examples of things like this- where experienced listeners destroy simplistic measurebators - is near endless. Anyone thinks some kid is a better listener able to pick a speaker, good luck with that. I guess since a baby in the cradle hears the best of all that is who they should ask for advice. So why is the OP wasting his time here then? Could it be he doesn't believe his own BS?
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