Who has the Sickness, the Phile or the Non-phile?

Very few new movies are worth viewing...And i dont like any genres, i prefer a genius nevermind the genre...

Very few music offering beat the best of all that was already available ...Here too nevermind the genres or styles or cultural origin, only genius matter...

It is better for me to listen a mediocre  B- drama series from Korea to learn about the long history of Korea between china and japan and the difference in outlook between confucianism and buddhism it is way better than listening a mediocre  B -drama series from hollywood with no content ...

 In the same way instead of listening a new  popular guitar player nowadays why not listening a genius and master of sitar as Nikhil Banerjee ? or master Ostad elahi ? or many others...

 

Curious. Do most people only watch certain movie genres like they only listen to a handful of musicians? 

 

Yes for sure acoustical field is a sound experience in itsef....

But my favorite music , from any genre, cultures, styles, touch the brain , the heart and the body , in some ratio which is different in each case...

One of the greatest experience in my life was listening Scriabin ...

But it was badly recorded...Till this day my favorite interpretation is badly recorded... But very few pianist are able to play Scriabin...

Then sound experience is one thing , music powerful impact transcend sound...

 

In general a beautiful sound is not enough to reach ectasy for me...

And there is a big difference between enjoying funny and -pleasurable sounds and be transformed in its being by a musical experience...

This does not occur each week... We do not discover Gesulado or Scriabin or bach etc each week...Or a great  divine musician...

Or the greatest master of the tanbur for example  : Ostad Elahi...

 

@mahgister

Look, another acousti-file joined the club!

Sometimes, the music that is being played becomes secondary. This could be some kind of an ancient phenomena, because there is so many types of music the value of which is not given by beauty or intellectual content, and they have only an acoustical effect.

@mahgister

Look, another acousti-file joined the club!

Sometimes, the music that is being played becomes secondary. This could be some kind of an ancient phenomena, because there is so many types of music the value of which is not given by beauty or intellectual content, and they have only an acoustical effect.

I perfectly understand you...

But you just touched a very sensible matter...

A matter very difficult to explain and debate without vexing someone...

Music is not like the color taste for the room paint...

our taste of colors are generally more static and will not change much... Our interpretation of colors is also revelatory in some test...

 

But music express the consciousness history of humanity....The word "taste" here does not implicate the same meaning content as in car choices or colors...

The way we can enter in this consciousness history imply an "education" a formal one or not...

Then the main difference in music for me is not between genres and styles , mainly between classical music being it Josquin Des prez or Scriabin taste, nor Jazz being it New Orleans or Hard bop or free jazz etc , no more between Japan or India or Persia or Brazilian music or turkisch one.... Pygmies chant or Yoruba drummings...

All this is not industrially fabricated music, but music created in a TRADITION , cultural and musical tradition...

Fabricated music display different levels of "fabrication" because there is great musician even in fabricated music...I even appreciate some for few minutes... 😊 But generally i go away from any "fabricated music" , i will not gave exemple here, because it is too complicated and debatable because there is genius musician even in "fabricated music" and there is levels of " fabrication" ...My point is not about judging people ...

My point is about the necessity to educate our spontaneous tastes in something: an experience in a journey that will reflect from humanity consciousness our own consciousness for ourself in our own personal history...

Music is way more than a "thirst" that must be satisfied...Or a Hunger for beautiful sounds...

it is a meditation even for those who dont meditate...

We can meditate in silence or with music... We can observe and feel how music change our body physiology... And our mind set...How music open the door of consciousness more smoothly than "drugs" ...

We can ask ourself why pigmies choral music so much moved us and why Bruckner symphonies has so much "cinematic" content, how Jazz can relax us so much because of his freedom invitation, why is chinese music so poetical near nature and why ragas are so meaningful for the soul ?

Understanding that we begin to think that all mankind is one and only ONE...There is no more tastes here and no more rejection... Save that it is difficult at some point to enjoy for a long time  more than a song catched in the radio of fabricated music even with a genius singer and musician behind... I dont put folk music and poetry in "fabricated" music for sure...

I apologize if i irritate someone here, but at the end there is not much taste in music , only preferences in listening time duration ... Did i love much Scriabin than pygmies choral chants or the reverse ? Not at all.... These two different world come from the human soul directly...

 

I’m an almost-exclusively-classical-music listener. Even if I knew any other audiophiles or audiophile clubs, their various musical tastes would undoubtedly send me reeling out of the room in disgust. I’ve learned long ago that whatever you might recommend to others, they aren’t likely to hear or perceive anything the way you do. And though I live with somebody I dearly love, I wouldn’t dream of subjecting her to my very exclusive taste in music...which is why I’ve put together the best possible headphone-only system I can barely afford. When she fires-up some crappy old pop tunes on YouTube, I just grin and bear it, and wait till she gets it out of her system. That’s what love will do. She has an idea of the many thousands of dollars I’ve spent on my headphone rig...and yet has never had the slightest desire to have a listen.

So...I don’t know if being an audiophile is a "disease" or not, but it seem to be a fairly solitary pursuit these days. Anyway, I’m happy with it and need no validation from others.

Welcome in the club ... 😊

There are many audio philes types (objectivist-subjectivist who are gear focussed and others like me acoustic- phile) and many non audio philes types ( as many musicians , many music lovers or silence- philes ) ...There is even mix between these types...

The sickness is to label people and class them in a binary opposition..

Just my 2 cent...

No need for a poll... 😊

 

«The first sickness was lended to the one who was different from  the group» Anonymus contemporary  disciple of Hippocrates

Music has a content of his own: melody,rythm,harmony, tonality, atonality, polytonality, Chromatism, harmonics....

Acoustic has a content of his own: Timbre acoustic translation, localization in space, immersiveness, dynamic, transients, direct/reflected/ diffuse waves, reverberation time, head and ears coupling to the speakers  ,holographical distribution of sound sources etc

 

Two experiences completely different that meet one another in a music hall architecture...Not necessarily in an audio system for many musicians who are workers of their trade or too immersed in the live music playing experience to seat and be passively involved in buying costly gear... Their instrument matter way more...

I am handicapped because i dont play any instrument, and sound speak to my eye and tell a story...but i am not musically trained... i listen Scriabin to feel a "buzz" as powerful as drug....I "see" a Bruckner symphony exactly as we see a movie... I can describe all chords as part of a complex story...

It is why i add to music vocabulary and albums the vocabulary of acoustic to "clarify" my music experience as a sound seeing experience too...

I dont think that my audio system at 700 bucks is a waste... 😊 In the opposite compared to it , many systems may be a waste...

And i am not sure that i will go with the consumers masses...😁

I dont listen much movies and when i listened them their musical "content" in general with few exceptions is enough for me on my computer...

I dont need an A. I. wired house with one musical system in each room...

Music is more a sacred hour for me in a sacred place than a 24/24 hearing moment in all rooms ...My wife listen only to silence... 😁

Then stereo system + BACCH filters can make obsolete home theater system and music in each rooms at least for me...

When the masses will go to hell, i will go to heaven... I joke here... 😉

 

I appreciate the reply, you are an excellent wordsmith and yes, I may have been a bit dramatic :).

Going back to the OP, I believe the "phile" has the sickness because both the demographics and technology of audio reproduction has changed. Investing heavily in a two channel system is a waste when compared to investing in a high end home theater and a smart home. Both the sales data I posted and the link to mixonline data (above Elvis) shows this is the direction that both the consumers and the producers of todays media content are going. 😎

 

Most people like music , they are sensible to melody and rythm...

They only perceive melody and rythm flowing and beating in TIME and in their body ...

This melody or this beat affect them , anywhere when they listen to it again , on any type of system , most the times bad sound systems... it does not matter to them because the rythm and melody they like are RECOGNIZED AND FELT...

 

Some people love music so much they did not hear it only in TIME and in their body but in SPACE... They see it.. they like not only the RECOGNIZEABLE melody and the rythm but they hear and want to hear the "timbre" experience , they want to be "immersed" in the musical event , with all spatial dimensions of the sound, they wanted to be included in the music flows... ...

It is the texture of the sound that affect them , and his disposition in space....Not a mere favorite set of recognized melodies and rythm...

 

Some people are obsessive compulsive in character they will set a goal and they will stay unsatisfied because their goal is not acoustical so much , as a goal related to the gear components themselves... They will appreciate any change in sound texture and dynamic , but without acoustic knowledge and more focusssed on the gear performance, they will upgrade without end.... Price, appearance, design specs, will matter more than the embeddings of the gear in his acoustical space...

 

Acoustic is the end line and starting line.... The gear piece are only tools in this acoustic journey...For me and for many others...

 

Is music more than melody and rythm ? Yes music is also an harmonic and acoustic phenomena .... Scriabin is not melodic , Shonberg is atonal, an indian raga obey other rules of tonalities and rythm, A didjeridoo cannot be listen to nor a gong in the same way a classical orchestra must be listen too or a Bob Dylan songs ...A small free jazz ensemble is not a set of german dance music with beers...

There are audiophile using their improved sound experience who will explore world music , and they are those who are satisfied by which they had already recognized all their life and what they already know...

They are many kind of audiophiles...

For example , i dont give a damn about home theater because i dont listen much movies and anyway i am not very attracted to movie sound effects or movie music...Even with much money i would build an acoustic room for music but not a home theater... As you see they are many kind of audiophiles... Many more species than the main one i enumerated here...

I was an audiophile for 10 years to realize my dream of a good sound system to serve my musical various appetites .... Acoustic had reveal to me the only road toward satisfaction , a hard road in learning how to hear and how to listen .... Now i use headphones , i am lucky , to have picked the right one after the lost of my dedicated room...

I know which can be the only possible real upgrade for my system ... It cost many more than all my system.... Happily i am satisfied and i did not know if i will be able to upgrade or not but this does not matter anymore after reaching the minimal treshold of acoustic satisfaction... It is an acoustic treshold determined by objective factors not a price tag treshold determined by marketing...

 

 

Half musicians are workers who dont need an audiophile system... The other half of the musicians need an audiophile system... my statistic is metaphorical here but the difference in the musicians crowds reflect the difference in the general population why ?

Because music is one thing , acoustic is another thing... They can blend or they can be set apart... Some people need the two , some need only one, and some people dont need any of the two...

 

 

 

 

 

I love music ...

I prefer a good sound than a bad sound with the same music...

I decided to create my own audiophile experience...

I studied and experimented with acoustic after buying a basic good system...

I succeeded ...

I lost my acoustic room... One year ago...

I decided to try to create an headphone system , if different , as satisfying as my speakers/room..

I succeeded...

I never LISTEN TO THE GEAR first and last ...

I listen to acoustic first and last and learned how to listen in the process......

Thats my secret to reach ectasy...

i am a music lover and not really an audiophile anymore because i succeeded ...

Obsession with the gear reflect often ignorance of acoustic and the way to control the soundfield in a room...

 

To answer your question half of audiophiles are neurotic collectors, and half of non audiophiles dont love the music enough to move their ass to  improve the sound quality... life is complex sorry... There is no smplistic answer to your question ... Even my answer is simplistic... 😊