Audiophilia nervosa

[TheLastGerman]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

 

[egellings]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Get that old system going again and sit in front of it with a can of beer. That should do it.

 

[Jimbob54]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Get in your car with a playlist /mixtape /mix cd . Drive fast and play loud .

 

[Robin L]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Get something cheap and cheerful to listen to music, like something from Sonos or Bose. Focus on the tunes, know that the fidelity is not the ultimate. And avoid so-called "audiophile" recordings, stick to recordings that you already know are compromised, like symphonic recordings from the '50s or piano recordings from the '30s, highly compressed rock from the '60s. If you want to avoid the disease of being an audiophile, then stop acting like one.

 

[Ropeburn]

Get something cheap and cheerful to listen to music, like something from Sonos or Bose. Focus on the tunes, know that the fidelity is not the ultimate. And avoid so-called "audiophile" recordings, stick to recordings that you already know are compromised, like symphonic recordings from the '50s or piano recordings from the '30s, highly compressed rock from the '60s. If you want to avoid the disease of being an audiophile, then stop acting like one.

Couldn't have said it better. Go minimal, just blast fun music. Although I'd rather recommend some cheap speakers with big woofers over Sonos or Bose. Seems more up OP's alley. Just put them there, connect a big amp and that's it. Enjoy some good fucking music.

 

[kemmler3D]

I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Here's my sincere advice:

Don't chase improvements, only try to fix problems. It's not two ways of saying the same thing.

If you can hear something wrong or you see it clearly in measurements, go ahead and fix it.

If not, be comfortable in the knowledge that your system doesn't have anything wrong with it.

Clearly you know something about what good audio sounds like and looks like in measurements. So you know how close you are to a certain ideal, and you also know that neurotic tweaking is more likely to cause placebo (or nocebo) effects than it is to materially improve the sound.

Let that knowledge keep you comfortable where you are. Make big changes or none at all.

I've found that when I change something I use music to listen to my speakers for a while, but eventually I calm down and listen to the music again. If you keep changing things or thinking about changing them, you never get out of gear analysis mode.

 

[ZolaIII]

Rediscover music you liked and find something new you somehow missed. Stress out and let anxiety out and everything will be OK.

 

[beeface]

Drink a few more beers

 

[MaxwellsEq]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Set yourself a challenge. You will not buy any new kit for 12 months. You will not make any further adjustments for 12 months. Buy some music and listen to it. Listen to your old stuff as well! It works for me (although I tend to set the bar at ten years to keep costs down).

 

[Gary_G]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Amen!

 

[Ste_S]

A long, long time ago I could sit down in front of my speakers with or without a can of beer, completely immersed in the tunes. They were chipboard boxes with a volume of about 80 liters, cobbled together with Spax screws and filled with glass wool, and if I remember correctly, with 10-inch Monacor woofers, 1-inch ITT metal domes and an off-the-shelf crossovers. These miscarriages were driven by an asthmatic Telefunken amplifier and a Hitachi tape recorder. This was around 1982, when I knew absolutely nothing about slopes, TSPs, dispersion, directivity, phase relationships, room modes, decay times, etc., etc. I just enjoyed it - boom, bang, rattle, crash - just fine!

Now I'm sitting there with my ears pricked up, dissecting the sound of my highly complex fully active system, tweaking my DSP profiles and listening carefully to the impact of a double bass - subwoofer 5Hz higher or lower? Does it really sound better with a 48 dB slope than with 24 or does it then lag behind very slightly? And somehow the bowed cymbals sounded a bit more defined with the B&G Planars than with the ESS AMTs, while the latter reproduce more 3D ... Or was that due to the other DAC? Who knows, first I have to order the Purifi midwoofers, then I have other things to worry about ...

Now I use music to listen to my system. Compulsively, which is alien to me with everything else. I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Three things. You probably listened to music louder back then; and you also had a better frequency range on your hearing. You also probably drank more beer

 

[J.M. Noble]

What's wrong with playing with your system?

Hot rodders spend waaay more time messing with their cars than driving them, and this is expected. Stamp collectors aren't expected to mail anything with their postage treasures, are they? If it's not hurting anyone and isn't making you unhappy/broke, then have some fun and don't worry about it.

​

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
​

―Kurt Vonnegut

 

[Robin L]

What's wrong with playing with your system?

Hot rodders spend waaay more time messing with their cars than driving them, and this is expected. Stamp collectors aren't expected to mail anything with their postage treasures, are they? If it's not hurting anyone and isn't making you unhappy/broke, then have some fun and don't worry about it.

​

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”​

​

―Kurt Vonnegut

Messing around with the bits and bobs of a stereo is one thing. Getting anxious about the process is another and that is what is known as Audiophile Nervosa, something that belongs in the DSM-5. Getting anxious about audio FOMO is what AN is all about.

 

[Timcognito]

I want the simple fun of listening to music back. Is there a therapy?

Try something new. Read a few reviews, 1-2 paragraphs, most will sound like a bad idea, but hang in there. Something different, another genre or forgotten favorite but from a new band from another land. Go to your streaming service dump a few selections into your favorites. Make the journey back to music, beat, syncopation, melody, twang,...

KFJC 89.7FM

 

[DVDdoug]

Hot rodders spend waaay more time messing with their cars than driving them, and this is expected

When I was in Junior High (too young to drive) I was talking to a teacher about cars and I said liked sports cars. He said, "they seem to need a lot of work". But even then, I knew that the owners loved their cars and they enjoyed tinkering with them and keeping them clean, etc.

 

[MattHooper]

Well, you’ve hit up upon the fact that audiophiles of any persuasion can run into audiophilia nervosa.

Not sure I can offer a solution since the solution I think differs between individuals.

I think the first thing I’d ask is: what is causing this?

A lot of audiophiles seem to feel pressure to make sure as much as possible “ it’s all about the music.” And since this shibboleth is repeated so often in the audiophile community, if you find yourself concentrating on playing with the equipment, you have somehow lost your way, I think think that in itself can lead to some anxiety.

But there’s nothing wrong at all in playing with the equipment, if you find that fun or pleasurable. So possibly getting that monkey off your back - it’s actually all right to spend time thinking about the equipment if you are into it - could relieve some of the tension.

However, if this is a purely internal battle, where you have truly become anxious about not being able to enjoy music on your system and you really want to that’s another thing.

If I have started to move into that territory, I usually find taking a break works for me, focussing on some other area of interest.
For me that was usually turning my focus to my Home Theatre. I found it once I spent more time either just watching movies on my Home Theatre or even attending to some of the changes, I want to make my Home Theatre, when it got to two channel again, I wasn’t fussed about the things I was fussing about before. (I think I can only handle one obsession at a time. )

Again, I think it comes down to personalities.

Some people find it easy to relax and lower their standards from perfectionism, so they don’t get too wrapped around the axle on stuff. Which is healthy.

Some other people may sort of solve the problem via their perfectionism. Like I obsessed for probably two years over every detail in my home theater build. The result was that it turned out essentially to be everything I wanted, and I haven’t had to think about the issues again for the 15 years since it was built. (aside from upgrading projectors once in a while).

Sometimes I’ve put similar zeal into for instance leaving no stone unturned when shopping for new speakers, or working on a shelf for my turntable or whatever.

The end result is that if I ever find myself for a moment thinking “ maybe there’s something else I could do” it’s easy to shut down realizing, nah, I already put the effort in, looked at it from every angle, I’m good.

Maybe you could choose to listen to music on something else such as just on your car stereo for a while, or some cheaper system, smart speaker or whatever, that focusses you back on the music. And by the time you listen to your system again you realize how great it is and your quibbles will see to have dropped away.

Either that or you can always end up with the most effective cure for audiophilia nervosa: running out of money

 

[Chrispy]

Much of the nervosa seems to come from ridiculous subjective reviews and/or marketing, so stop consuming such. Concentrate on real issues/problems. It's not that hard. If you're listening to your gear instead of the content, you've missed out on the primary function.

 

[Robin L]

Making recordings of acoustic music went a long way to cure me of AN. Once one realizes how much impact microphones have on sound, how inaccurate they are, then issues around "accuracy" and "the absolute sound" go out the window. No matter what you do, you can't drag the Vienna Philharmonic into your living room.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Don't chase improvements, only try to fix problems. It's not two ways of saying the same thing.

This! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[JSmith]

It's unfortunate... but as people get older often they worry more than when they were younger, even small things can cause concern.

Worrying about the sound or dissecting the music could easily be a symptom of this and possibly something to consider.

... or it could just be as simple as technology whilst it has improved things, has also complicated them.


JSmith