How do we get more people excited about HiFi?

[Punter]

In this era, HiFi comes in small, inexpensive packages.

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This little box is as HiFi as any ludicrously priced component system. The latest ESS Sabre DAC with an integrated class D amp with 60W per channel into 8 ohms. The music player is loaded with all the current streaming services and there are analog and optical inputs if you have any use for them.

Add a pair of these: https://www.qacoustics.com/products/3010i-compact-bookshelf-speaker-pair

Then, for under a grand US, you'll have a sound system that:

• Gives you access to virtually unlimited music
• Has more than adequate power for normal listening levels
• Has all the fidelity you can extract from any source material
• Takes up very little space
• Can be packed into a small box and moved
• Can be conveniently controlled from a mobile phone app

Obviously, many will disagree on the choice of speakers but for the most part, we don't sit in front of the speakers puffing a pipe and reading the liner notes. We have music in the room as company and the enjoyment of the content we choose to listen to. This listening is mostly done at moderate SPL's and as such, you're better off with speakers designed for that type of use rather than a full theater system with loaded horns and massive subs.

There's plenty of members here who love their component systems and impressive floor-standing speakers but for the person who is not an enthusiast or hobbyist, they are in the enviable position in 2024 of being able to buy superbly competent equipment with the world of music (past and present) at your fingertips.

What a time to be alive!

 

[dzerig]

I haven’t read through all of the replies, but I think being interested in high fidelity has always been a niche interest.

Not at all. Stereo gear used to be one of the biggest local advertisers in newspapers. There were many audio stores and used audio stores (Audio Exchange on West Eighth Street springs to mind) in the 70s and 80s including chains like The Wiz and Crazy Eddie's (whose prices are INSAAAANE!).

To the extent that stereo hifi is alive today, I would submit it is driven by people who couldn't afford nice gear in their 20s and 30s but in retirement find themselves in a different position.

 

[MattHooper]

Then, for under a grand US, you'll have a sound system that:

• Has all the fidelity you can extract from any source material

I’m not sure how you come to that conclusion as it seems obviously wrong. Even if that speaker where the most neutral one could buy within its frequency range, it would clearly be leaving out all sorts of Sonic information from the source material due to its frequency limitations.

but for the most part, we don't sit in front of the speakers puffing a pipe and reading the liner notes. We have music in the room as company and the enjoyment of the content we choose to listen to. This listening is mostly done at moderate SPL's and as such, you're better off with speakers designed for that type of use rather than a full theater system with loaded horns and massive subs.

I’m wondering who the “we” is in the above?
I suspect that most of the audience you were speaking to - audiophiles/ASR members - do indeed sit in front of their system, giving their full attention to the music. That tends to be one of the characteristics of being an audiophile.

it seems to me the “we” and “your” to whom you are speaking is not the current audience?

 

[Petrushka]

I seldom sit done just to listen.

 

[Cogito]

I’m wondering who the “we” is in the above?
I suspect that most of the audience you were speaking to - audiophiles/ASR members - do indeed sit in front of their system, giving their full attention to the music. That tends to be one of the characteristics of being an audiophile.

it seems to me the “we” and “your” to whom you are speaking is not the current audience?

At least from my experience, most listening is done casually. Life is often too busy or distracting to afford dedicating much time and attention to be an "audiophile".

 

[MattHooper]

At least from my experience, most listening is done casually. Life is often too busy or distracting to afford dedicating much time and attention to be an "audiophile".

I’m certainly not implying that most of us don’t also listen to music casually, and in the background as well.

I’m talking in terms of the audio equipment that we have carefully selected and how we use it. I figured that most here would do some dedicated listening time on their rig.
Doesn’t seem to make sense that people on this forum spend the amount of time they do on squeezing out the very last bits of accuracy and performance in their equipment, only to listen to it from another room or in the background.

 

[robh36062]

Shut off the internet and take their phones away!

Rob

 

[Cogito]

Shut off the internet and take their phones away!

Rob

But wait!!!! I use my phone and the internet to stream ALL of my music!

 

[Cogito]

I’m certainly not implying that most of us don’t also listen to music casually, and in the background as well.

I’m talking in terms of the audio equipment that we have carefully selected and how we use it. I figured that most here would do some dedicated listening time on their rig.
Doesn’t seem to make sense that people on this forum spend the amount of time they do on squeezing out the very last bits of accuracy and performance in their equipment, only to listen to it from another room or in the background.

Getting back to the OP, most people get into this hobby because they enjoy the music, not collecting a plethora of expensive gear, cables and accessories. As such, the term "audiophile" means nothing in this context as just about anyone can discern a good sounding system vs a table top radio and such. The the complexities and cost of a "good" sounding system can often lead to buyer anxiety and confusion. If you can make a system as easy to use as a table top radio, but provide the higher quality sound of an "audiophile" system, many more people would be enticed into jumping in this hobby. The most obvious solution IMHO are powered and/or streaming speaker systems. Simple to use and set up, and in many cases, great sounding.

 

[Petrushka]

Getting back to the OP, most people get into this hobby because they enjoy the music, not collecting a plethora of expensive gear, cables and accessories. As such, the term "audiophile" means nothing in this context as just about anyone can discern a good sounding system vs a table top radio and such. The the complexities and cost of a "good" sounding system can often lead to buyer anxiety and confusion. If you can make a system as easy to use as a table top radio, but provide the higher quality sound of an "audiophile" system, many more people would be enticed into jumping in this hobby. The most obvious solution IMHO are powered and/or streaming speaker systems. Simple to use and set up, and in many cases, great sounding.

Bose marketed the Lifestyle systems as such, and had many imitators. The problem is, you need the satellite speakers to be nearly full range to sound good. And they have to sound good.

 

[robh36062]

But wait!!!! I use my phone and the internet to stream ALL of my music!

Oh well no your going to have to purchase physical media, have a system to play it back and then invite a friend over to listen.

The sacrifice's we made back in the 70's and 80's!

Rob

 

[Cogito]

Bose marketed the Lifestyle systems as such, and had many imitators. The problem is, you need the satellite speakers to be nearly full range to sound good. And they have to sound good.

Takes a lot of gaul to mention BOSE in this forum! Seriously though, I personally use a pair of Edifier S3000 PROs for my casual listening and they sound damn good with SOLID bass extension to 40Hz (Thanks to the built-in DSP). They definitely sound "full range". They do have their limitations as any "small-ish" bookshelf speaker would, but they sound MUCH bigger than they are.

 

[early rejecter]

I figured that most here would do some dedicated listening time on their rig.

Some, sure, but the original comment was “for the most part” and I’d be willing to bet that’s true for most of the people here. For all the time, money, and effort I’ve put in to my systems, I’d be surprised if 5% of my listening time was truly dedicated. Maybe one day when the kids are older and off to school somewhere.

For now, somewhat sadly, my most concentrated listening is probably when I’m mowing the lawn, as it’s a couple of hours with very few distractions aside from the roaring engine. (A couple of weeks ago I was finishing up that job to The Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Psychocandy” when I noticed my kid trying to get my attention. I took off my headphones, through which you could clearly still hear the music, and the kid started to ask a question, paused, and said “Dad, your music sounds exactly like the trimmer.”)

 

[IPunchCholla]

Takes a lot of gaul

Nahhh. Just a bit of Aquitania.

 

[Cogito]

Oh well no your going to have to purchase physical media, have a system to play it back and then invite a friend over to listen.

The sacrifice's we made back in the 70's and 80's!

Rob

ALL of my physical media has been boxed up and stored away for about 4 years now. There's no going back unless all the streaming services go bust.

 

[Mean & Green]

I’m certainly not implying that most of us don’t also listen to music casually, and in the background as well.

I’m talking in terms of the audio equipment that we have carefully selected and how we use it. I figured that most here would do some dedicated listening time on their rig.
Doesn’t seem to make sense that people on this forum spend the amount of time they do on squeezing out the very last bits of accuracy and performance in their equipment, only to listen to it from another room or in the background.

I certainly spend time sat in the sweet spot. I listen to music instead of watching tv in my downtime, so I easily spend a couple of hours at a time just sitting and listening otherwise there would be no point to my system. I just assumed everyone here would be doing the same.

 

[MattHooper]

Getting back to the OP, most people get into this hobby because they enjoy the music, not collecting a plethora of expensive gear, cables and accessories. As such, the term "audiophile" means nothing in this context as just about anyone can discern a good sounding system vs a table top radio and such

I disagree. I mean, certainly enjoying music is one aspect of the audiophile hobby.

But what separates us audio files, the type of people attracted to a form like this for instance, is an interest in quality sound reproduction and especially in audio gear not shared by the the majority of people who “love music.”

It really is the interest in the gear that tends to separate us from regular music lovers.

of course, people don’t have to themselves by expensive or high Fidelity gear in order to appreciate Sonic differences. But I was speaking to your comment about the motivations of people being in “ this hobby.”

 

[Waxx]

I don't think it's so debatable. Few people in my generation have experienced listening to medium quality music reproduction in a home setting, unless they have parents who still have a hi-fi system.

Everyone was amazed at my hi-fi system at college even when it was very modestly priced. Most people from my generation have just never heard an entry-level separates system. An entry-level amplifier blows them away just because of how powerful a hi-fi amplifier is when compared how they normally hear music on laptop speakers.

You have to remember most people nowadays are growing up with music from the tinny speakers on their iPad or iPhone. Laptop speakers are listened to a hundred times more than hi-fi systems today. People usually think an Amazon Alexa speaker really sounds great and comparatively powerful. Many people (under 30) have never heard music played on a separates hi-fi system. Many younger people today don't have experience listening to CDs on a budget micro-system (from Philips, Panasonic, Sony), their experience is listening on the laptop, or an Amazon Echo if they are lucky.

But the rave culture (at least here in Europe) is very big, going from semi-mainstream (techno, D&B & co) to heavy underground stuff (tekno, which is not the same as techno, more an evolution out of hardtek, hardcore (-techno) and gabber), acid, goa- and psytrance, ... but also dub and (underground) dubstep. All that is played on high power systems that often sound good. DJ crews often invest a lot of money in those systems, that are very often custom build by specialised builders for that purpose. That is how Function One and Void Acoustics, now big names in pro audio, started.

So it's not that they don't know how music sounds on more or less balanced systems. It's just not practical to have big hifi rigs if you live the mobile lifestyle that many now have. And house prices are so high now (in the US and Europe) that most people can't afford big places, so they have little room for a hifi rig. Add the exorbitant prices of what is now marketed as "hifi" and you see that it does not come to their mind to invest in that.

And most of the youth don't come to fora like this. The format is for "old people" like we. They are on Instagram, Discord, Tiktok and so and there are groups there who do just the same as here, or as the audiophools we despite (both scenes exist). Only with less money availeble and less in sight to the general public as us.

 

[Cecill]

I’m not sure how you come to that conclusion as it seems obviously wrong. Even if that speaker where the most neutral one could buy within its frequency range, it would clearly be leaving out all sorts of Sonic information from the source material due to its frequency limitations.




I’m wondering who the “we” is in the above?
I suspect that most of the audience you were speaking to - audiophiles/ASR members - do indeed sit in front of their system, giving their full attention to the music. That tends to be one of the characteristics of being an audiophile.

it seems to me the “we” and “your” to whom you are speaking is not the current audience?

I stopped being an audiophile because I don't have a house or room that meets the demands of a full-range system with the necessary acoustic treatments to truly appreciate the sonic details of the source material. I wonder how many in this community actually have such a setup. As a result, I consider myself an ex-audiophile. I no longer sit in the sweet spot or even own speakers, as my current family and home situation don't allow me the time to properly listen in front of a stereo setup. I've switched to headphones instead. Another sign that I'm no longer an audiophile is that I don't read about headphones, headphone amplifiers, or engage in debates about them.

 

[Purité Audio]

Contemporary full-range active loudspeakers are designed to work with or at least ameliorate the worst of the room.
Keith