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Types of Audiophiles

The Purist

A good stereo should be a transparent window into the recording session with no opinion or distortion of it’s own

 

The Dynamics Fanatics

A good stereo is like a thrill ride at a carnival. If I’m not jumping it isn’t worth listening to.

 

Live and Let Live

It’s all good man, put your money where your heart lies.

 

The Bean Counter

Buys gear like he’s stocking a used stereo store. Purchase price and retail value determine what comes and goes out.

 

The Canners

I bought my balanced headphones specifically so you wouldn’t ask me questions while I’m listening to dub step.

 

The Scientist

You can’t prove you have a soul so all your opinions are meaningless.

 

The Blind Follower

Can’t hear a difference between amp A and B so he wants to know if he should spend 5x more on B and will wait to be told which to get.

 

The Brand Loyalist

Falls in love with the idea of a brand or designer and changes his job to accommodate the demands of his audio jewelry

erik_squires
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,446 posts
 

Call me a Dynamics Fanatic I guess....   not really a purist, I like it to sound "live" for lack of a better word.    Purist in my love for simple gear without a lot of features,  stripped down .   No tone controls , all tube .   Horns of course 

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,446 posts
 

Unlike a Bean Counter,   I put emphasis on VALUE not price.   

cdc
1,657 posts
 

The Seeker

They call me The Seeker I've been searching low and high I won't get to get what I'm after Till the day I die.

wolf_garcia
6,592 posts
 

You missed "Pretentious Know-it-all Who's Compelled to Categorize People."

whart's avatar
whart
2,966 posts
 

Yeah, I dunno that I fit squarely into one category, especially over time. I came up in "audiophile" world, and by the time I was 20, in 1974-5, I had an all ARC tube system with Quads, an SP10 and eventually a mini-HQD set up with Decca Ribbons and a woofer. I’m now doing something completely different (horns, SET, woofers galore) but that that old Quad system, fully restored, still runs in my front lounge, like a circa 1975 state of the art thing.

I’ve been spending far more time on the records, not the gear. And the history, the industry standards, what happened when and how the technology and culture kind of worked together. I have no answer to that- it always seems like convenience and cost win in mass market stuff, but we are a different segment.

I guess I want to know when I turn stuff on that it isn’t going to blow up.

After that, it’s all gravy. I have a lot of fun records to listen to but part of it is the hunt. And that becomes very personal- a musical, emotional voyage (as well as for me, a sort of intellectual one that fascinates).

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