Audiophile what does it mean, it`s sounds perverted.

[Ropeburn]

Do we know of any hobby that's described as "-philia" that does not sound or people think is perverted?

At my '20's when one has the need to dive into other arts than music we had the Wednesday movies day, mostly poetic cinema.
That's deep into cinephiles. The most we ever gathered was under 100 people, needless to say we payed a good chunk each (for young person's money) for renting the movie theater.

Whenever we invited people to it we got the look and the known "Oh, you're the ones watching an ear of grain for straight 10 minutes, right" .
So...

-philias are strange to people

I have a severe case of sapiophilia. I can find people physically super attractive, but as soon as they open their mouth and only bullshit comes out, I'm appaled and turned off thoroughly. The other way around, perfectly average looking people suddenly become mighty attractive the moment they impress me with their smarts.

Is that perverted?

 

[wadude]

One can certainly spend hours pouring over the magazines, visiting websites, watching videos, even making repeated trips to the store, giddy in anticipation with the idea that this may be the time to lay down the cash. What will the wife say?!

 

[egellings]

I don’t see any objective evidence that devisive terms are helpful based on what is happening in the world. People have more in common than divides them and there is enough unhelpful devision in the world without people getting devisive about a hobby which I thought was meant to be enjoyable.

People choose HiFi based on a variety of factors which are subjective. The decision itself to purchase HiFi and focus on particular factors are subjective so I’m not sure labels are helpful

Humans are tribalistic creatures, and will form tribes around any common ideology or cause. The tribes compete for domination and survival.

 

[Multicore]

I am the pragmatic antiaudiophile. Perhaps a confusing concept. Audiophile praxis, aesthetics and discourse – not my bag to say the least – hence I'm an antiaudiophile. Otoh, I enjoy and desire good sound reproduction and find defects annoying. Science is the guide and engineering is the way. I have faith in these eternal truths. We are all subjectivists at the end of the day. Pragmatic.

The pain of being a member of ASR

Sure. Not talking about you being self-righteous, Sometimes have to take a breather of some that goes on around here. There you go, and looks like I misinterpreted your post, which is oddly appropriate. Hopefully I didn't make a too-negative response based on that ... :)

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[HalSF]

There IS something seriously wrong with audiophile — it has attracted a wide range of negative connotations and implicit associations with snobbery, subjectivity, delusional thinking, gear-first philistinism, specious connoisseurship, and extraordinarily silly beliefs. Starting with it being created using the rib of a preposterous plonk-swilling mockery-drenched oenophile…

No thanks to all of that. I’m into audio and hi-fi because I value and revere the accurate and beautiful reproduction of music, one of the art forms that makes life worth living.

And while we’re at it, screw the use of the term “this hobby” too!

 

[egellings]

I'm not an audiophile; I'm an audio crazy. It's like the difference between alcoholics and drunkards.

 

[Multicore]

To OP's question about reorienting the audiophile doctrine around a conjectured theory derived from purity as its one and only axiom, I don't hold much hope. How do we measure that? ;)

 

[Earwax]

There IS something seriously wrong with audiophile — it has attracted a wide range of negative connotations and implicit associations with snobbery, subjectivity, delusional thinking, gear-first philistinism, specious connoisseurship, and extraordinarily silly beliefs. Starting with it being created using the rib of a preposterous plonk-swilling mockery-drenched oenophile…

No thanks to all of that. I’m into audio and hi-fi because I value and revere the accurate and beautiful reproduction of music, one of the art forms that makes life worth living.

And while we’re at it, screw the use of the term “this hobby” too!

That is exactly where my minds goes when that word was used before I new what I know now as it`s been abused and tossed around used for soooo many negative opinions.

Before I actually understood the reasons why I was missing so much of what the artists intended me to hear that word always frustrated me probably due to above mentioned.

Even now knowing the many explanations of that word it`s just to complicated people have a hard enough time this days staying focused when talking in public so after using that word you have to spend even more time explaining exactly what area you are trying say that you have an addiction to or are highly interested in or you maybe it`s just a fun hobby....

A more positive note knowing what I know now as far as what to look for in the data measurements of devices and speakers to get actual purity from an audio system when someone askes me if I`m that word I no longer become angered just a bit,,, frustrated...

When I answer that question with: Well I`m actually after Audio purity and enjoy music, the conversation is more engaging as they ask me how does one get audio purity ?

 

[Duke]

I don’t see any objective evidence that devisive terms are helpful based on what is happening in the world. People have more in common than divides them and there is enough unhelpful devision in the world without people getting devisive about a hobby which I thought was meant to be enjoyable.

Bravo!

We can choose to draw circles of exclusion, or circles of inclusion. I aspire to the latter, which ironically draws a circle of inclusion around those who prefer the former.

 

[Sokel]

I have a severe case of sapiophilia. I can find people physically super attractive, but as soon as they open their mouth and only bullshit comes out, I'm appaled and turned off thoroughly. The other way around, perfectly average looking people suddenly become mighty attractive the moment they impress me with their smarts.

Is that perverted?

I've been there as well, it's part of the search I think.
Now I'm back at the homo sapiens V1 mentioned above as I separate some aspects by what they are and some others by what they mean.

(probably the No1 hobby around, and the most costly one, and by cost I don't mean money)

 

[Alexander Gödde]

"audiophile" currently means somebody who believes that "everything matters" for playback quality and so invests in things like "audiophile" equipment racks, cables, "power conditioning", "grounding boxes" and other "tweaks", insists on optimal parts quality (e.g. "audiophile capacitors") and often subscribes to esoteric design concepts (like the tenet that "tubes are more musical"), all while ignoring the fact that pretty much all of the music they listen to passed through at least an order of magnitude more cables and components during production - none of which were "audiophile". In addition to an ability to switch off rational thought, being an audiophile also requires believing in gurus (manufacturers, the audiophile press) over experts who have done actual scientific experiments.

"audiophiles" are to audio technology what believers in homeopathy are to medicine - at best something to ridicule, at worst actively dangerous.

I'm not joking about the dangerous part either. A friend worked for a small manufacturer of "audiophile", tubed phono stages and amps for a short while. He quit when he realized that the devices had possible failure states that could electrocute the user, and his boss refused to fix these faults because "it sounds so much better this way".

 

[respice finem]

Good point. Homeopathy may sometimes work without working, so to speak, because the belief in it is the healing factor.
On my ward an experiment was running (around 1995) with placebo sleeping pills, against homeopathic and "real". The "blinded" patients slept "like bears in winter" initially on any of them (all pills looked the same). Later, the "new pill effect" subsided, and the "real" took the lead. Quite similar to the "shiny new peace of gear" effect.

 

[egellings]

"audiophile" currently means somebody who believes that "everything matters" for playback quality and so invests in things like "audiophile" equipment racks, cables, "power conditioning", "grounding boxes" and other "tweaks", insists on optimal parts quality (e.g. "audiophile capacitors") and often subscribes to esoteric design concepts (like the tenet that "tubes are more musical"), all while ignoring the fact that pretty much all of the music they listen to passed through at least an order of magnitude more cables and components during production - none of which were "audiophile". In addition to an ability to switch off rational thought, being an audiophile also requires believing in gurus (manufacturers, the audiophile press) over experts who have done actual scientific experiments.

"audiophiles" are to audio technology what believers in homeopathy are to medicine - at best something to ridicule, at worst actively dangerous.

I'm not joking about the dangerous part either. A friend worked for a small manufacturer of "audiophile", tubed phono stages and amps for a short while. He quit when he realized that the devices had possible failure states that could electrocute the user, and his boss refused to fix these faults because "it sounds so much better this way".

Homeopathy-the air guitar of medicine.

 

[Robin L]

Do we know of any hobby that's described as "-philia" that does not sound or people think is perverted?

"Bibliophilia"?

 

[respice finem]

If it really worked, it would be quite convenient - cheap and without side effects. But as usual, if something seems too good to be true...

 

[Robin L]

I have a severe case of sapiophilia. I can find people physically super attractive, but as soon as they open their mouth and only bullshit comes out, I'm appaled and turned off thoroughly. The other way around, perfectly average looking people suddenly become mighty attractive the moment they impress me with their smarts.

Is that perverted?

No, that be sensible.

 

[TTT15]

It seems ironic that some people who claim to be objective makes subjective judgments about other people.

 

[Sono]

Well – so what’s the problem here, actually? Even a short glance at my Chili Red Metallic SQ8 will convince everyone around that I’m a true Audiphile

 

[Sokel]

"Bibliophilia"?

At that one they will at least keep their thoughts to themselves out of shame.

 

[Petrushka]

It may sound perverted, but it measures well.