Describe your decisive experience that completely changed your view of audiophilia with a comment.

[Ported]

Back in the 1980s I owned a small recording studio and I wired my main monitors using 13amp (UK) flexible mains cable (financial reasons). One customer/ producer insisted I use his QED oxygen free copper bla for the session so I wired them both to the power amp and ran the session on his cables. Once the mix was complete I asked my assistant to randomly swap the cables on the amp to test the difference up to my normal safe level (I had a home "disco" light system running that was modified to flash as you approached ear damage!).
Neither of us could tell the difference. Not sure if he continued transporting cables. I have never spent big money on cables since.

 

[Dimitri]

I find it interesting that so many audiophiles deny acoustic memory, but your experience is much more in keeping with the opposite, I agree with you 100%!

Can't say I remember hearing about this ever before

 

[Platypus20]

When I plugged the digital output of my Carver 490t cd player into my first DAC, a used 3-4 yr old Meridian 203, the difference was huge. I’ve had a DAC every since then.

 

[StigErik]

The first time I did a proper double blind listening test…. It immediately cured me from audiophilia

 

[Spkrdctr]

The first time I did a proper double blind listening test…. It immediately cured me from audiophilia

Very common!

 

[5-pot-fan]

ASR
It shouldn't have taken 50 years, but better late than never!

 

[earik]

I really, really wanted that McIntosh headphone amp ($5k) when it first came out. Being new to all this at the time, I got taken in by the look of it, and every article I read had the reviewers talking about how listening to it basically changed their lives. So a few years later, I saw that they had one at a nearby Magnolia store. I brought my headphones, my own source, and plopped down right in front of that thing, because I really wanted to know how far off I was from this glorious sound that everyone was talking about. They left me alone, which was cool, and I listened to all my favorite tracks, using my own gear. I quickly realized I couldn't hear any improvement compared to what I had at home. Even worse, my own amp was on display right next to the McIntosh for 1/10th the price, which became more and more offensive as I sat there. Not a blind test, but the same result for me.

 

[jooc]

As a kid my older sister started dating a guy who owned a record store in a mall. I remember standing in front of the speakers he had in there as something played and being floored by all the crisp detail I could hear in the music and the 'feel' of the base. It was so different than all the cheapish consumer stereos I'd heard up until that point. I don't remember any of the equipment but that experience told me that there was really, really good stuff out there & people weren't lying

My current near-field system gives me the same effect I remember hearing in the record store.

 

[Anton D]

As a kid my older sister started dating a guy who owned a record store in a mall. I remember standing in front of the speakers he had in there as something played and being floored by all the crisp detail I could hear in the music and the 'feel' of the base. It was so different than all the cheapish consumer stereos I'd heard up until that point. I don't remember any of the equipment but that experience told me that there was really, really good stuff out there & people weren't lying

My current near-field system gives me the same effect I remember hearing in the record store.

That's awesome.

 

[Anton S]

The realization, decades ago, that there wasn't - and still isn't - any standardization at the production end of musical content. This, of course, was immediately followed by the epiphany that I was free to adjust the reproduction at my end to best suit myself, which summarily ended the "straight wire with gain" chapter of my audio derangement.

 

[ahofer]

1) When I was working at Atlantis Sound in 1978 I would spend time comparing speakers. When the relatively small AR speakers kept outperforming many of the huge multi-driver speakers in the ‘high end‘ room (anyone remember ‘Ultralinear’?).

2)The 1987 Stereo Review blind amplifier test. After that I began to admit freely when I didn’t hear big differences.

There were also some rapturous moments auditioning a system with Duntech Sovereigns and when I bought B&W speakers (flatter in those days).

 

[Rhamnetin]

For me it was gradual. I'm always interested in the science behind everything, and I've always been into blind testing since getting into this hobby which helped me form strong opinions against some typical audiophile sound characteristics like blatant high frequency rolloff, noisy distorted OTC tube gear and NOS R2R DACs. Pro audio equipment (electronics and active monitors) appealed to me more early on.

But for whatever reason, I procrastinated with regards to doing research and understanding the data provided by sites like ASR. Once I sat down and did that (during isolation due to a COVID bout), everything came together. I validated this by replacing expensive audiophile equipment with SMSL/Topping and blind testing these.

 

[doalt]

I used to subscribe to old-school audiophile myths including:

• full-size audiophile headphones must be driven by desktop headphone amps;
• hi-res music sounds more detailed than redbook, and anyone who can't hear it has bad gear or bad ears (including me of course);
• bit-perfect playback is the only correct way to listen to music.

One day I found my sennheiser HD598 that had been collecting dust and decided to try EQ for fun. That led me to Harman target, AutoEQ and oratory1990. Then I looked at the speakers on my desk and wondered what would be a good target curve for speakers. That led me to ASR.

Now I stream music from my phone, have 0 interest in hi-res, and never listen to my speakers without EQ.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

Two experiences led me to where I am today, both changed my mind in big ways.

When I was in high school, I heard a system in a dedicated listening room, turntable on a concrete pillar tied into the foundation, some kind of Mac amp, and La Scala speakers. My immediate reaction was amazement that things could sound so real and live! My quick second reaction was, "I will never spend that kind of money." Which freed me to be cheap. Since what is now vintage was just old and cheap, and I can clean pots and solder, I did pretty well for myself.

That made me aware of what is possible.

About 15 years later I went with a friend from Australia who was trying to get dealers to stock his speakers in the US. I heard those speakers ($1000) with a $1000 cd player and a $1000 amp. My thought in the moment? "Well, I can afford $3k at some point, and since I can hear the spit in the sax...."

That made me understand that 5 figure budgets are not needed for very, very good sound.

Guess who is getting ready to spend $3000 on speakers and an amp?

 

[nygafre]

1. After demoing/testing amps for a year, it eventually clicked that I was chasing the wrong ‘bone’ for getting the sound I wanted.

2. How incredible revealing and humbling a ‘blind test’ can be. I was going away for work for two weeks. Before I left, I had hooked up both my second setup speakers in addition to my mains to do some A/B testing. When I came home after the work period, I assumed my main speakers were connected to my amp and played music happily, enjoying finally being home to listen again. It was only after about an hour of listening, on a complex track, that I thought ‘wait, this doesn’t sound quite right’.. and lo and behold, my second system speakers were hooked up.

It was a humbling but positive experience, which also made me realized that $$ has little to do with musical enjoyment.

 

[JohnnyAudio]

After all these years realize that subwoofers are unnatural, it is better to use a full range speaker with great response,
Choose driver that has the right SPL to excite your ears but not fatigue them.

 

[AJM1981]

That individuals in the audiophile world mostly pretend that they go for 'reference' sound, but in reality turn to ways of emotional choices even if they say that reference is the key.

*If one wants the sound as how an artist or producer "intended it to be". Fine; Get the studio dimensions of the producer, copy the room till perfection and get the studio monitors he or she used in those days.

*That there is a load of space in approach between 'I would like to hear the studio recording as intended' and 'I would like to have the same live experience to this live recording'. In case of the first.. get reference monitors; in case of the second.. go wild with large speakers and subwoofers. When I am at a Jazz concert the upright bass frequencies can be felt and in order to reproduce this at home, the sub needs to kick in quite a bit outside of reference standards.

* If it was purely about sound and not about cabinet appearance and bells and whistles, the huge chunky vintage amps would be on the market for give away prices. But these amps are the ones most sought after and so "maintain" a bit of trade value and when they need servicing, a lot of bulk can have failed.

*Appearance of gear is usually an important umentioned factor over sound

* Power issues (grounding issues, flickering lights etc) might be a thing in certain countries or regions, or states or in some homes. In those cases power management solutions are absolutely a good idea. That does not mean that someone needs solutions when these issues are not there at all. But even when a power infrastructure is a virtual A+++, they 'will' offer solutions and audiophiles 'will' buy it.

My justifications
When it comes to loudspeakers, I like good looking 3 way-systems for my living that integrate with my furniture. The idea is that on low volumes it gives a factor more presence. I like practical and good looking amps for the same reason of being part of an interior, plus that they should offer the connections and services I use at that moment in time.

When it comes to cables.. anything would go, but I don't like to have a good looking loudspeaker and a piece of "string wire". I also like to be able to swap loudspeakers easily and to have sturdy good looking banana plugs doing so a basic decent made cable that looks ok (other than a "good performing cable") is what I aim for. Got mine dead cheap and they look great. I kind of see this view a bit like the fake exhausts on modern cars covering up an ugly exhaust pipe. It is all about appearance and I am aware of that.