Why Are Audiophiles so Bound and Determined to Make Others Waste Money

[BrEpBrEpBrEpBrEp]

Misery loves company and people want to believe in magic and special powers. Then again, why do we keep discussing this?

As a corollary, it is one of the reasons for the vilification of ASR and the people who frequent it. It upsets suppliers because it interferes with their revenue stream, and it upsets a certain group of audiophiles as it hurts their recruitment into the fold. There are some parallels between audiophilia and cults.

You can really go down the rat hole fighting it, so best not to get too emotionally attached to it, and just treat it as a sport. I once got a senior snake oiler so irate that he got himself banned from a major subjective website. I had another senior snake oiler literally offering people money to dox me. I figure it was a lesson for him that Facebook does not appreciate that behavior.

Yeah, I've concluded it's not worth participating in forums dominated by "subjectivists". It really doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things, and it's too aggravating to bother with for no real benefit.

 

[egellings]

Testability is important to me. Beliefs are not testable and cannot be edited in the sense that no test result will change any belief; they are just shiny objects that people hold in their minds. Knowledge is testable; if it's found to be in error, it is either edited or summarily and unceremoniously dumped.

 

[Genkishi569]

Have to say, I take a stance that goes more in line of using the "tools" that both sides present me. Understanding the fallibility of my hearing, and how it is easy to trick my brain might not be a nice thing for people looking at facts, but it does allow me to actively make my subconscious convince me that I've improved the sound (who doesn't like free upgrades?). As long as I don't foist my improvement of the sound as truth or fact then I'm definitely not harming anyone by, essentially, gaming my enjoyment of a piece of gear. The red cable on my profile pic might objectively sound the same as my hifiman's stock cable, but being aware of my fallibility sure as hell doesn't stop my brain from making subjective changes to the way the cable sounds, and it's not a bad thing as long as I don't ascribe that change to the cable itself.

I also don't discount the objective facts that are being presented to me by ASR reviews. I enjoy knowing that I can get something really awesome at low prices and curb the need to buy unnecessarily expensive gear to meet a particular use-case. The subjective-leaning forums, and ASR have their uses. I don't dismiss something unless the viewpoint is too extreme for me. I always filter myself to prevent becoming too dismissive which hurts my points more than they help them.

The way I approach subjective-objective debate in audio is pretty much the same way I approach American conservative vs liberal politics, and just politics in general. I never conform to a "tribal" identity. I almost always take the position that both sides of have something to offer. While one may be more consistently "wrong" than the other (not going to say which), it doesn't necessarily mean that everything they say should be dismissed outright.

 

[syn08]

Yeah, I've concluded it's not worth participating in forums dominated by "subjectivists". It really doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things, and it's too aggravating to bother with for no real benefit.

It can be, to a point, funny to watch the hardcore subjectivists rolling on the floor and foaming. Unfortunately though, in most cases the following applies