If there’s an audiophile exit ramp, this ain’t it…

@redwoodaudio,
I just want to enjoy the music.


I think we all do.

Unfortunately we seem to be infected by a virus for which there is no known cure.

Just when and where this infection occured is not known but complete recovery is virtually unheard of.

In fact now there's even an entire industry of magazine reviewers/snake oil salesmen dedicated to ensuring that this never happens.

Very much similar to the way big pharma promotes dependency and shuns cure is the way a final system has not yet been discovered.


Not even after some 70 years of domestic audio.


The symptoms are as follows.
Worrying about the equipment - CD players, turntables, amplifiers, power supplies, cables, loudspeakers etc.

Then there's aspects such as equipment resonance issues, speaker placement, room effects etc.

Turntables really deserve a separate entry when it comes to audio nirvosa (arms, cartridges, alignment, tracking, maintenance etc)

As if all of that wasn't enough there's are at least 2 additional layers of complexity that must be navigated - namely format and mastering.

Just these could take years to conclude.
Example: which Beatles mastering is best?

Is it the original UK vinyl? Or the Japanese, Canadian, German, US or even the DESS needledrops?

If so, then which box?
The Blue Box or the MFSL?
Or is it the privately exchanged R2R copies knocking around? Or even cassettes?

What about the 2012 vinyl remasters or the all analogue 2014s?
Then there's the tricky question of authenticity, ie mono v stereo.

Wasn't stereo a mere afterthought for most of the 1960s as far as 'popular' music went?

Or perhaps it's the 1987s CDs after all. They now seem to be preferred to some of the 2009 digital remasters - but exactly which ones, the mono, the stereo or the USBs?

Or maybe it's the GM 2017, 2018 and 2021 remixes?

Perhaps this quesion will tantalisingly forever hang in the balance?

At least until the definitive 75th anniversary release of the entire catatalogue...and you thought you had problems.

@sumaato,
My off-ramp was to get off where I began!
The story ended where it began.
Obviously, my audio taste, both aurally and aesthetically was formed 52 years ago



These are all comments that strike a resonance with me too.

One evening some 40 odd years ago I heard a record playing system blasting out of a window whilst I was playing outdoors.

It must have been set on repeat as I remember the same acoustic songs cinjng round again and again.
There was something so colourful about the tonality that it seemed to pierce into my mind.

With each passing decade I'm becoming increasingly convinced that my entire audio journey has been mainly about recapturing a similar sensation as experienced that evening.

Of course, like any seasoned audiophile, I like to tell myself that I'm primarily interested in good source materials/mastering, loudspeakers with good frequency/impulse response/bandwidth/spatial effects/ dispersion etc.

However, in the end it always comes back to timbre and tonality. The very two things that I fell in love with all those years ago.

Your post certainly made me reflect. I guess that at least for some of us it's not always easy to know just what it is that we are really looking for.

So thank you for sharing your story.