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Do "audio enthusiasts" like many of us here at ASR consider audio to be a hobby?

Not Insane

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I'm active enough in it to call it a hobby. If you collect something beyond what is "typical" it could be called a hobby. If you tinker with tools of a certain purpose, it becomes a hobby.

A simple example: If I fix my vintage 1960 tractor, it's not a hobby. If I rebuild it and repaint the parts, it's a hobby.

If I buy a hi-fi and play records and digital files, it's not a hobby. If I fret over receivers, DACS, speakers, room acoustics, etc, AFTER I've purchase a hi-fi, It's probably a hobby.

When it becomes more than simply a tool for the function it was designed for, it's a hobby.

IMO.
 

ThatspottyJackal

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I disagree with the "Audiophile" version. Which is just people making claims they can't back or why they need 10 headphones.

Just bringing up EQ on mid fi gear still gets scorn in few groups. Like how the ER4S can handle a 6db bass boost, without the 2+ drivers the CA Andro has.

I don't see people doing this with Tv's.
 

Robin L

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The hardware side of the equation is mostly OCD. If it's music you really want, sing and/or learn to play an instrument. Particularly if you're seeking "the closest approach to the original sound".
 

Robin L

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A hobby. Both listening to and creating. But here's an odd thing I've discovered. When listening to my hi-fi I want low distortion. That's the key. It sounds better that way. When playing my electric guitar, I want a lot of distortion. In fact, turn up the overdrive and effects, and it sounds better. Go figure.
It's not a distortion if one is creating a new sound. Distorted? Compared to what?
 

fredoamigo

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why lie to each other? Audio is not just a hobby for many people, it is a religion. I had read an interview with Earl Geddes where he talked about the similarities between audio and religion.
Go tell an audiophile that these cables have no sound, it's like telling him that his gods don't exist. Science and religion have never agreed on the origin of the world and practically everything. Fortunately here at ASR we are atheists for the most part. ;)
 

Robin L

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why lie to each other? Audio is not just a hobby for many people, it is a religion. I had read an interview with Earl Geddes where he talked about the similarities between audio and religion.
Go tell an audiophile that these cables have no sound, it's like telling him that his gods don't exist. Science and religion have never agreed on the origin of the world and practically everything. Fortunately here at ASR we are atheists for the most part. ;)
I'm a Discordian, so good luck with that.
 

mhardy6647

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I'm not sure hobby is exactly the right word...

hamingredient pano 14Apr2019.jpg


(and I do apologize, since I think I may have posted this here someplace already...
 

Mashcky

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From the OED:
“A favourite occupation or topic, pursued merely for the amusement or interest that it affords, and which is compared to the riding of a toy horse; an individual pursuit to which a person is devoted (in the speaker's opinion) out of proportion to its real importance.”

Audio is definitely a hobby for me. In exchange for time and money I get some knowledge and hours of enjoyment that serve no other purpose than perhaps the promotion of arts and entertainment. Indeed audio’s importance to me (and I non-judgmentally assume most of us) is certainly outsized.

As a side note, who had any idea the word “hobby” was so derogatory? It’s apparently derived from dancing on a stick horse. In our work-focused world, even valuable domestic labor like cooking, gardening, or woodworking could be considered a “hobby.” Language change can be insightful.
 

mansr

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From the OED:
“A favourite occupation or topic, pursued merely for the amusement or interest that it affords, and which is compared to the riding of a toy horse; an individual pursuit to which a person is devoted (in the speaker's opinion) out of proportion to its real importance.”

Audio is definitely a hobby for me. In exchange for time and money I get some knowledge and hours of enjoyment that serve no other purpose than perhaps the promotion of arts and entertainment. Indeed audio’s importance to me (and I non-judgmentally assume most of us) is certainly outsized.

As a side note, who had any idea the word “hobby” was so derogatory? It’s apparently derived from dancing on a stick horse. In our work-focused world, even valuable domestic labor like cooking, gardening, or woodworking could be considered a “hobby.” Language change can be insightful.
Compare with the modern meaning of "hobby horse":
1579037119452.png
 

xr100

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It's not a distortion if one is creating a new sound. Distorted? Compared to what?

The most straightforward answer is that anything that is wanted is "signal," and anything that isn't wanted, is something else (for ease, let's crudely label it "distortion.")

Having said that, high levels of "overdrive" (avoiding confusion by using the word "distortion" again) as applied to electric guitar is a somewhat extreme case; it's not a "per voice" (note) effect but one applied "globally," and so it generates a very considerable amount of IMD.

There are, of course, interactions between the voices of polyphonic acoustic instruments, e.g. an obvious one being the "sympathetic resonance" of the undamped upper strings of a piano, as well as the undamped strings related to any depressed keys. It's a particularly nice example as it's very easy to grasp the basic mechanism by visualising strings being excited by other vibrating strings, and can also be thought of as--horror of horrors!--a kind of EQ/harmonic exciter! :O

At some point this is all rather abstract; how does one pinpoint the dividing line between "signal" and "noise" of instruments (plus FX?)

However, real-world choices are not difficult to come by; such as, DI'd vs. mic'd (amp/speaker) electric guitars?

A question to ponder: What is the SINAD of an acoustic instrument?
 
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xr100

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The hardware side of the equation is mostly OCD. If it's music you really want, sing and/or learn to play an instrument. Particularly if you're seeking "the closest approach to the original sound".

I can and do sing and play instruments--to myself! However, I've hardly been gifted with a good sounding voice--yes, one can develop and train, but physiology is a defining and limiting factor.

Playing my choice of instrument--keyboards--is limited by my mediocre fine motor control and sense of timing.

Besides which, singing or playing instruments is a different experience to an "audience" role.

It's really not fair on those (and I'm not referencing myself) who both love music, but aren't gifted musicians; yet have developed and used the gifts they do have to push forward the state-of-the-art on the engineering side.

BTW, "obsessive-compulsiveness" and "overperfectionism" can equally be applied in a "musicological" sense. There's so much music I just can't enjoy now because it doesn't cut it from a "music theory"/"structural" standpoint; I just end up hearing the "mistakes," or at least ways in which the material could be substantially improved. :-( The disgust response at work...?
 
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Kal Rubinson

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As someone who began with a mono component system back in high school and has had only 2 brief (less than 3 months) intervals without building and rebuilding his systems in the decades since then, I would call it a lifestyle.
 

majingotan

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A question to ponder: What is the SINAD of an acoustic instrument?

Their harmonics and timbre will determine their SINAD. A more ear-pleasing timbre pf a simple tone say the C# will have higher harmonics thus lower SINAD while a more monotonic timbre will have just the fundamentals without the harmonics thus higher SINAD
 

Robin L

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I can and do sing and play instruments--to myself! However, I've hardly been gifted with a good sounding voice--yes, one can develop and train, but physiology is a defining and limiting factor.

Playing my choice of instrument--keyboards--is limited by my mediocre fine motor control and sense of timing.

Can't say I'm all that good at playing guitar. Can say that regularly playing guitar calibrates my hearing, reminds me that, as regards recorded music, we really can't "get there from here". It's good to remember that no matter how good the playback gear, it never really sounds "live", in some way it will always sound a bit "canned".
Besides which, singing or playing instruments is a different experience to an "audience" role.

Yeah? And I say it's better. There's more engagement in keeping up with the band than flipping a disc.
It's really not fair on those (and I'm not referencing myself) who both love music, but aren't gifted musicians; yet have developed and used the gifts they do have to push forward the state-of-the-art on the engineering side.

Maybe, but pushing the technical envelope for reproducing sound is less like musical engagement. I find it actively irritating.
BTW, "obsessive-compulsiveness" and "overperfectionism" can equally be applied in a "musicological" sense. There's so much music I just can't enjoy now because it doesn't cut it from a "music theory"/"structural" standpoint; I just end up hearing the "mistakes," or at least ways in which the material could be substantially improved. :-( The disgust response at work...?

Of course playing music is OCD, but it's the sort of OCD that is constant and [potentially] leads to improvement. It's true that for some satisfaction cannot be reached, no matter what. But that's just the facts of life. In my case, I can obsess over the failure of playback gear to sound "live" or obsess over my timing of a musical phrase on my guitar. Of the two, the latter always has more satisfying results.
 

Tks

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Music got me out of a hole and made me discover what sound is really capable of.

Though at the same time my knowledge about sound itself on a scientific level was essentially non existent so I really learned to also enjoy the hard work it takes to bring us these great things we use to play music and audio.

So I’m not sure what category I fall into really. Feel like a bit of all three depending on the time or place. Seems just like another hobby on the surface level one would be captivated by any hobby - the magical aspects that appeal to you, while exploration slowly peels away the seemingly magical aspects and reveals them for what they really are - amazing feats of discovery and understanding put into application on some level.
 
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