My wife says my main hobby is collecting hobbies. She has a corollary to that realization which is, that I also tend to pick hobbies that I will never be happy with no matter how much I spend or how good I get at them. As an Audiophile she states my system is never good enough. I'm always upgrading. I believe we call that "Chasing the Dragon" if I'm not mistaken. She also says the same about several other of my hobbies such as... Golf (unlikely I'll ever shoot an 18), Cycling (a 4.5 hour century ride isn't fast enough), Drag Racing (Car runs mid 8's at 160mph in the 1/4 mile. Upgrades continue!) and there are others. So you get my drift.Is this just me or does the personality of the audiophile make us all just a bit masochistic?
bullitt5094, those are sports not hobbies but they take up time just the same. Sometimes I think audio is a sport as it does seem at times we are competing with each other. It is that competitive streak that runs in us that is the problem. We can't just enjoy the ride. We have to get there first. I think just like vanity your competitive instinct gets whittled way until you lose it completely, just an effect of aging. I cycle with my wife and we do some very challenging rides like the Mortirolo and Stelvio passes. Just getting to the top is a victory. Nobody is racing. I love woodworking. The drive is to do things better and conquer difficult constructs. I have noticed that audiophiles tend to be very active, involved people. Perhaps we are using music as our tranquilizer of choice, our way of putting on the brakes or keeping us grounded. We know for a fact that people who listen to music daily live longer. This is an interesting association. Is it just the music or the fact that many of us also are very active, or that as a group our diets are better? Are we better educated? Perhaps it is all of these. Are we intentionally trying to hurt ourselves? I do not think so. Some of us just like "better." Some of us are trying to one up the other guy. Most of us love music. The only time I hurt myself is when I get burned by the soldering iron and trust me on this one, I do not do it intentionally:)
Sport vs Hobby? A sport is when you participate in organized competition. A hobby is when you do something for the love of it. Not organized competition and not professionally. I.E. pretty sure drag racing a car at test and tunes is not a sport. It’s a hobby. knotscott: I bought a Bob’s CNC router last month mainly to build speakers. Lots of my hobbys bleed into each other. So for woodworking... I’m already there. Also into photography. First camera was an OM2n. In fact combining hobbies, I am building drones with photographic capabilities now. So I have that covered. But no boats. Growing up in FL everyone else had one so I didn’t need one. And actually my best century was at 22.3mph. That’s really not competitive professionally. Not bad for a hobby though!
Its still nothing to do with it. Willing to bet that however many road miles he rode not one was racing. Every racer knows average speed has nothing to do with it. They all cross the line with the same average speed. Sometimes depending on the race the group even gets the same time. Only one however wins. Racers know this. Well the ones who have actually crossed the line first anyway.
Lets change the definition to "Things you pursue in your spare time." That will get that hobby/sport hick-up out of the way. And yes, that was in nice flat Florida with a pace-line group in our cycling club ride. I did compete in an amature Crit event one time. Figured out real quickly how dangerous that was and never did it again. Also did some time-trials. But that’s basically you and the clock.
My better half may say otherwise, but I don't consider myself a masochist on any level. If I love something I work at it. When I reach a level of satisfaction I kick back and enjoy.
& years ago i was feeling the urge to upgrade and after the impossibility to upgrade anymore, because of the lack of money to do it; i turn myself in uncontrolable race to improve my audio system by myself...
With great success, it takes me 2 years of listenings experiments...
But now the sound is less an obsession than the music itself for the first time this month...The reason is simple when you are near the high-end audio experience, you feel ectasy in any files or cd....It is impossible like before to be annoyed by any music .... Good one for sure....Then you listen one cd by each hour without any desire to change something or the cd itself....
Music begins only when the sound problem is no more there....Before that many music i liked where not listenable on my system, now they are all beautiful.... And before i was not even able to hears all the details or even the instruments or delicate sounds...
Audio is not important, but only when you have it right.... :)
Masochism is about pain as pleasure. Music is about pleasure, not pain. If you’re suffering for your hobby, that’s different. If you can’t enjoy the music, that’s probably more on the obsessive compulsive spectrum. I do think that OCD perfectionism is endemic in this hobby, myself included.
Having only recently entered the gon, I can already tell that it comes at a high risk. On one hand, you can find good basic sound advice, on the other hand, you can find yourself submerged in an unending search for sound nirvana through endless means, like audiophile fuses and suspended cables. No matter what, sound nirvana is impossible to find through other's opinions, since your own equipment, layout and ears, are different from anyone else. Long story short, at this point, going at improving my system in my own environment for my own ears is better served by doing it with my own tries and errors working with simpler things like working with the room acoustics. The difference between adding and moving absorbers and diffusers around provides a HUGE change in sound that no equipment change can duplicate once you get to a certain level of audio equipment ($30 K in my case). Trying to achieve that much change in quality of sound with the incredibly small equipment improvements tauted by many here is simply too overwhelming for my sanity. Fishing lines, rubber bands? To each his own but to me music is simpler than that, hence its beauty. Just my two cents.
The difference between adding and moving absorbers and diffusers around provides a HUGE change in sound that no equipment change can duplicate once you get to a certain level of audio equipment ($30 K in my case). Trying to achieve that much change in quality of sound with the incredibly small equipment improvements tauted by many here is simply too overwhelming for my sanity.
You are perfectly right...
Audiophile experience is more dependent on acoustics than on electronics circuits...
«The Greek theater acoustic is way more older than the Edison trumpet» -Groucho Marx
Mahgister...*L* Thanks for the confidence there....but, after 40+ yrs., one develops certain 'auto-self preservation routines', at least in regard to sudden chills of atmosphere and dark silence....
Likened to the hint of ozone before lightning strikes way too close...even if it misses, one looks for burnt extremities....
Mental nimbleness may help....but some quickness may just sink one into the quicksand sandtrap, where one's head becomes the ball on the tee.
(....and she doesn't read any of this....to my knowledge....;)...)
"See you watching me like a hawk I don't mind the way you talk But if you touch me somethin's got to give I live the life I love and I love the life I live
So if you see me and think I'm wrong Don't worry 'bout me just let me go My sweet life ain't nothing but a thrill I live the life I love and I love the life I live
My diamond ring and my money, too Tomorrow night these may belong to you These girls move me at their will I live the life I love and I love the life I live
I may bet a thousand on a bet this time One minute later I can't cover your dime Tomorrow night I might be over the hill I just want you to know, baby, the way I feel
Oh, I'm rockin' when you pass me by Don't talk about me because I could be high Please forgive me if you will I live the life I love and I love the life I live."
To answer the question it's almost certainly more pain than pleasure for me!
A jump has us thrilled.
But how soon before the system is driving us nuts and we are only living for the next upgrade or tweak that will remove those little niggling things (that we weren't even aware of before the last upgrade) which are driving us crazy.
Every true Audiophile I know is almost certainly certifiable. 😇😇😎
After years of just work and family, I’m glad to have a hobby again. The obsession factor helped pull me in and forced me to learn. Now that my system is assembled, I’m turning toward expanding my listening. Obsessing about hearing more and different music will, I hope, take the place of the "dragon chase" for better sound.
Because at this point, the sound is so good that I really don’t have a good reason to spend time the rig rather than the music.
When I start posting about problems with my rig, I'm sure to be called a hypocrite! I'll just quote Whitman at that point: "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large, I contain multitudes)."
I think we all do this with other parts of our lives: we have a good job, we think of better jobs. We have a nice car, we think of getting a better car. We have a nice house, we want a bigger house, and so on. I'm perfectly happy with my little system but I like to experiment and try different things with it. It's a hobby. I also dabble with model trains and I'm always adding things, running new locos, new scenery. It's fun but I don't look at it as 'never being happy.' To me, it's just part of the hobby itself. As long as I'm having fun, its all good.
Does doing what you enjoy immensely often make you a masochist? Depends, I suspect.
Obsessing about, changing systems is no more a "problem" in audiophilia than someone obsessing about collecting media. Mediaphilia, imo, can be as aberrant as obsession over the gear. I am certainly not weird, but Mediaphiles can be weird! ;)
I used to flip gear in search of the One, the perfect speaker/system. The masochistic aspect of it was self-imposed budget constraints, attempting to reach SOTA with a very modest budget cap. What's the definition of Insanity? (Please, I know the phrase; it's not necessary to respond to this rhetorical question.)
I finally woke up and realized that I never would be happy that way. I began to cultivate a collection of equipment to allow for variety of experiences. It has been a near perfect solution to RES, or Restless Ear Syndrome (my phrase to describe the condition of upgraditis), which can be carried out at the same cost as plowing money into an ultimately unsatisfying search for the One.
I get bored without progress, and I love the challenge of advancing a rig continuously. I also thrill to hear a performance become more engrossing, emotionally fulfilling, over the years. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that - as long as there is integrity in my relationship with my wife, maintaining my charitable giving, and I'm not blowing the rest of the budget. YMMV
It appears you're an active, busy guy. Your wife should look at the bright side. If you laid around on the couch all day drinking beer she'd say "you need to get a hobby!"
millercarbon...This is not an attack. I don't understand how a rider with a slower average speed than another rider, unless the slower rider travels a shorter distance, can win the race. It seems to me, that while it is unlikely that the racers would travel the exact same distance because of the path each takes; passing other riders, position in curves and the like, if it did happen that they traveled the exact same distance the rider with the greater average speed would win the race. I admit that I am not an expert in physics, so I may very well be wrong. I am interested in your response.
I think just like vanity your competitive instinct gets whittled way until you lose it completely, just an effect of aging. I cycle with my wife and we do some very challenging rides like the Mortirolo and Stelvio passes.
Not aware of where you live but those are beautiful rides so you are fortunate to be able to enjoy them both geographically and physically, and particularly to share the joy with your wife. My typical rides are relatively flat (although not as flat as Florida!) but last week I had the pleasure of visiting Glacier National Park in MT (USA) and riding both sides of the GTTSR, which is always a breathtaking event - both visually and literally - and just a small taste of the rides you mentioned. BTW, whatever your age, going down those climbs should rekindle your competitive instincts! 🚴🏻♂️ @bullitt5094 - Your wife should consider herself lucky to be with somebody who is passionate about life......the opposite would suck!
Anything under 10's is quick, under 9 and mid 8 is astonishingly so. I was playing, I would be very surprised if the modifications on a mid 8 second car would keep it road registered.
@bullitt5094
- I used to go the dragway, I have a reasonable idea of what you're car did, and seeing as you're an audiophile, I sure hope you had lots of hearing protection?? No doubt you did.
The top fuelers, now that was an almost out of body experience, nothing prepared me for that first warm up and pass - wow!
Maybe, just maybe, the term you were looking for is ouroboros or uroboros. It's an ancient symbol of a snake chasing its own tail. In a way it depicts the upgrade quest.
An ex-gf’s sister reminds me of what I imagine some audiophiles might be like. Whatever she does/experiences, she analyses. If she joined us for supper, she would be looking about and wondering out loud why things were in the places they were, why wait staff made the passes they did, why other diners looked or behaved as they did. When the meals arrived, she would tentatively taste and say, “Hmm, I’m trying to determine . . is that cinnamon? . . . or maybe ginger?!” She compares the food to multiple other versions she recalls from other restaurants and wonders why she isn’t enjoying this food as much as some others. She must ponder the differences.
After a bit, I am thinking, “I don’t care what’s in it, I’m not going to make it, I just want to enjoy it! If she doesn’t like it, she should return it and get something else instead of trying to reverse engineer the recipe to figure out what the components are. Can’t we just enjoy the food and talk of something pleasant?”
When it comes to music, I expect reviewers to discuss what equipment or recordings sound like and speculate why. That is what they do. But if I was just kicking back and enjoying music on my system, it would annoy me if someone said, “I have figured out what is not right here. You need a bass trap over there, maybe there, some ceiling panels, oh and behind you on that wall. It would improve the sound so much!” Great, now they have me considering the various deficiencies of my room (or equipment), and now I’m not enjoying it so much.
Can you imagine having sex like that? What a waste! Lol
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