Question: What are some of your best pieces of advise to someone new to the hobby?

I mentioned acoustic without (s) for years here...I forgot that in english the noun need an (s)... Written in the singular it is more an adjective and refer to "room acoustic" for example...

Witten with an (s) it refer to the science "acoustics"... It  what was i meaned to say all these years... But many read me as if i was speaking merely on room acoustic...

Acoustics , the science INCLUDE psycho-acoustic and neuro-acoustic  and not only material acoustic and great Hall acoustic architecture and small room acoustic control and design ...

The reason why audiophiles MUST STUDY acoustics concepts in general not only room acoustic is EVIDENT but rarely explained : No sound experience is understandable and describeable without these concepts... Most audio vocabulary refer to the gear system, for exemple "warm" and "cold" are associated to the gear alleged sound properties as with tubes or S.S. or dac and turntables,  ( which is preposterous because all pieces of gear differ especially coupled in different conditions or modified ) instead of refering to the "timbre" experience" which cannot be understood  anyway at all without understanding  the 5 conditions defining timbre in acoustics and their control in a space....

Then most audiophiles as i am, begun to be open completely victim of  marketing methods instead of being put  on the road to understanding ... Gear had no sound in itself only specific  potential characteristics manifested more or less , positively or negatively when coupled with other components and specific acoustic conditions ...

Tthe system /room had a sound quality and a synergy making it able to give some TIMBRE impressions ... The same is true for all spatial characteristic of sound and of immersiveness which is the relation between the sound source width and the listener envelopment... No gear possess these characteristics as claim marketing conditioning , only the specific  system/room/ears as a whole , working in a specific room for specific ears/brain,...

i am happy with my headphone/speakers system...

It is a low cost one well embedded acoustically,mechanically and electrically... I modified my speakers and my headphones too to reach the acoustic satisfaction minimal threshold which exist as exist a diminushing returns investment principle in audio ...

My system price in my acoustic designed corner in my basement cost me well under 1000 bucks... A member here just say to me that i am wrong to trust my ears and tuning process and that i must buy an electronic equalizer because in his opinion all i did is wrong , our ears are deceiver... 😁....

It is not that some people cannot admit their error and wrong doing, it is the fact that they cannot even figure out what they did wrong because they never studied nor experiment and confuse the EQ manual with real acoustic... And they thought that the price tag of the components tell the acoustic experience story...

The problem in the world is being able to admit his errors, most people can admit their errors save narcissist and psychopaths; the problem is that most people cannot even figure out how and why they are wrong to begin with then how can they admit anything ? ... Sincerity with ourself go a long way but studies and thinking with experiments goes a longer way... EQ is a useful tool and will never replace Acoustic treatment nor room tuning with resonators for example...

Price tag reveal some design quality level but will never predict by itself the ultimate sound experience of someone... We need complex embeddings optimization for that ...

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«The problem is once he had  admitted easily his recognized errors he missed anyway the sheer numbers of the unrecognized one » My Anonymus scientist wife 👩‍🔬

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Listening to EVERYTHING is perhaps a good idea at first but impossible for most anyway... Your room and needs will determine the type of speakers... And a speakers set dont sound the same in different room coupled with different components anyway...

Read about the way to embed any system and any component optimally in the electrical, mechanical and acoustical working dimensions... Begin with what you own now ...Dont upgrade if not necessary or if you dont know how to upgrade anyway , study and experiment...

Learn, study acoustic concepts , experiment with fun or pay for an endless rabbit hole of obsessions for a dreamed "perfection" ...

This hobby is about music learning  and acoustic experiments more than about upgrades and money...

I concur with ghdprentice and @stingray26 ...

+3

The problem when people say trust your ears not reviews is that our ears must be TRAINED...

Sound is not a taste question , save for those who think that a dac and an amplifier make the sound by themselves instead of the triplets : ears/speakers /room...And even here with this triplet it is more about acoustic in specific small room than taste... A good timbre and spatial sound experience is defined by acoustics not by taste...It is not based on price and gear as much as on acoustic ...

There is only 2 ways to train our ears VARIED musical listening and experience and acoustic concepts and experiments...

Upgrading dac and amplifier for "our taste" is a way to turn back on the road instead of facing the question : is this sound acoustically right about the timbre factor , listener envelopment and instrument sound volume extent (holography) ...Basically  ANY synergetical good dac and amplifier can do the job, why upgrading before knowing what we do just because we obey the hype ?

We must learn how to make possible this experience with synergetical components first yes but you must learn how to discern and control these factors too to some degree ideally... it is why nothing replace learning acoustic concepts... Beware , it is more than room treatment...

" Cynism and sarcasm are often the money of those who borrowed too much and never repaid"-- Anonymus

My brother is almost deaf and he once told me after seeing my audio system and almost laughing at me that we dont need an audio system to hear Bach... 😁

Experiment for fun at no cost...

Read about acoustics science... VERY IMPORTANT....

If not you will not know how to recognize all aspects of sound...

A dedicated room value is way more than any upgrade...

This hobby has nothing to do with "price tag" nor with "upgrades"...

This hobby is about embeddings controls ( homemade or at low cost ) of the three working dimensions ,mechanical ( vibrations and resonance), electrical ( signal/noise level) and especially acoustical one ( speakers/ears/room ) for ANY systems at ANY cost...

Look for synergy first creating a basically low price system commensurate with your wallet , then learn about all three working dimensions before any upgrade..

At the end the best system in the world in the scale optimal ratio Price/S.Q. will be ours and it will be the best,but why?

Because it will be more the result of your own creativity in learnings than the result of a big bank account ..

Experiment and dont listen anybody save acousticians and some top designers when they dont spoke about their products..

Users reviews in bulk have greater value than any pro- reviewer opinion...Read between the line and add all opinions details in various columns and analyse... This is especially valuable for low cost good vintage products...

Dont fall in the actual  dac money upgrade race  pit...😁

Human are designed by evolutive habit to recognize speech and musical designed sounds in a time oriented dimension not noise and non musical sounds ... Then learn music from all mankind not only music from your own culture.....

Music is the unspoken and silent speech of the soul.... The sound/body live and die but music is forever ...

Beware about the kind of music you will put in your head... music is vastly more powerful than you think and you will became what you will listen to...