"Music-First Audiophile" Manifesto by John Darko

[Great Sun Jester]

Absolutely valid points, yes, I do my fair share of watching as well, but I always keep in mind that you cannot trust everything you see/read/hear. I would actually watch more if they got rid of the annoying advertisements and made it easier to use, like it was in the early days when the platform started.

Ublock Origin will bring an end to ads on YT. I haven't seen a ad since YT started.

 

[Somafunk]

Absolutely valid points, yes, I do my fair share of watching as well, but I always keep in mind that you cannot trust everything you see/read/hear. I would actually watch more if they got rid of the annoying advertisements and made it easier to use, like it was in the early days when the platform started.

Used/paid for YouTube premium for years, I’m not a fan of adverts (to put it mildly)

 

[Axo1989]

This thread had a real sprint overnight (speaking from other side of the dateline etc).

Imagine if you wrote a manifesto and nobody reacted?

 

[Blumlein 88]

This thread had a real sprint overnight (speaking from other side of the dateline etc).

Imagine if you wrote a manifesto and nobody reacted?

Yes this. I mean the manifesto was about as pretty much a nothing-burger as one can come across. For what purpose other than Darko has nothing worth saying, but wants to keep eyes on his writings?

 

[pseudoid]

Naw, first a 54 Ford then a 56 Chevy.
.....
What ???

I'll try to put it in terms of a proverb that came way before 54 Fords and/or 56 Chevys.
"Putting the Cart before the Ox"? Or advice against it!

 

[Axo1989]

Yes this. I mean the manifesto was about as pretty much a nothing-burger as one can come across. For what purpose other than Darko has nothing worth saying, but wants to keep eyes on his writings?

Certainly nothing he hasn't said before.

I'm not as negative about Darko as many here, and I check out his website every so often to catch up on his music recommendations (ie I don't go to the YT channel). Funny thing, when I looked yesterday/today just the manifesto was up, the rest of the site was "back 14th May". I think said manifesto is basically a mildly provocative placeholder while somebody is doing some maintenance (or maybe a host change) on his intertubes.

 

[Newman]

[Darko says]

1. The Music-First Audiophile knows that music and sound quality are important but that music will always be the most important.

2. The Music-First Audiophile has many thousands of albums in his library and will choose audio hardware that elevates the sound quality of those albums.

3. The Music-First Audiophile knows that there are many other music genres beyond those that he enjoys (or she will hear at a hi-fi demo). To name a few: hip-hop, metal, funk, soul, grime, techno, country, noise, psychedelic rock and folk.

4. The Music-First Audiophile isn’t trying to bring the live experience home. She understands that music playback is its own art form – a movie is not made by pointing cameras at a stage play.

5. The Music-First Audiophile understands that sound quality is affected more by the listening room’s acoustic make-up than the electronics chain that feeds the loudspeakers.

6. The Music-First Audiophile understands that a software app’s user interface, the hardware’s aesthetics, its ergonomics and its haptics all play a part in the overall listening experience.

7. The Music-First Audiophile knows that hi-res audio can enhance sound quality but she will never choose or refuse an album based on the delivery format's sample rate or bit depth. Why? Because she knows that mastering quality matters more.

8. The Music-First Audiophile knows that the pursuit of better sound is not “all about the music”. She’d be happy listening to music on laptop speakers or tiny white earbuds if it were.

9. The Music-First Audiophile knows that being an audiophile isn't about how much money she spends on audio gear but how much she cares about sound quality without letting the tail wag the dog. Music comes first. Always.

10. The Music-First Audiophile thinks music first, hardware second, format third.

Divisive claptrap. This is just Darko positioning himself. Exhibit 1A: look at #5 about “the importance of room treatment”. Guess who just recently paid for a professional fit-out of his room acoustics! And now, suddenly it is part of the definition of a music-first audiophile?? This is nothing more than an egocentric joke. I wonder what he would think of Toole’s views, based on research, that the human adaptive response significantly diminishes the importance of room acoustics.

How about #3, about knowing that there are genres of music beyond what one enjoys? What the…? That’s something that only the music-first audiophile knows? Pure claptrap.

I don’t recommend that anyone follows him, unless they want to be utterly misled, left right and centre.

 

[kelesh]

Ublock Origin will bring an end to ads on YT. I haven't seen a ad since YT started.

Ad blockers may be a solution of sorts for computers/tablets, but can you install one on my dumb "smart TV" running some annoying manufacturer-modified OS?

 

[Anton D]

50 says it was a Buick!

Police car.

 

[CapMan]

Didn't say that, I was just saying that enjoying the music is one of the end goals of pursuing high fidelity.

Yep, understood. Hope it’s ok if I tweak that slightly and say the goal of high fidelity is to enhance our enjoyment of listening to music. If it doesn’t, if it kills the pleasure of music listening we would be crazy to do it.

Maybe this is where @MattHooper is coming from (with apologies if I have misrepresented him)

 

[Axo1989]

Divisive claptrap. This is just Darko positioning himself. Exhibit 1A: look at #5 about “the importance of room treatment”. Guess who just recently paid for a professional fit-out of his room acoustics! And now, suddenly it is part of the definition of a music-first audiophile?? This is nothing more than an egocentric joke. I wonder what he would think of Toole’s views, based on research, that the human adaptive response significantly diminishes the importance of room acoustics. …

So we shouldn’t treat listening rooms now, because Darko’s done it? You should start selling pretzels.

 

[CapMan]

Yeah same, but I'm not four years old anymore so I don't enjoy neither Teletubbies nor really bad sound quality music anymore. But if you do then good for you, you'll live a way cheaper life than the rest of us

I think you’re missing the point which weirdly had nothing to do with children’s TV programs or being 4 years old. I enjoy good quality sound reproduction like everyone here, but it’s not an absolute pre-requisite to enjoying listening to music

 

[Mart68]

Divisive claptrap. This is just Darko positioning himself. Exhibit 1A: look at #5 about “the importance of room treatment”. Guess who just recently paid for a professional fit-out of his room acoustics! And now, suddenly it is part of the definition of a music-first audiophile?? This is nothing more than an egocentric joke. I wonder what he would think of Toole’s views, based on research, that the human adaptive response significantly diminishes the importance of room acoustics.

How about #3, about knowing that there are genres of music beyond what one enjoys? What the…? That’s something that only the music-first audiophile knows? Pure claptrap.

I don’t recommend that anyone follows him, unless they want to be utterly misled, left right and centre.

When he started I always wondered why he was using those tiny little speakers in a big, clearly very reflective room. I figured from that he didn't really know what he was doing.

Time passes he now seems to have at least sorted out his room, and although he has had better speakers on test he doesn't seem to have kept them, not sure why.

I think he has, possibly inadvertently, learned quite a bit of useful knowledge. He no longer seems to think putting weights on DACs is a valid tweak, so there's been some advancement.

Still, like many of these You-Tube types (British Audiophile comes to mind also), it's still the blind leading the blind. But no-one is worse than Hans B who's in league of his own in that respect.

Regarding his manifesto - we all get fed up with 'It's all about the music for me' characters who spend most of their time comparing power cables rather than just listening to music.

I agree we can enjoy music on low fidelity equipment providing its sins are of omission.

For example I was recently listening to a system with some £6K speakers, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all. Swapping them out was a revelation. Some audiophile systems mangle the signal so much listening to music becomes unpleasant.

And that is really where the line on 'Hi Fidelity' gets drawn. Once it deviates too far from accurate reproduction of the signal, most music becomes actively unpleasant to listen to. This is why pursuing accuracy is a useful goal.

 

[Great Sun Jester]

dumb "smart TV"

I'm not sure, but it works perfectly on firefox.

 

[Endibol]

Should we expect a line of Darko Diffusors and Audiophile First Absorbers sometime soon

No, Darko doesn’t like absorbers..

 

[MattHooper]

Divisive claptrap. This is just Darko positioning himself. Exhibit 1A: look at #5 about “the importance of room treatment”. Guess who just recently paid for a professional fit-out of his room acoustics! And now, suddenly it is part of the definition of a music-first audiophile?? This is nothing more than an egocentric joke. I wonder what he would think of Toole’s views, based on research, that the human adaptive response significantly diminishes the importance of room acoustics.

So now it's even a stroke against Darko for extolling the benefits of room treatment, after making room better and (measurably) evening out the response for loudspeakers in his room?

Newman, you are hilarious.

 

[MattHooper]

Yep, understood. Hope it’s ok if I tweak that slightly and say the goal of high fidelity is to enhance our enjoyment of listening to music. If it doesn’t, if it kills the pleasure of music listening we would be crazy to do it.

Maybe this is where @MattHooper is coming from (with apologies if I have misrepresented him)

Essentially yes.

But an important (to me) distinction is (with a nudge from my pal David Hume...) that I'm trying to keep is and ought distinct. In other words, I'm not trying to tell anyone what they ought to do, since it seems clear to me it's fine to have any number of goals for an audio system. So when I'm asking questions it's along the lines of "IS'nt" it the case that you pursued high fidelity gear for how it elevates the sound quality and experience of listening to your music? And if that's the case, one would be inconsistent brow-beating others for taking a somewhat different path to a system that they find elevates the sound and experience of listening to THEIR music.

(There often seems to be some is/ought slippage implied in how some here argue, either explicitly or implicitly: that since it IS the case X gear is more accurate, or that X approach will produce High Fidelity, then it OUGHT to be the case that audio gear is designed with high fidelity in mind, and that audiophiles should seek the highest fidelity.)

 

[Sal1950]

I agree we can enjoy music on low fidelity equipment providing its sins are of omission.

I can enjoy music on just about anything.
But the better, more accurate the system, the more I enjoy it.

Ad blockers may be a solution of sorts for computers/tablets, but can you install one on my dumb "smart TV" running some annoying manufacturer-modified OS?

The best thing I ever learned after getting my first Smart TV was, NEVER connect it to the internet.
Keep your TV as close to a straight monitor as you can and use outboard boxes to get content.
Unless there is some major bug in the TV's software that can be fixed with a firmware update, you can
mostly do things in a much better, more controlled way keeping the TV a virgin.
YMMV

 

[MattHooper]

I can enjoy music on just about anything.
But the better, more accurate the system, the more I enjoy it.

Exactly. Would you have sought out the more accurate system if you DIDN'T enjoy it more? That would seem irrational or at least very odd.

So your motivation in buying your system is, at bottom: "sounds good to me."

 

[Sal1950]

So your motivation in buying your system is, at bottom: "sounds good to me."

Yea, right.