How rare of a breed are we (audiophiles)?

[rogu3]

I've always wondered -- how rare are genuine audiophiles? Out of all of my close friends and acquaintances, I know of only 2 besides myself, one of which is my dad who got me started on the hobby.

None of my close friends or coworkers are really into audio; they can appreciate it, and some even have decent setups, but they don't consider it a hobby or a passion. The vast majority just use TV speakers or maybe some bluetooth speaker; I recently tried convincing a good college buddy to get a 5.1 setup but he's probably going with some Sonos stuff (not the worst, honestly) as it has higher WAF.

Do the rest of you fine folks feel the same?

For some context, I'm in my late 30s, so I grew up in the Sony Discman era

 

[fpitas]

A best friend had me design and help build huge horn speakers for him. He also married a musician, who appreciates them.

 

[rogu3]

A best friend had me design and help build huge horn speakers for him. He also married a musician, who appreciates them.

That's awesome. My wife isn't a musician, but she does appreciate nice audio, so she puts up with my gear and obsessions.

 

[fpitas]

That's awesome. My wife isn't a musician, but she does appreciate nice audio, so she puts up with my gear and obsessions.

We worried about WAF for the washing-machine sized speakers. But she tolerates them. He did have to put grills on the woofers mainly so his daughter's little hands won't touch them.

 

[kemmler3D]

You might look at this through the lens of "who is spending a bit more than normal to get better sound".

The average expenditure of the top 20% of US households on A/V equipment is apparently roughly $1500 per year. https://www.statista.com/statistics...fluent-us-households-on-home-theater-systems/

This includes TVs and projectors. The average purchase frequency per person per year is 0.1 (one every 10 years) but considering that households average 2.6 people, it's more like every 4 years. Consider that affluent households probably buy TVs more often than average, and let's be generous and say that they buy TVs every 3 years or so.

A nice TV might cost $1000-6000, so 20-100% of the annual A/V expenditure is already eaten up by TVs.

So this does leave some budget for audio, with some folks. It's totally (numerically) conceivable that 20% of the country is buying a $5K+ stereo every 10 years, or something in that range, maybe 10% spending $10K every 10-15 years.

However, we have to consider that Sonos etc. are not considered "audiophile gear". How many people are interested in spending double or triple the effort on more complex systems to reach the final 10-20% of sound quality? How many invest in room correction and EQ? I would personally guess less than 5% of those who have the budget. People really love convenience.

Since the numbers seem to support the idea of a more robust "audiophile" market, why don't we see more audiophiles out there? That's a good question.

One reason I can speak to from experience - it is difficult (arguably impossible) to effectively convey the experience of good sound in words. Doing that used to be my day job, I was marketing consumer-grade audio stuff, but our key value proposition was better sound than the other guys at the same price point. And when we did surveys, everyone said the #1 criteria for buying audio gear (at any price range) was sound quality, right after price.

On paper, everyone wants good sound, they're not lying. In practice, everyone spends $50 on the 3rd-worst Bluetooth speaker... which does have "good sound quality", at least compared to the $40 option.

When it comes time to explaining how much better the sound is, or in what ways, we are left with very rudimentary tools in the english language. We make fun of it all the time on this forum. "Liquid highs" or "Buttery lows" are laughable, but also a serious attempt at conveying sound quality in words. You can't convince someone to spend $200 based on mere words, let alone $10,000.

Ultimately we concluded the best option was to let people hear the speaker in person, in stores. This is difficult for many, many reasons.

Audiophiles don't become audiophiles without hearing the difference for themselves first. So if you think there ought to be more people "in the hobby", this is the problem to solve.

 

[fpitas]

You might look at this through the lens of "who is spending a bit more than normal to get better sound".

The average expenditure of the top 20% of US households on A/V equipment is apparently roughly $1500 per year. https://www.statista.com/statistics...fluent-us-households-on-home-theater-systems/

This includes TVs and projectors. The average purchase frequency per person per year is 0.1 (one every 10 years) but considering that households average 2.6 people, it's more like every 4 years. Consider that affluent households probably buy TVs more often than average, and let's be generous and say that they buy TVs every 3 years or so.

The TV itself might cost $1500-6000, so 30-100% of the annual A/V expenditure is already eaten up by TVs.

So this does leave some budget for audio, with some folks. It's totally conceivable that 20% of the country is buying a $5K+ stereo every 10 years, or something in that range, maybe 10% spending $10K every 10-15 years.

However, we have to consider that Sonos etc. are not considered "audiophile gear". How many people are interested in spending double or triple the effort on more complex systems to reach the final 10-20% of sound quality? How many invest in room correction and EQ? I would personally guess less than 5% of those who have the budget. People really love convenience.

And size. Most people are willing to live with tiny speakers.

 

[Ricardus]

I don't know what a "genuine audiophile" is so I can not answer.

He whose name shall not be uttered, answered an email question today, as he does every day, answering a question ranking audiophiles. For me, it's more of a WHY IS THIS EVEN A THING??? I don't even care a little bit where I stand in some sort of pecking order of "audiophiles," and if I meet someone else's standard of what an "audiophile" is.

 

[fpitas]

I'd say "audiophile" starts where a boxed set of little cubes from Best Buy just won't cut it.

 

[DVDdoug]

Rare and rarer... I remember the analog days when there was a lot more involved in getting good sound.

And the "audiophile community" is dominated by people who think speaker cables make a difference and people who think vinyl and vacuum tubes sound better than digital sources and solid state electronics. etc., and people with lots of money to waste. So the term "audiophile" usually has negative connotations to me.

ASR and HydrogenAudio are two of the few rational-scientific audio-related websites.

 

[kemmler3D]

Most people are willing to live with tiny speakers.

Corollary, most people don't have the space for, or willingness to devote space to large speakers.

 

[rogu3]

If I had to define "audiophile" I'd say something like: "Someone who cares about and is interested in accurate and quality audio reproduction"

Its not necessarily correlated with specific types of gear, especially since this isn't a cheap hobby.

Most of my friends just don't give a damn about audio, quite frankly.

 

[fpitas]

Corollary, most people don't have the space for, or willingness to devote space to large speakers.

That's why I bought a house

 

[rogu3]

We worried about WAF for the washing-machine sized speakers. But she tolerates them. He did have to put grills on the woofers mainly so his daughter's little hands won't touch them.

With a two little kids under 6, grills are must for me

 

[fpitas]

Seriously though...if I had to economize, headphones are a good solution for relatively little money.

 

[Prana Ferox]

I'm not sure I'd be an 'audiophile' by most measurements.

Since the numbers seem to support the idea of a more robust "audiophile" market, why don't we see more audiophiles out there? That's a good question.

Music appreciation as a hobby, especially outside a more general AV / movie enthusiast bent, is already pretty niche. I wouldn't say all, but I would hope most 'audiophiles' pick up the bug through music appreciation.

 

[DWPress]

Yes, we're slowly being phased out by convenience and a good many people haven't even had the opportunity to hear what they are missing. Lack of space as well in modern dwelling spaces - an equipment rack is no longer necessary with lots of good gear available outside of the traditional 17-19" format but there's no substitute for real speakers and the good ones tend to be big.

@fpitas, I use those same Dayton woofers in my rig. Do you have pics of your DIY MTM speakers hear somewhere? Just googled the rest of your drivers and looks (sounds) like you are totally set for clean SPL.

 

[Timcognito]

Not rare, just old. Will be rare soon though.

 

[fpitas]

Yes, we're slowly being phased out by convenience and a good many people haven't even had the opportunity to hear what they are missing. Lack of space as well in modern dwelling spaces - an equipment rack is no longer necessary with lots of good gear available outside of the traditional 17-19" format but there's no substitute for real speakers and the good ones tend to be big.

@fpitas, I use those same Dayton woofers in my rig. Do you have pics of your DIY MTM speakers hear somewhere? Just googled the rest of your drivers and looks (sounds) like you are totally set for clean SPL.

 

[fpitas]

I'd like to say I invented the midranges around the horn idea, but some guy in 1984 designing studio monitors beat me to it. Now Genelec has jumped in that game, too.

 

[JaMaSt]

I think one of the best definitions of "audiophile" is some one who routinely listens to music in the same way that a "cinephile" is someone who routinely watches and enjoys movies. The quality or expense of the gear is tangential to the love of music and the role it plays in an audiophile's life. I can't imagine a life without music and typically listen to several hours a night - while I can't remember the last movie I watched.