If there was a perfect and invisible audio system would you still enjoy this hobby?

[Timcognito]

Is the hobby about listening to music at the best it can sound at home or acquiring gear to try get music to sound the best it can sound at home?
EDIT: Or both, together or exclusively

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Is the hobby about listening to music at the best it can sound at home or acquiring gear to try get music to sound the best it can sound at home?

Yes.

 

[Chrispy]

I voted don't know as I don't know how that system got in my house, or what it cost. If it were affordable and easily installed in older homes, it might be interesting

But if all dwellings simply had such magically, don't see what the purpose of constantly gear shopping would be....

 

[DMill]

My guess is almost all of us would love a “perfect” system if there could ever be such a thing. However when you talk about “this hobby” I have to conclude you are talking about the gear we collect to try and achieve that. Many people love music but have absolutely no interest in absolute fidelity. In some way, I suppose a theoretical perfect system would be a bit of a let down. i can’t deny that being someone “in the know” or that the thrill of chasing something perfect would be lost. Pretty great question btw.

 

[jhwalker]

What is the hobby? I enjoy the tech and theory behind AV - but only in so far as it caters to my experience of music and cinema. An undeniably perfect system would mean I can stop concerning myself with that side of the equation and focus more completely on the passions it is intended to serve.

Same. All I want is a perfect system to listen to my music and movies. One and done - I'd be thrilled.

 

[DJNX]

Is the hobby about listening to music at the best it can sound at home or acquiring gear to try get music to sound the best it can sound at home?
EDIT: Or both, together or exclusively

I don’t think it should qualify as a hobby, at all.
Well… maybe last century it made sense, with the myriad formats appearing and disappearing, and steady progress in audio quality, as technology got better and better.

Nowadays, though, you can buy almost anything and end up with a transparent (enough) system.
Set and forget.

To answer more directly the subject of this thread,
I know part of the fun is setting things up, but for this to really be a hobby you should be able to constantly tinker and test new equipment, that leads to better sound, but with the exception of room acoustics, no matter the amount of fiddling, the sound quality won’t improve perceptively.

So, at least in terms of "audibly transparent", if you have the space and budget to hide your equipment, we are almost already at that utopia that the OP talks about.

 

[MattHooper]

I imagine if you could have the sound of your Thiels but without physically having them in your living room, maybe it would be a little less pleasant for you to sit and enjoy the music. This is how I feel, I like the feeling of a large, well-made volume knob, I like seeing the golden cones of my klipsch and I like the glow of the valves, perhaps if all this were to disappear, I would even enjoy it a little ' less than my music, despite my perfect and invisible utopian system

I think that gets at an important part of the appeal for many audiophiles. The appreciation of the gear itself, and also how that can meld with the listening experience.

Analogy: right now there's all sorts of amazing AI art. When I look at some of this stuff I can be pretty amazed at the images, some are gorgeous. But it's a different experience than I'm used to. Because when I normally look at a piece of art, a drawing or painting, my appreciation is bound up with my appreciation of the artist.
When I go "wow" at the brilliance of the art or the skill or inventiveness, that "wow" is aimed at someone: the creativity/skill of the artist. Every line, color choice speaks
to the skill of the artist.

But with AI art that connection is lost. I have a "wow" in terms of staring at the image...but there's no one to point it at, no one whose skill or creativity I'm appreciating. It's a very disorientating feeling sometimes to have this new disconnect.

Imagining a "perfect/invisible" system creates in my mind something of a similar disconnect. I'd be hearing awesome sound...but there'd be no real equipment to appreciate. And I would not have had any role in the process. One could say "well then you'd just be apprecating the skill of the actual musical artists!" But that is not what I'm getting at. I'm talking about the role an appreciation of the equipment currently plays in the role of many audiophile's enjoyment of their system. It's nice to see the components you selected after lots of careful thought and scrutiny. You have some role in the achievement in the sound you are hearing, even if it's simply selecting the parts. And there can be appreciation for the engineers/designers of the equipment you own - you are hearing what they achieved as well. If some invisible perfect system became commoditized, that aspect of the satisfaction goes away.

 

[Timcognito]

So if there is no perceivable system there is no interest? What about the recording, the artist, the venue, the microphones placement, the mixing, all the steps before playback? Wouldn't that be what everyone would striving for, super resolution played back on their perfect system? Would that attract the same group?

I think that ASR's focus on measurement of I/O, it attracts certain segment of the audiophile interest and answers to the proposed question are skewed by those that habituate this site to more on technical side. Would someone like David Chesky who's career has making and recording hi resolution music remain with some of the only audiophiles when all the playback gear people left? Are discerning listeners audiophiles with little equipment aspersions?

 

[dweeeeb2]

I would still love listening to music, but the hobby would be over. Unless, I wanted to start playing with preferable coloring of the sound. Which I could see happening. Different FR for different moods? And trying to figure that out.

 

[Anton D]

I think having a Lamborghini that was invisible would be cool as hell ...... especially if you body was still hidden and all people could see was your head going by .....

There's an X-Files episode kinda like that.

 

[Doodski]

Invisible to me equates to implants with DSP. The ultimate audio reproduction. That would be awesome.

 

[Timcognito]

Invisible to me equates to implants with DSP. The ultimate audio reproduction. That would be awesome.

Are just saying that because you now have implants?

 

[Colonel7]

Good topic. I answered yes because like @sergeauckland I DIY a lot of audio stuff and I like the idea of both visible and invisible.

Funnily enough, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. We are in final stages of designing a newly constructed and downsized house close to where we live. If we go through with it, I'll have my own office/audio room that I can go nuts with all kinds of speakers. And we'll have a family room where I can put in an invisible HT system because I can do all of the wiring runs and installation myself. It's hardly a perfect system, but it would be pretty darn good at about $2 - 2.5k and free up a fair amount of space. Monoprice THX-365IWs that have a terrific spinorama, Monoprice smaller THX in-wall surrounds in-ceiling speakers, and 2 hidden 12-inc subs (I've already made some of these). A new Atmos AV Receiver with Audyssey or Dirac and that system is set the day we move in. The in-walls can be hidden behind custom 1 inch deep GIK prints of family and personal travel pictures on acoustically transparent fabric.

 

[Doodski]

Are just saying that because you now have implants?

Lol... Just add more to the collection.

 

[Timcognito]

and 2 hidden 12-inc subs (I've already made some of these)

DIY? Curious been researching these for my application? Where did you get the design?

 

[tmtomh]

There's no such thing as a perfect system, true - but for the purposes of this thought experiment we can posit this magical system has the additional magical property of sounding perfect to each listener. In other words, if there were an invisible, plug-and-play system that, when you turned it on and played recording after recording of your favorite music, made you say, "Wow, this sounds amazing, best I've ever heard, and I can't think of a single sonic aspect that could be improved," then how would that affect your enjoyment of the hobby?

For me it would increase my enjoyment because I'd be able to effortlessly listen to all my music with the best possible sound quality.

I recognize that for others this would not be the case, as they really like the tinkering/experimenting/upgrading/gear aspect of the hobby. And that's fine of course.

For me personally, I have other interests that allow me to exercise the kind of creativity and exploration that would scratch the "audio gear" itch, and I'd just as soon do that and have a perfect sound system to listen to while I'm doing it.

 

[Anton D]

There's no such thing as a perfect system, true - but for the purposes of this thought experiment we can posit this magical system has the additional magical property of sounding perfect to each listener. In other words, if there were an invisible, plug-and-play system that, when you turned it on and played recording after recording of your favorite musics, made you say, "Wow, this sounds amazing, best I've ever heard, and I can't think of a single sonic aspect that could be improved," then how would that affect your enjoyment of the hobby?

For me it would increase my enjoyment because I'd be able to effortlessly listen to all my music with the best possible sound quality.

I recognize that for others this would not be the case, as they really like the tinkering/experimenting/upgrading/gear aspect of the hobby. And that's fine of course.

For me personally, I have other interests that allow me to exercise the kind of creativity and exploration that would scratch the "audio gear" itch, and I'd just as soon do that and have a perfect sound system to listen to while I'm doing it.

I would sit and listen to that system drinking a 'perfect' wine.

 

[dweeeeb2]

I would sit and listen to that system drinking a 'perfect' wine.

Ha I'd jump around singing!

 

[Axo1989]

Assuming you mean a utopian system that created the desired sound field in real space (not just in my head) with an excellent UI/UX and not simply hidden conventional hardware then yes, fantastic.

I’d take a while to adjust, like any less-is-more improvement. For a while there I didn’t see the point of wireless headphones for example, but now I’m super-unlikely to use anything else when out and about. And I’d miss my gear initially also because it provides some aesthetic and haptic pleasure. But after that? No problem.

 

[Anton D]

Ha I'd jump around singing!

And waving a lighter!