Audiophiles on Audiogon.


During my time here, I have found some of you to be too opinionated - like your life depends upon what you think about audio gear. Holding on to one’s beliefs a bit too tightly is bad for the soul.

I was reading some content on the Ken Rockwell website, and then found an article entitled: "What is an audiophile?"

in the article, Ken says: Audiophiles are non-technical, non-musical kooks who imagine the darnedestly stupid things about audio equipment. Audiophiles are fun to watch; they’re just as confused at how audio equipment or music really works as primitive men like cargo cults are about airplanes.

 

Given my time on this forum and a few others, I have found his statements to be true. I mean, if you have an amplifier that costs say, $10,000, and you buy cables for $20,000, is that really going to improve the sound? (make the stereo image more accurate)

Or on the otherside, if you buy an amplifier for $1000 and then go buy the top of the line audioquest cables costing tens of thousands of dollars, then would the sound improve accordingly? After reading some of their literature, I cannot be sure they have an understanding of how electricrity works, much less the intricate details involving high-end audio systems.

And then we have power conditioning to consider. I have done extensive research online and it turns out that if your gear is really "high-end" it should already have a device inside that filters the incoming AC. Therefore, do you really need a power conditioner?

I learned about PS Audio products being spec-ed much higher than their measured performance. This is also true of the audio "power plants" that cost thousands of dollars. No really, tons of money to "regenerate" power with little to no sonic benefits.

Would love to hear what you guys think about these findings.

 

Oh, and high-end DACs?

This thing will outperform all your fancy gear.

jackhifiguy

fertguy's avatar

fertguy

214 posts

 
fusian

Gotta say I miss him on here.  Very sharp guy.

That’s a good one, fertguy!

I’d say if you’re looking for the poster boy for someone who is a legend in their own mind, then surely MC’s got ya covered!

@jackhifiguy pretty much calls everyone here stupid and then asks for feedback from the very same. I guess I must be stupid because I’m struggling to figure out how that works.

As for the link to the DAC: A) I don’t use them and B) its just a bunch of charts. I use my ears, thank you.

 

https://www.theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/

Like many here. I scan posts to see if helpful ideas or products have escaped my notice. Often I've gleaned some tip from reading another's experience with some equipment. Like the question: Are my speakers 'in phase'? Not everyone instantly knows why that matters until they either hear the difference or learn about it somewhere. People new to these music reproduction devices may be looking into this forum to avoid making stupid mistakes in ways that others may consider ignorant. We may admit, It is ignorance. Simple ignorance in a subject you are not familiar with is no shame. I began as a rookie stereo salesman in 1977. I enrolled in an online course and became a 'certified audio consultant'! It was like a "Stereo for Dummies" 101 college course. But I was a dummy. Over 40 years later, I still am learning more about our hobby of music reproduction. This forum has made my love of music more enjoyable than ever.  Keep sharing!