Okay.....
There seems to be some idea that belief in extreme audiophile subjectivism and belief in audio voodoo is a slippery slope that will lead to belief in Flat Earth Societies, reptilian overlords, and other tin foil hat stuff.
That kind of alarmism, when associated with a branch of home entertainment, seems just as whacky and conspiratorial as the supposed slippery slope of subjectivism.
It's just not that serious, people.
It's a hobby.
I totally agree it is a hobby. Based on the OP, I think a lot is at stake here, considering market influences that are not helping customers and amateurs and hobbyists to make potentially optimal choices in acquiring the instruments to enjoy music.
I mean,
I made a choice to subscribe to this forum, since my ignorance is significant in terms of audio engineering, amongst many other things and I was looking for advice in acquiring a new DAC. I frolicked amongst audiophiles about 2 decades ago, spent and waisted money like many (and certainly, a lot of people in this forum had a similar experience as mine), having friends in the industry but also, amongst those professional reviewers. As a scientist from social sciences, I was quite shocked at the absence of any interest in objective reviewing in the material reviewed (ie; blind testing, etc.). I was even more shocked after seeing a 2 hour long conference on recording techniques, which lead me to reject any belief in audiophile music reproduction. Recording technicians will make choices in the production, the placement of microphones, the disposition of musicians, the recording environment wrecks any possibility of total fidelity. To me, audiophilia is a dream people can believe in, but that ship has sailed for me.
Up to a point, one might reflect on the possible futility of the accuracy of the machines, considering the instruments we purchase to bonify our listening experience may actually reproduce the choices made at the recording time, rather than the actual music experience. I come to the conclusion that what we have, as hobbyist, is the best we can get, being limited to the exposure of something that has nothing to do with the live experience.
We make the choice to accept that the music recorded is perfectly reproductible as it was performed, and assume the instruments we use in our home will reflect that. But it is a subjective choice to accept it, or otherwise, we'd probably throw everything in the trash and instead, focus on live experience only.
But because we all love music, and can't afford concerts and for a plethora of other reasons, we get what we can, and make choices as we see fit based on our limited experience. I apologize if my previous posts lacked in clarity. I can only hope to contribute to a reflection on what we do, how we do it, and opportunities to improve on our human experience that brings us all together.
