AudioPhiles are full of shit

teriyakiburns said:
Audiophiles are the people who spend thousands on special cables, the packaging for which mentions gold at least three times, and then use their ultra-expensive audio equipment to listen to music that has been mastered into a muddy, compressed wall of noise because more louder = better.
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I just hope that audiophiles one day recognize that whatever tech is used, discrete vs IC, planars vs coils, paper/fabric vs ceramic/beryllium, etc, these are things that vibrate to an electrical signal, not magic infused artifacts that summons a pianist soul in your living room.

To sperg for a bit:

There are established standards when it comes to speakers, in headphones, less so, but there are efforts towards one.

A speaker is supposed to have a flat frequency response from 20-20k. This has been known for decades when revealed preference testing was done. Once people don't know what they're listening to, they stop liking these exotic shit and prefer a boring but well engineered cone driver box that has as much bass extension as possible (given size limitations) and a frequency response as close to flat as possible.

But what about individual tastes. you might ask? Well, just think of this as something akin to sugar. Even if you say you don't like sweet things, first, are you sure you don't like sweet things or is that something you think about yourself? Second, sugar is a worth billions worldwide because for the most part, humans have a built in desire for such an energy dense food source. Remember which flavor is used as a metaphor for love.

In general, things sound "correct" when you have a neutral response.

In headphones, the closest thing we have to this is the Harman Target Curve. It gets hate in the audiophile community, but so far, it seems to be the most robustly researched headphone tuning profile around. It features a bass shelf because according to the top minds at Harman, the lack of a physical sensations that only speakers can bring means that you need the bass to be louder for it to feel the same.

Regarding the disparagement of bass ITT - Bass isn't supposed to sound like throbbing club music that jamaicans simulate public sex to. Proper bass reproduction gives substance to music. When everything is bass anemic, everything sounds thin.
 
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When I gently press my overhead headphones to my ears it increases the sound quality immensely. This happens with pretty much all headphones I've tried. Why the hell does this happen and why can't I find any headphones that deliver their optimum without me having to clench them to my ears?
 
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Nuclear Poisoning said:
When I gently press my overhead headphones to my ears it increases the sound quality immensely. This happens with pretty much all headphones I've tried. Why the hell does this happen and why can't I find any headphones that deliver their optimum without me having to clench them to my ears?
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I can think of 2 possible reasons:
  1. Pressing them closes the distance to your ear, making it louder, and louder is almost always evaluated as better. This is why any comparison that is audio related: speaker/headphone comparisons, file format blind tests, etc. have to be volume matched, otherwise it's invalid.
  2. It maybe improving the front seal, leading to better bass response. In headphones and IEMs, front volume seal is important for getting deeper bass.
 
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JoseRaulChupacabra said:
  1. It maybe improving the front seal, leading to better bass response. In headphones and IEMs, front volume seal is important for more getting deeper bass.
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Thanks, it's definitely this. I suspected something along these lines but couldn't really explain myself the technicality. I also notice the same thing when I push my in-ear buds deep, which I never keep that far in because it's painful and I have the feeling the seal I created will cause my eardrums to explode at the slightest sound peak.
Now I know what to look out for the next time I buy headphones.

It's also definitely not a question of loudness, because I notice the same effect (i.e. a feeling of increased immersion) at any sound volume, including low.
 
Nuclear Poisoning said:
Thanks, it's definitely this. I suspected something along these lines but couldn't really explain myself the technicality. I also notice the same thing when I push my in-ear buds deep, which I never keep that far in because it's painful and I have the feeling the seal I created will cause my eardrums to explode at the slightest sound peak.
Now I know what to look out for the next time I buy headphones.

It's also definitely not a question of loudness, because I notice the same effect (i.e. a feeling of increased immersion) at any sound volume, including low.
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I know exactly what you mean, and the other guy answered this perfectly. I guess the answer there is to get some bucket-esque cans to really seal over your ears, or something with a stronger 'clamp' over your head, but with crazy soft pads to avoid discomfort.
 
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You can also observe this with foam vs silicone tips for iems. Foam just tends to seal better. Of course, regardless of the material, a properly sized tip is important.

Leather vs velour as well. Some headphones can change drastically if you use leather pads instead of velour, but that doesn't mean velour pads can't have good bass as well.

It just tends to be a function of seal - so clamping force and tighter materials. Glasses are also known to affect how headphones sound. Howver, leather can be very uncomfortable in warm climates.
 
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Yes, OP, the Guitar Hero III rip of Death Magnetic sounds exactly the same as the retail CD release.

If the below picture doesn't give you a boner, YOU HAVE NO SOUL:
 

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I just saw an amazing video about audiophiles
this guy has refused to bathe for 15 years his entire life is dedicated to audio he spent 100k dollars on his speakers only to have a turntable for his record lol
 
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Saddam Hussain Obama said:
this guy has refused to bathe for 15 years his entire life is dedicated to audio he spent 100k dollars on his speakers only to have a turntable for his record lol
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There's some merit to using vinyl records. While its true that they are technically inferior to CDs, for whatever reason, records put shitty versions of the tracks on CDs with shitty waveforms that have no dynamic range - everything's been maxed out.

100k on speakers is expensive, but not too far out for studio set ups. For super dedicated folks who want good home listening, things like the Revel Salon 2 exist, which are 20k a pair and still require a separate amplifier. Bump that a bit more to around 30k and you can have a Genelec W371A + 8351A set up which already has the required electronics to play and will have directivity down to around 50hz.

That said, the part about power source is just bullshit. I sometimes wonder if I should just commission the manufacture of shitty equipment, jack up the price, and sell it to audiophiles. It's most certainly a spending hobby.
 
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JoseRaulChupacabra said:
There's some merit to using vinyl records. While its true that they are technically inferior to CDs, for whatever reason, records put shitty versions of the tracks on CDs with shitty waveforms that have no dynamic range - everything's been maxed out.

100k on speakers is expensive, but not too far out for studio set ups. For super dedicated folks who want good home listening, things like the Revel Salon 2 exist, which are 20k a pair and still require a separate amplifier. Bump that a bit more to around 30k and you can have a Genelec W371A + 8351A set up which already has the required electronics to play and will have directivity down to around 50hz.

That said, the part about power source is just bullshit. I sometimes wonder if I should just commission the manufacture of shitty equipment, jack up the price, and sell it to audiophiles. It's most certainly a spending hobby.
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audiophiles spend 100k grand to listen to music made for car radios and record players LOL
 
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Bonesjones said:
Henry Rollins has an million dollar Audiophile setup to listen to albums recorded for 100 bucks in a bathroom
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LMFAO i watch this pretentious british audiophile youtuber named darko audio hes so pretentious and cites the RICHNESS AND CLARITY as his reasoning for having audiophile equipment but his music tastes are like shitty EDM music from the 1990s he also sweeps the shit out of his comments and bans quote HATE SPEECH he would make a good addition to the future audiophile lolcow thread

on a side note atleast he defends CDs
 
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Saddam Hussain Obama said:
LMFAO i watch this pretentious british audiophile youtuber named darko audio hes so pretentious and cites the RICHNESS AND CLARITY as his reasoning for having audiophile equipment but his music tastes are like shitty EDM music from the 1990s he also sweeps the shit out of his comments and bans quote HATE SPEECH he would make a good addition to the future audiophile lolcow thread

on a side note atleast he defends CDs
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There is another British audiophile who seems to be his opposite. He's Alan Ross and looks like the Best Value Brian May.

His reviewers of reasonably priced speakers and the like are great
 
Saddam Hussain Obama said:
LMFAO i watch this pretentious british audiophile youtuber named darko audio hes so pretentious and cites the RICHNESS AND CLARITY as his reasoning for having audiophile equipment but his music tastes are like shitty EDM music from the 1990s he also sweeps the shit out of his comments and bans quote HATE SPEECH he would make a good addition to the future audiophile lolcow thread

on a side note atleast he defends CDs
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CDs are trash. Not because of any flaws to the medium itself, they were a clear improvement over tape and records in terms of quality that could be reproduced but every single producer since their introduction has just been compressing the everloving shit out of every song making it damn near impossible to find a halfway decent CD rip that isn't clipped to high heavens.
 
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Headphone audiophiles are full of shit. Sound system and home theater audiophiles are not, and if you can't tell the difference between a nice 5.1 setup and your skullcandy earbuds, you are legally deaf. Not even up for debate.

Only once you start treading into "Gold-Plated TOSLink cables" does it start to become bullshit. Why would you need gold plating on the connector of a fiber optic cable?
 
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