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Blocking the propaganda

I have a friend who lives in the boondocks who is without question the foremost expert in this Country on a certain vintage turntable. I will leave the particulars out so as to avoid making him the focus of this discussion or letting someone else figure out who I am talking about. He said something to me recently that I always knew on a certain level but have not seen "transparently" until his comment. His statement is this; "audio magazines including Stereophile are useful for birdcages and if you run out of toilet paper and nothing else". This was in the context of discussing Mike Fremer's preference for 9" arms. I have concluded that he is absolutely correct, but only for those who have the guts to really dive into audio with open eyes and willing to expend the effort to focus all of their attention and for lack of a better word, devotion, to figuring out the truth for themselves. This person I speak of has unquestionably done that. He has engineered his own products that make his turntable of choice as good as it can get. He thinks outside the box. Convention or "accepted thought" mean nothing to him. The analogy that comes to mind is wine. I know of many who will not buy a wine unless some critic has given it a 90 or above. When someone points out how silly it is to rely on published numbers from someone they don't know, they claim that they rely on experts and numerical ratings because they lack the patience, time and resources to taste wine options for themselves. What it boils down to is intellectual laziness. I intend to filter out 100% of what I read in magazines and even audio boards as absolutely unreliable. I have no doubt that I will fall short, but it is a lofty goal nonetheless. We all ought to forge our own trail(s) with sweat and effort and open minds and avoid laziness. Apologies to those who don't appreciate sermons. 
fsonicsmith
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Bleeding edge audio, like bleeding edge cars, is rarely about value. It is about performance. How many folks would look at a Bugatti Veyron and complain about value?

There are plenty of high value products in audio if that is what one is seeking. Technology often trickling down from cost no object designs.
n80
1,227 posts
 
Outsider looking in here. Sorry if it is not my place to comment on such weighty matters but this seems to be a topic that generates a lot of navel gazing among serious audiophiles. There always seems to be some level of fetishism that seems perfectly reasonable to some but unreasonable to others. And to be honest, for those of us on the outside, the fetishism of even moderate audiophiles seems rather extreme to us. But that is neither here-nor-there because at many levels the outsider is in fact uninformed.

And this is a problem, if you want to call it that, in most serious and expensive hobbies, especially those in which there is a large subject element like hearing, seeing, tasting and simple preference. I see this same thing in photography.

And there are also gear heads in most hobbies of this nature. Their joy seems to be not in the music and not in the photograph and not in the performance of a sports car on an actual race track but in the specifications and potential capabilities of the audio equipment, car or camera or lens. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. But their objective and enjoyment is going to be different from those in whom the music and the actual image and actual lap times matter the most. In photography they are often called pixel peepers. Many of them have lavish gear. Many of them often can't recognize are truly good photograph much less make one. Many a 911 owner couldn't keep up with me in an old 350Z on a race track.

Then there are the name droppers.  Who has the mostest and the bestest and the latest. Those who will pay $2000 for a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23 and not be able to tell that it is hardly any better if better at all than a $110 bottle of Blantons. Nothing wrong with that either as long as they don't try to persuade someone that the Pappy is $1800 better.

I dabble in a number of 'high end' hobbies. One of my joys, and maybe this is a stupid fetish too, is getting to that point where I can appreciate something that is truly good but also recognize where the increments of 'better' become of little meaning and high cost. That's subjective too of course.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
2,164 posts
 
i also dabble in the exotic and somewhat esoteric but i also enjoy ( several..maybe even 3 ) very salty Johnsonville Brats with my Seasmoke Ten
life is much to short to argue much....

there are things to be learned from anyone...including Fremer...


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Outsiders looking at the audio hobby oft perceive ritualistic behavior, psychological trickery or traps, obsessive compulsive behavior, fetishism, masochistic behavior, lack of cost benefit analysis, peer pressure, crass salesmanship, trolling, shilling, behaviors of addiction, a general inability to express characteristics of sound without being trite, glib or hackneyed. Yet the outsiders perceptions of hobbyists are not necessarily false.
clearthink
672 posts
 

n80"here always seems to be some level of fetishism that seems perfectly reasonable to some but unreasonable to others... I dabble in a number of 'high end' hobbies. One of my joys, and maybe this is a stupid fetish too, is getting to that point where I can appreciate something that is truly good...

Well that is fine if your sexual life and sexual satisfaction is inextricably associated, linked and dependent upon your hobbies and audio life and that you may be unable to sexually "perform" without these hobbies and the equipment you acquire to indulge those hobbies but for you to assume based upon what you have read here that others share this particular sexual deviation is misguided on your part. I pass no judgment on you apparently use this equipment to achieve sexual satisfaction but probably the rest of us would likely prefer that you not infer, deduce or speculate about our sexual preferences, practices and interests on this site. Personally I feel very sorry for you that you suffer this problem and I do not mean that in a judgemental way at all you probably need help and I hope you are able to find it so that you can function as a human being without relying on things such as equipment used in Music Reproduction Systems to achieve your sexual gratification and fulfillment.
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