5 Dumb Things Audiophiles Believes.

Wow, if anyone thinks he knows everything, this guy sure thinks he does. IMO, this individual is extremely condescending, and most will not enjoy watching him (even for just the first 30 seconds). I’m a very open-minded guy, but there’s no way I was going to waste 10 minutes of my time listening to this dude. If you’re an individualist, this video is probably not for you. Is this guy serious, or is this all tongue-in-cheek?

Wow did not see that I thought it was funny. And true.

@jerryg123

This guy is not bad, I have seen worse…lol! I do agree with #5 and laughed about ‘let’s EQ it’ 😂

An arrogant guy talks about arrogant audiophiles?!?

I think I can't take him seriously because I just don't like arrogance.

I listen to my stereo and it's fun and relaxing.

I tried one of those "power cords stuffed with the blood of Beanie Babies." It lacked PRAT.

Uh oh. Now I have to question myself as to why I get a lot of what is being in that video. Surprisingly, it was done much better than so many garage level videos that I almost immediately click off. 

 But in the end, I also listen to my stereo and it's fun and relaxing.

Maybe this guy is striking a nerve.

Right I know @lalitk he is no worse than those people at _ _ _ think I will let you all figure the rest out.

This guy likes hearing himself talk. A salad of random perceptions that are not prevalent or central to Audiophilia. A waste of time.

He's lost a step since his bout with Covid. Is it me or has he gone overboard with his Duck Dynasty look? That, and I can't figure out if he bordering on pedantic or didactic, but it is annoying.

All the best,
Nonoise

And some like reading their ramblings. I know I do. 

Love it! It’s nothing to take seriously.

I know one dumb thing I just did. Wasted some time watching this nuklehade!

He left AZ for Iowa Park, TX. 

Good fit it seems.

Let’s see green fields and trees vs desert. Iowa Park wins! 
 

I know Ron personally and he has helped my YouTube Channel when he lived here in Phoenix, Arizona (I’ve mentioned this before). We used to talk/text  a lot and while I don’t agree with a lot of what he says. We have for most part agreed on certain things we see/hear.

Like Paul McGowan who I also respect, not all their views I agree with but I respect and like them personally none the less.

Brother needs to lose the Beard. I do agree with that.

shameless plug - Joey G’s Audio Channel - YouTube

And why again should I waste my time looking at this?

Don't if it turns out to be a waste of time in the first minute or so. I am at the ready with the pause button with a lot of this stuff. I must admit though, I will listen just see how far someone will go.

He’s right about EQ but his delivery sounds like Tucker Carlson so I ended up vomiting.

Nice to hear a little humour, and fact. Absent is the I’ve been doing this for 200 years am really smart and have the best tweaked out sounding system ever… just look at my pictures Crap. So all in all refreshing fun.

Cheers 

Seems like a decent guy trying to share his perspective in his own way. And its free. Get the nuggets of information wherever possible. 

90% of YouTube is cr*p!

@dpop it seems as the only closed-minded people are the ones who make a judgement before listening or by the way he looks or talks or maybe even discount because of perceived political affiliations. I found everything he said to be true on the whole.

And some people say Comedy is dead! He talks a good talk but most of this is just that Talk without ANY data to back up what he is saying. Now I do agree with some of it, but like Point #5 it is all blathering after a certain point. Any time you can improve some aspect of your system it is the right time. Not that any one item or component makes that much difference, beyond a certain point, but that it is all additive. That is, you may not notice a certain interconnect right away but when it is connected to some other component that you previously didn't have all of a sudden it becomes an integral player and is noticed. Like, say that same interconnect with a new DAC. Now independently they may not be that much but when combined they complement each other. You may not be able to pinpoint where some of your sound mods made a certain change, but you know that it has changed. Myself, I have the equipment to measure and graphically display what I have so I can recognize most of it. Not all people are fortunate enough to have these items.

No different than any shock jock in media. Take a hardline position on a subject that is very opinionated all in search of clicks not facts!

I found the guy to be genuiely entertaining. Thought the country song was pretty durned funny.

That being said, here’a a couple of comments:

To his point #1: I find it interesting that a Master Sommelier can take a sip of wine, swish it around a bit and tell you that the grapes were grown in a mountainous region of Argentina. BUT, a guy who has spent 40+ years intensely listening to high performance audio is NOT allowed to have a qualified opinion about what he hears. Biologolically, we don’t hear any differently than others. We are just trained on what to listen FOR, and have an expansive voculabulary on hand to help communicate those findings to others.

My overall impression is that he receives a lot of questions from "audio enthusiasts", not true audiophiles. The real audiophiles I come in contact with don’t possess any of the characteristics described by the host. They have moved past "Audio 101" and working on their "advamced degrees." In particular, I’ll reference point #5 with this. A race car designer, once said: "If you want to shave 100 pounds off a race car, you have to find 1,600 ways to save an ounce." True "audiophiles" know there’s not a single master key that unlocks sublime sound quality. It takes an entire system. And, yes, the "little stuff" does matter. An ounce at a time.

It was fun watching the video. Thanks for sharing.

@jasonbourne52 HA!  Sounds like you’ve just curated yourself a 90% crap algorithm of recommendations. I get tons of fun and great information from YT all the time. 

“90% of YouTube is cr*p!”

YT gets 500 hours of content per hour. Who has the time to watch 495 hours of cr*p per hour?

I actually like Ron from NRD and have been watching him for a long time. I have yet to find ANY Audio Reviewer that I really like, and arrogance seems to be a COMMON TRAIT amongst all audiophiles, even in these forums. 

"...and arrogance seems to be a COMMON TRAIT amongst all audiophiles, even in these forums."

So True!

I've watched several of his videos and he seems sensible. And his emphasis on speaker placement and room treatment is spot on, especially given his target audience of more entry level hobbyists.
He is a refreshing respite from the "everything is a breakthrough" echo chamber of high-end reviewers. And he does at least try to be entertaining.

@jerryg123 

That video was great and thanks for sharing.

"Duck Dynasty look ", that’s what was bugging me. I believe Ron is sincere in his

beliefs about all things audio. He helped Danny Richie of GR Research start his

YouTube channel a few years ago. But that DD look is really distracting.

I would like to re-structure this title. How about 5 things dumb audiophiles believe! Number 1 ;  Up-grading to better cables makes no difference in sound quality. Can anyone add to this?

A lot of times it's all in the perception.

I cannot believe this discussion wasn't removed.  I hope they will take steps to remove him.  One very strange person.

So @larry5729 why would you say that? What is strange about him or the post?

Guess he struck a nerve with you, betting it was 5 also. 

Just tell me what he said. I don't want to waste my time watching a video on someone blathering on 

Just skip right to number 5. All U

I think he's pretty cool, especially with his PRAT comments which closely track my thinking about that ridiculous and nonsensical term. 

For me PRAT was probably the most difficult term to sense. It was always just a bit outside of my ability. But once I was able to figure it out one of the most important in parameters in establishing an emotional connection with the music. A reason many detailed, naturally tonal systems still fail to connect with the listener.

This guy is a big jerk who needs to get a life.

I thought his points were well-taken. I’ve gotten a lot out of some of his videos, like the speaker placement one, the first one featuring sapphire open baffle speakers and binaural microphone setup. I suspect that when he thinks he is making simple, clear statements people hear ‘arrogance.’ He is ‘talking down’ to people instead of, as Jack Benny put it, ‘talking up’ to them. It doesn’t take long to tire of and to resent the overall tone of his delivery; I know I did.

@dadork No, he’s actually insufferably arrogant, regardless of whether he lands on some truth. To assume some people can’t “listen” more skillfully than others is ignorant. Controlling the brain to focus on specifics in frequency, attack, decay, tone, etc is something producers spend their lives with. He mocks that because he’s insecure regarding his listening skills and pontificates his way into likeminded audience engagement.

this guy has been around for  years on you tube .       

never cared for him.

I get it. I don't find it or him that funny and certainly not smart nor clever.  I think Ron is attempting to tap into the "everyman" vibe that exists online that mocks the the things that they can't afford as some sort of "al Bundy vs. the snobs" appeal for some more subs/likes/clicks. It'll probably do well for him. I can't watch him.  His voice/tone/attitude have terrible synergy with my ear drums and the smart part of my brain.... "The D&D nerd is mad that Bobby's leaving the circle to buy a moped and make out with Heather under the bleachers."

@jerryg123 Thanks for sharing...

I find it interesting, the wide variety of responses, from instant venomous outrage to disinterest,  to total agreement.

Some people are easily offended, some don't care what others have to say and some will find value in almost anything.

To each... his own...

TY @ticat my feeling also. Some it struck home. I rather enjoyed it and the reactions.

His delivery some may find "etching" but I think it's his style to be comical.

How you find him relies more in one's wiring and upbringing.

Some think the Three Stooges as hilarious and others as a disgraceful assemblage of humanity.

Whatever fuels ya.

I buy all my equipment from sith audio and they sold me a special sauce tweak that only my golden ear can appreciate.

@bubba_buoy 

+1 I think you got it.

Human beings have a remarkably wide range of sensitivity to our various senses.

An example: in the early 2000s when Tiger Woods had an entire team at Nike building golf clubs for him, the team sent him 2 drivers that they believed were identical.  After Tiger took a few 125mph swings with each model, he messaged back to the lab:  "I like the lighter one."  Which mystified the team, who couldn't wait to get the clubs back to weight them.  When they did, they discovered one of the drivers was, indeed, lighter - by less than 2 grams, or about 0.5% of the club's total weight.  You could ask 100 more golf pros to repeat that experiment, and it's likely none of them would detect the difference.  Tiger had "golden hands" even amongst PGA pros.

While "golden ears" may not belong to everyone who says the have them... it's equally silly to suggest there are not people who can hear musical/audio details  better than 99% of the rest of us.  I'm willing to believe that some of those people exist among the small community of professional audio reviewers.  For that reason I wouldn't automatically judge that a reviewer could not, for example, hear a dramatic difference between two power cables... even though I haven't been able to reproduce that effect myself.