High End Audio-Gaining Higher Ground?

Marijuana played an enormous role in the birth of hi-end audio

Really. How so? and why. Thanks.

Macrojack, I think you touched on the periphery of a subject that is seldom examined; the difficulty many audiophiles experience being satisfied with living in the present. You make the analogy of seeking ever greater audio realism with a drug users endlessly chasing a better high. There's a great deal of truth in that analogy I think. Both music and drugs can create pleasurable experiences and create a craving for the next endorphin rush.

That situation is just one aspect of a broader problem with the human mind. We humans are constantly comparing our present experience to something in the past we retroactively imagine was better than the present or we are creatively constructing a future that's better than the present. Constantly flickering between an imaginary more perfect past/future and the imperfect present creates the perfect consumer and an endless state of audio nervosa. It remains to be seen if that characteristic of the human mind will be our species most desirable or most harmful trait. Without the ability to imagine a better future, we'd still be shivering in cold caves and living a hunter gatherers lifestyle. If we don't tame our inability to be content with enough, we'll end up destroying the resources that sustain us.

You make the analogy of seeking ever greater audio realism with a drug users endlessly chasing a better high. There's a great deal of truth in that analogy I think.

I think so too. Having never used drugs, although I have abused alcohol in the past and I used to smoke, my number 1 "drug" of choice is and was music. More audio realism gets you closer to the actual performance, imo. That's what I'm in this for; to get a thrill out of a musical event happenning right in my listening room. To get as close as possible to a band playing in front of you. I think that's the general idea of high end audio; to approximate the original performance. Personally, I'll never be fooled that I have a band in front of me, but you can get close, imo.

At best I'm trying to recreate the sound in the mastering studio which may or may not have a basis in real time musician performing.

To put what some people could interpret as cynicism in a more proper perspective, consider that sales of make-up products for 2013 in the US were close to $57 billion while for the same period recorded music sales were only $7 billion. If listening to music or using cosmetics to improve your physical appearance is an attempt at spiritual transcendence then clearly the general population is seeking nirvana via makeup. That actually makes some sort of sense since physical adornment probably predates making music in human evolutionary development.

But what about those people who go overboard with their make-up? At what point does it become too much make-up and instead of enhancing it begins to overpower your underlying physical assets? For audiophiles the analogous question is at what point does the sound of your system start to distract from you listening to music? With cosmetics it's easy to see how garish someone can look, or with perfume, smell. I believe as audiophiles we have a hard time seeing how garish some of our system look and sound to the general populace.

Why do you need all the make-up to look good? Why do you need all that equipment to enjoy music? They really are equivalent questions.

I have to disagree. One doesn't need all that makeup to look good; and I wonder what the women here think of that comment. Enhancement? Possibly; depending on the tastefulness of the subject and the eye of the beholder. High end audio, in the true sense of recreating the original event, is not an enhancement; it is the stripping away of the "makeup" in order to get at the natural beauty within.

It is true that one doesn't "need" all the trappings of audiophilia in order to enjoy music. It is also true that many do, in fact, use it as makeup; but, that enhancement (for example: a subwoofer turned up too loud) is a distortion and often detracts from the enjoyment to the ears of an astute listener. While some of these ideas are thought provoking and have some truth in them, I am left with the thought that if, in fact, the highend is dying it is no wonder that it is; and, ironically, it is in part because some audiophiles seem hellbent on taking away from it what is (or can be) a truly noble goal.