Audiophile Placebo Test

[Dackzy]

32 minutes ago, Volbet said:

If these two kinds of audiophiles exist, then wouldn't that speak for distinguishing the two?

For all I care, the people who buy $100 power strips power "conditioners" and only listen to reel-to-reel tape in a room pointing directly at magnetic north can have the title of "audiophile". 

What we end up calling the people who are left I don't really  know, and I don't even know if I care all that much. 

 

And I would agree that you have fucked up, if you're not really enjoying the hobby you're doing. 

If the simple act of listning to music becomes a tedious process, then you should probably find something else to do. 

 

Like, I've spend the entire day today doing garding work while listning to a 192kbps internet radio stream on a Bose Soundlink Mini (awesome Bluetooth speaker, by the way), and I had a blast while doing so. 

My musical enjoyment is rarely linked to the actual quality of the music, aslong as it's somewhat audible.

There are probably people out there, that would see me as nothing less than a heretic for saying that. 

7

The thing is, people that aren't into audio will just call people like me for an audiophile simply because I know a lot about audio and my equipment is pretty good (atleast IMO), so that is why I like to think there are two kinds. It basically just a mental pat on the back that says I am not apart of the crazy.

 

Heh, I have spent most of today listening to free Spotify with some 8$ china IEMs and I have enjoyed it. When I am at home I enjoy using my higher end gear, I think it just makes the experience better and I enjoy trying to find the little details, which can give me goosebumps.

42 minutes ago, Volbet said:

But are we really getting something out of it? Will there be an audible difference between the Modi 2 Uber I'm using now and the Bifrost Multibit?

I might just end up hooking the Bifrost up to an oscilloscope, checking the waveform of the audio output, and then rock back and forth in my corner, muttering: "There' is a difference!

 

Although, the argument could be had the enjoyment doesn't necessarily come from having an audible difference.

The enjoyment might just come from having nice equipment.

For example, is there a major reason why I needed a 4K TV in my living room? Probably not, but it's very nice to have. 

 

Man, if anyone wants to enter into audio as a hobby, then please don't. It will suck the money out of your wallet.

You end up buying a $600 DAC "because.... Maybe there's a difference?". You start out saying "I'll just buy my favorite albums on vinyl" and you end up with 800 records and you buy shit you didn't even know existed. 

 

Well you might be asking the wrong person there, I am very sensitive to audio and I pick up on the little things very fast.

The thing is that audio is very individual so some might pick up on an audible difference between a Modi 2 Uber and a Bifrost multibit, while other won't.

 

I have a friend that buy high-end speakers and receivers, just because he thinks it is nice to have good equipment.

 

The black hole thing can really be said about all hobbies, a great example would be cycling do you really notice a difference between this saddle pin that weighs 220g and one that weighs 180g. (I have no idea how much a saddle pin weighs)

I think it really just comes down to how well you can control yourself, some people will always have the itch to buy the next great thing, while others don't have that itch and only upgrade or get something new when their old is broken.

I think I am decent at controlling myself until now I have never paid full price for any of my gear, it has always been around 30% off or more, but that is about to change since I am buying a NFB 11 and a Vali 2. 

[suits]

I did a placebo test with between many custom in ear monitors. I got them all correct in live performance test and was super easy. Got quite a few wrong in the phone audio test. Only mixed up 2 in the high quality source sound test.

[SSL]

1 hour ago, Volbet said:

I might just end up hooking the Bifrost up to an oscilloscope, checking the waveform of the audio output, and then rock back and forth in my corner, muttering: "There' is a difference!

 

http://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/measuring-dac-accuracy.4184/#post-130596