Are you too old to be an audiophile?


DISCLAIMER: This is not meant to be offensive in anyway, just something I've always been curious about and thought it would make for some interesting responses.

One of the things about audiophiles I've always wondered is how they reconcile their age, and the scientific fact that their hearing isn't what it used to be, with their belief they can can hear all the nuances of high end gear, and even the cables. As we age we lose our ability to hear mainly in the higher frequencies. You know that high pitched sound older CRT televisions and some recessed lighting can make? No? Neither do my parents.
Thoughts?
farjamed

Showing 1 response by pixelphoto

I got back into audio about three years ago. I'm 67 years young and wear hearing aids. I'm amazed and happy that I can hear more than I thought I could. Last year I had my audiologist program one of three channels without noise filtering or compression. He couldn't understand why I wanted to do this. So I used the analogy of the MP3 music file. He still didn't get it. Any way he reluctantly made the adjustment. Because of that adjustment I'm able to hear more music. Every audiologist I've encountered don't know a dam thing about adjusting hearing aids for listing to music. They always assume I'll being listening at to high a SPL.

Despite wearing aids I'm able to discern changes in my system when I apply a tweak, change cables, crystals etc. The main reason I'm able to discern these changes is as Elizabeth said I "listen". Unfortunately many people assume because I wear aids I don't hear well enough to really appreciate music. And when I tell them I'm a audiophile the response is, "a what". When I attempt to explain the joy I experience from this great hobby they look back and forth from my face to my hearing aids with a disbelieving look. So I no longer bother, I don't have time to waste; I have too much music to LISTEN to.