The Snob Appeal Premium

My system is as humble as your own ...

Dont feel shame the relation between musical nirvana and sound perfection is not linear nor directly related...

My "virtual room" motto is :

Top Hi-fi audiophile experience for the not wealthy...

I am dead serious about it...

😊

By the way only ignorant people will claim that their audio system is superior to anyone else because of price especially if their audio system as most system are in living room with few if any acoustical embeddings controls..

There is evident exception , go see mikelavigne virtual system...His room acoustic is the main factor for me...I know that his system is TOP... But many other flashy one dont touch it... And my modest system is not too far behind those that dont touch it anyway... 😊

The other reason is hearing is so complex and synergetical windows of coupled components so complex and variable too especially if we add the various embeddings situation and devices around them , that bragging about the design superiority of amplifier over another less costly one but relatively good one is preposterous presented as for everyone the ONLY solution...

“ With over a million essential moving parts, the
auditory receptor organ, or cochlea, is the most
complex mechanical apparatus in the human
body”
Hudspeth, A.J. 1985. The cellular basis of hearing: The biophysics of hair cells. Science

And the minimal S. Q. satisfaction threshold is relatively easy to grab, modulo embeddings control with basic knowledge and relatively good basic components at low price, especially TOP vintage of the past...

I’ve always been aware that my gear is humble compared to many systems here. As far as I’m concerned I don’t care if anyone thinks my audio indulgences are ridiculous. They are not in comparison to many friends hobbies. Their hobbies are way more expensive…. Boats , ski trips , trips in general.

I like to travel but I have no problem spending what a trip would cost on a really good component or speakers. It’s tangible and will give me many years of enjoyment

My answer will be complex because you are right and wrong at the same times..

Yes we own our own ears inner filters each different from other person , our heads dimensions and ears distance and geometry differ too...

Our personal listening and hearing history differ too..

Then we had each one of us our biases ... You are right on this ...

( it is the reason why, ultimately small room acoustic COULD BE tailored made for ONE pair of ears and is very different in acoustic application from great Hall acoustic, as headphone measured for Smyth realizer or for the Choueri Filters must be very specifically tailored made experience for one specific pair of ears )

But where you are not completely right here, it is by the omission of acoustic and psycho-acoustic laws or principles which are the same for everyone..

The only way to learn which is timbre , apart for recognizing a good timbre subjectively by memory and training , is learning how to control the acoustic factors modifying it... it is the same for all other aspects, as dynamics, transients, imaging differentiation , soundstage varying dimensions , holographic volume of sound source , immersiveness etc each of these factors cannot be understood if we do not learn, not only how to recognize them, but how to modify them...

How can we experience immersiveness, the most important factor with Timbre, which is a very specific acoustic factors defined by ratios of timing, and distance , and ratios of reflective/diffusive/absorbing surfaces, and relative to the pressure zones specific dynamic in the room , and balance ratios between sound sources and the listener position , etc ?

It is the reason why it is acoustic and psycho-acoustic which is at the center of audio experience FIRST , not the gear electrical performance as Objectivist claims erroneously or apparent sound performance and qualities and their price tags as subjectivist claims erroneously ...

Snobism is based on two factors : ignorance of what is really important and exclusion of those who dont recognize the arbitrary factors constituting snobism as a selected club where some sheep thinking around a secondary factor is elevated to idol status...Objectivist and subjectivism may become snobism clubs based on different orientation which can be meaningful when relativized but whose meaning is erased in quarrelling meaninglessness..

Then acoustician cannot be snobs nor could we think they are only because they know better than objectivists or subjectivists..

The right answer in audio is this one : use your ears to verify information and to train them but base your journey on experiments more than just purchases of consumers good ...

«I snob myself a lot »--Groucho Marx 🤓

«Sound are subjective qualitative experience of sound sources and informative one about localization and time and they are not reducible to be mere waves or illusions»--Anonymus acoustician

«I see better eyes closed when playing»--Harpo Marx🧐

 «Sounds are like animals in a room , i track them »--Indian drum player

@mahgister (IMHO) recognizing ‘good sound’ on a superficial level is about hearing sounds you’re most familiar with. So human vocals. Maybe an instrument if you’re a musician. How does that sound coming out of the speakers compare to the ‘real thing’? You may entirely disagree with me and value bass or soundstage or micro details. There’s no wrong answer. Only snobs think that they have the right answer. It’s subjective I guess.

The biggest bargain in my audio life are not my 20 bucks miraculous good dac, nor my two Sansui Amplifiers nor my 50 bucks Mission Cyrus speakers...

It is the AKG k340 a mythical headphone that most people are unable to figure out and drive well... It takes me 6 months to do it and optimize them...

I dont know if they are the best headphone ever designed but i think so for evident reason...

Because they are old they were discarded as TOP headphone now, i paid 100 bucks for this misunderstood complex design compared to most headphones on the market ...

Incredible...

Top high end for peanuts when optimized... They beat anything i ever listen to ( speakers included) ...

But beware they cannot reveal their potential right out of the box sorry... I even read the patent to understand how they work...

Each evening i entered in sonic paradise...thanks to Dr. Gorike who beat even the Stax omega with this gem...Seismic bass and celestial highs with natural voices and " out of the head" soundstage especially with well recorded classical music..

With  them i listen to the recording as if i was there not to my head cinema... I disliked any other headphone i ever listen to for too much many reasons to enumerate them ...

Most speakers in a living room cannot beat them ...

Indeed, and skewing the segment of products (from hi-fi to pro) brings with it yet another, big advantage in going "below radar" to acquire some true bargains.

I understand your point...

I will only correct you a bit, i am here for a long time, and the distribution of snobs and idiots or geniuses obey the same Bell-Gauss curves...I estimated the number of snobs to be under 50%...but it is a subjective impression...

I then will evaluate the number of snobs in any set as probalitistically less than half... But Porsche club being very different than hot dog eater club, or slightly different than audio forums, i will give you some right to say so...And i will only correct you for 15 to 25 % under your first estimate of 80%...Because audio club are not hot dog eater club nor Porsche club... The number of snobs is higher in Porsche club...Here the population varieties spread is more well mixed...

I am retired and i like to discuss... Dont take it personal ...

Welcome here with or without Porsche...

Anyway i only own Bugatti aerolithe 1934 models by the way...Porsche are too much trivial... 😊 We dont plan to create a club, we are  a way too exclusive club to be named "club"... ...

orry to lump those afflicted with audiophilia into one bucket but it is safe to say it is a high percentage, 80%. Most of the guys at my local Porsche club are elitist snobs too.

You are not even wrong..

The problem is putting all people in a category and judging them all in the same way...

Pidgeon do that, not human brain...

I am an audiophile and i am not in your one sticker category...

But perhaps i am an a-holes...But i am not a snob... We need a binary tree here...But i think a graph will do better...

😊

Audiophiles are nasty snobs period, articles have been written on the subject asking why this is so, why so many are a-holes. I think the wannabe audiophiles are the worst.

Audiophile snobs are those who list their entire system (with prices) whenever the opportunity presents itself in a thread.

I agree with Mike Lavigne , while I never had a Porche, my Vette doesn’t get much use .... my humble system does get used daily, every day. Much better value and ROI for sure.