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What do "audiophiles" use to judge equipment?

The hypothesis: "Audiophiles" are mostly techno-cats who listen with their eyes - they read reviews and look at spec sheets... END. That is my opinion and I'd like to hear from music lovers who do NOT look at the specs; who do not get their info from forums like this - where you cannot HEAR the music but you can READ about the music - well, maybe a few of you can read music, right? Are there any others who trust their own ears and go into a music store and BUY something without the psychological hand-holding of a forum or spec sheet?
cmariner1

Showing 1 response by calvinandhobbes

calvinandhobbes
272 posts
 
Like with any other product, there are likely to be different segments of even "audiophile" buyers. My observations of audiophiles is that there are at least several likely "audiophile" segments that have different drivers and processes for purchasing:

  1. Specs: purchasing based on how equipment "objectively" measures.
  2. Visuals: purchasing based on how equipment looks. May overlap with the next segment in that impressive visuals might overlap with higher price as a means to impress others.
  3. Higher Price: Based on a perception that higher price = better sound "quality" or higher price = more impressive to others.
  4. Reviews: The latest and greatest well reviewed product is exciting to this crowd.
  5. Listening: Equipment either sounds good or it doesn’t.
IMHO, #5 is the cheapest way to a good sounding system. Expensive equipment doesn’t always sound better. Less expensive equipment doesn’t always sound worse. Lots of good audio values out there if you use your ears.

In terms of reviews, well...I find reviews entertaining, but there's no substitute for listening. Plenty of "well-reviewed" gear has sounded surprisingly bad to me. Perhaps that gear was good from the perspective of "objective" audiophile metrics, but what they produced was not music.
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