Are all Audiophiles masocists?

Experience vs analysis, love and hate, pleasure and pain.

Why is human experience always linked and limited in such opposing ways?

Why can't we simply enjoy books and films in a purely visceral way without worrying too much about plot, direction or themes?

Why can't we have drugs that give nothing but untrammelled pleasure without any fallout?

Or sufficient amounts of alcohol without a hangover?

Or unlimited fast food without weight gain or sugar issues?

Did God make a mistake or is evolution only a work in progress?

The only two great pleasures in life that we can luxuriate in that don't have unfortunate side effects seem to be sex and music, as long as we take a bit of care with cueing up.

Perhaps there's some common link between these two great passions.

I bet Freud would say that audiophilia is a mere fetish. What might he say about tonearms I don't want to know...or the audiophile games people play. Or maybe we should ask Eric Berne, or even Joe South?

Or perhaps, just maybe, as long we can concentrate mainly on the music and not the means, ultimately the love of music is the greatest, most universal, least harmful pleasure of them all?

Something worth getting just a little obsessed about. So I don't think we're necessarily masochists as we know what we want but we do seem to have a lot stacked against don't we? 

Unfortunately that only becomes apparent at a later date as you eventually realise the record companies are not on your side, nor are most reviewers, and that the perfect playback you were looking for is not even a remote option, at any price.

Now if only you were aware of all that before you began...would you still do it?

@asvjerry,
Are we masocists? *L* Yup. We keep getting up in the morning.... ;)"


Every moment of existence is priceless.
Every single one.

No matter how bad things get, there is always something to look forward to.

There has to be.

Hope is truly the most wonderful thing.
I don’t see how else we’ve made it all these millions of years.

We might all be partial masochists but we’re also life’s greatest optimists. Probably even too much much for our own good.

Somehow we never seem to get tired of wishing and searching.

@asvjerry,

One of the worst things that can happen to an audiophile is some form of component failure.

Anything from a blown tweeter/driver to a recklessly damaged stylus can have an unusually proportional effect upon your mood.

I think I must have become complacent until a few weeks ago when my system began to lose signal in the left channel.

I tried various stuff, a different channel on the amp, checking the interconnects (horrible thick and ridiculously tight) and reversing and tightening the speaker cables etc. All would work for a while but the next time, same problem of a silent left speaker.

In the end I discovered that the volume dial on the amp was getting a little flaky. It might need cleaning or replacing soon but anyway it reminded me just how easy it is to lose your peace of mind when it comes to audio.

I used to pity my friends and family who’d get distraught when their car got the mildest of scratches, but now I can’t the volume dial out of my mind.

Is it serious, is affecting the sound, is it a sealed unit, can it be cleaned? Etc

Anyway, I can laugh about a little now, but a few years ago it would have been a real downer for me.

No, you’ve got to be good to yourself (don’t watch the news, it’s always bad eg Diana Rigg) and somehow try to address the stuff you might worry about.

Can’t wait around for someone else to do it.