(again) proposal to measure sound quality for many people in $$$ is ABSURD!
Do you agree with John Atkinson (and me)?
Point 1: In the recent thread entitled ’How much is too much to spend on a system?’, I contributed this comment: "The hi-fi shouldn’t be worth more than one’s music library." I said that half-jokingly, a wisecrack that I knew might be disagreed with.
Point 2: In the 1990’s I became a regular customer at the Tower Records Classical Music Annex store in Sherman Oaks, California. The store manager knew a LOT about Classical music, but also made no secret of his distain for audiophiles, whom he viewed as caring more about the sound quality of recordings than their musical quality.
Point 3: In the early days of The Absolute Sound magazine, the writers occasionally mocked audiophiles who had a serious high end system, but whose record collections merely consisted of a small number of "demo" discs. Those audiophiles collect records that make their systems sound good, rather than assemble a system that makes their records sound good.
I make the above points as a preamble to the following:
In the past few months I have fallen behind in my reading of the monthly issues of Stereophile that arrive in my mailbox. Yesterday I finally got around to reading the editorial in the January issue, written by John Atkinson (filling in for current editor Jim Austin, who is recuperating from surgery, I believe). The final two paragraphs of the editorial read as follows:
"Back in the day, I did an analysis of Stereophile reviewers’ systems. The common factor was that all the reviewers’ collections of LPs and CDs cost a lot more than their systems. The same is true of me, even in these days of streaming."
"Isn’t that the way it should be for all music-loving audiophiles?"
Well, is it?
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A lot of great comments here. In my case, the LPs and CDs I already possess would take me more time to listen to than I have time left on Earth. Yet I continue to buy more used and new ones. I love records! I also love good sound, but my system is now "good enough" for me, so I can just relax and enjoy the music. No more audiophile nervosa.
An old San Jose band mate of mine (a bassist) visited me in SoCal in the mid-2000’s, and when he saw my pair of Infinity RS-1b’s said "Ya know, people don’t have big speakers anymore." I thought to myself "Most never did." I subsequently visited him in San Jose, and saw that he listens to music through his computer, including it’s stock speakers. Oy! He had seen my LP and CD collection, and told me all his LP’s were in the storage space in his carport. What a shame.
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@bdp24 Get him a pair of Yamaha HS8 powered monitors and a Yamaha WXC-50 (streamer+dac+preamp). That should do the trick. (A friend in need is a friend indeed.)
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BDP24 My Qobuz subscription is $17.99 per month (less with an annual subscription), add a really good streamer for $6,000 plus or minus. I do still have several hundred CDs hanging around. The rest of my system is worth 10 times that amount, and I don't miss physical media at all. I do love the romantic idea of albums, but starting from scratch (and with my gear preferences) I'm not going down that road at my age
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