Why Don't More People Into Music Reproduction At Home Play Around With Musical Instruments

I play Blues Harp I'm not Little Walter though.

My post on page one stands the test of time.   

The one thing I would add, if someone did want to learn to play a musical instrument the one they should choose above all is the harmonica. A really good one can be had for only about $50. Small enough to fit in your pocket. Good enough, and with enough volume, to entertain a group of people. Yet with enough range to be played quietly.  

Harmonica calls for all the same breath control and embouchure skills as other wind instruments. All the same vibrato, note bending, and dynamic shadings apply. It is a genuine musical instrument, with tremendous range. You can learn to play Oh Susannah within minutes, then spend a lifetime trying to master it. Which like all instruments you never will do. But unlike all the others, you will have a lot more fun in the process- and a lot less complaints from the neighbors. 

For me, playing music and listening to music are parallel interests. I seldom equate one with the other on a judgmental level. Yeah, when I go to a concert I'm constantly playing the "Is it live or is it Memorex" game.  But when I'm playing, it puts me in an emotional place where the sound quality is a given.

Too much work with no practical benefit.
No interest. 
Too much time spent becoming proficient. 
Incongruous to sound of most recordings. 
Money wasted that could be applied to system or media.
Potential to skew system sound and accept underdeveloped quality. 

I have known too many musicians, and it does not translate to superior systems automatically.  I would not turn to one to build a rig.   

"In the pursuit of music reproduction in the home it is my firm belief that you must listen to live music every now & again so that you know & understand how real music,with real instruments,in real physical spaces sounds..."

Although I've only been into audio for the past twenty years or so, I've been playing guitar (both acoustic and electric) steadily since the mid-seventies. Not once has it ever ocurred to me to utilize the sound of a guitar "in a real physical space" as a benchmark for my audio system. 

As a player, I'm acutely aware that there are potentially millions of different "real" instrument sounds. Ask twenty players to play the same instrument and you will get twenty different "real" sounds. Same thing goes with "real physical spaces"-- play the same guitar in twenty different settings and odds are, you'll hear a lot of variation. So who determines the benchmark, when there are so many potential possibilities? 

@tomic601 

The mikes I used for this recording are modified Oktava MK-012 mikes.  The mod is supposed to make them into a clone of the Neumann KM84.   The guy (Michael Joly) who did the mod gave it up in 2018.   It's a very popular mod and chances are you can find a used pair as I did.   I paid $600 for the pair.

I don't do enough location work to justify dropping the $2000+ it takes to get something like a pair of real Neumann mikes.  So far I'm happy with these.

I started playing fingerstyle acoustic guitar when I retired about 6 years ago.  I agree with some of the other posters - very challenging to play an instrument with any proficiency.  I'm certainly not proficient, but I have fun and it's something I wanted to do since I'm a kid (not learning would have been a regret), and an activity that hopefully I can continue to do as I ripen and mature. 

As another poster mentioned - there are some really nice boutique guitars out there.  It's no problemo to spend $5k on an acoustic guitar. Sort of like high end audio gear, I've gotten into  buying and selling boutique guitars - just a few a year.  If you know what you're doing you should only lose hundreds, not thousands when you sell a guitar :-).  But just as in audio, if you don't you'll get hosed.  It's amazing to play beautiful instruments.   Music is spiritual.

Love of music is certainly the common denominator between playing and listening for me.  Different sides of the same line.  I love my nice stereo system and have had many iterations over the past 35 years.  My kids were brought up with jazz playing 24x7 in our home when they were young.  My son is a fine musician today and my daughter - not so much.    

for those interested in a great portable recorder, I can highly recommend the ZOOM H6, for the digitalphobic a Revox A-77 and two decent mics….and away you go. …

@russbutton exactly the path i went down by building a mobile recording rack, partnered  up w local recording studio / engineer / musical artist ( via Patreon  )……

Love your recording and the performance:-) what mics did you use ?

great contribution you made

there is always the Tambourine…man

Now, that, I might be able to handle Jim 😄

there is always the Tambourine…man

i am just a retired Economist. Engineering is simple, so now i dabble in Quantum computing…..

because snark does not always translate well, Engineering isn’t simple…

@guidocorona what a wonderful post you make anf offer of help. Grace and peace to you.

I’m a visual artist and designer. I think one of the reasons I like and respect music and musicians so much is their ability to play their instruments. I learned a very long time ago that I just didn’t ‘get it’. It was in third grade, when we learned the basics of music on a plastic ‘flutophone’. I started OK, but as we went along, I realized I just didn’t understand it, and faked it the rest of the course.

When it comes to artistic endeavors, I do not like to participate unless I can do it well. I can do visual arts and design well, music? Not so much.

I’m OK with that. Again, probably one of the reasons I adore those who can.

One of the strange things that happens when I suggest Audiogon'ers support local music programs is the number of people who come on and say you don't need to teach music, people just magically know it or don't.

But still, I persist.

We need to fund education, including music programs if we want to be worthy of being called leaders.

I'm a retired semiconductor engineer. I'm also keyboard, bass and guitar musician (order of competency) and have played professionally (classic rock, blues, originals) on and off. I also work on instruments (primarily repair and restoration of Hammond organs and Leslie tone cabinets) as well as stereo equipment. I have recording studio in my home (pro ATC active monitors). My older son, 24, is a professional EDM musician; headlining an outdoor festival this weekend in the forest just south of Flagstaff, AZ. My younger son is also an aspiring EDM musician. My wife enjoys playing our Steinway piano.

All of my professional musician friends think my stereo systems are silly. My sons, even they grew up around great stereo sound, have no desire to own anything that isn't relatively portable. I applaud them for their relatively non-materialistic lifestyle.

Here's a link from Dr John's Cheapskate Audio Blog with a review on Musicians as Audiophiles from a few years ago at Stereophile Magazine:
https://cheaptubeaudio.blogspot.com/2020/05/click-to-enlarge.html?fbclid=IwAR0uCEx_pzSVdl-XJAlwIc-Sn...

I want to play like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KsYa5gOdT0

Or, like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T10dDr35hck

She's not too shabby either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7-JRUyKV08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv5w--YW850

stu -- As both a crazed audiophile and a crazed amateur musician I agree with a lot of what you say, but the bottom line for me is that the two passions largely remain separate pastimes despite the fact they allow me to worship at the same altar -- music.   Sure, the two pastimes do indeed interact on certain practical levels.  Music I relentlessly listen to on my stereo has indeed led me to buy a new instrument or attempt to play in a new style.  But I also graciously accept the fact that I'll never out-Clapton Clapton or out-Horowitz Vladimir Horowitz.  

I currently practice piano about 1 to 1.5 hours a day.  First 20 minutes of scales, circle of fifths, and pieces from Hanon.  Next 20 minutes of site read playing and playing those pieces to a metronome for timing.  Then the remaining time is divided into some jazz pieces (currently Gershwin brothers' The Man I Love playing  2 measures repeated 20 times at 60 BPM and then Tchaikovsky's Opus 23 and playing 3 measures played 20 times at 55 BPM).  As many said, it really takes self discipline and fortitude to be just an "ok" player.  I am barely an "ok" player.  

I have been taking lessons every week since 2010.  I took a 40 year piano hiatus. I am in software AI research.  My older son used to play piano and is now in the high school marching band and symphonic orchestra (percussion - marimba, xylophone, tympani, synthesizer, and other odd instruments like a Ford Mustang drum brake!).  My wife plays violin; she used to teach; I don't like playing with her...she is too smart.  She site reads like its no body's business and can also play by ear....drives me insane how fast she picks things up  (she is a physician).  Our younger son took 5 years of piano lessons; now he plays alto and tenor saxophone for middle school jazz band. He still plays piano everyday.  Wife and I don't push the kids to practice. They play because they like playing.

I don't consider myself an audiophile despite perhaps having a lot of equipment that might, at one time, have been audiophile grade equipment from ages back (Sota Saphire/ET2/Shelter 901, Wavestream Kinetics phono and line preamps, Moore Franklin - MFA 200C tube amps, the Siegfried Linkwtiz LX Mini speakers with the recent added woofers and the Linkwitz-Nelson pass crossover builds).  I don't A / B gear, recordings, cables, etc.  I "attempt" to listen to what "I" think sounds good to me, buy it, and that's that.  Never think about upgrades....maybe ever 10 years at best?  Look at my equipment list....

Our instruments and audio equipment are in our "music room".  The piano sits between the speakers, for example. There are music stands, Yamaha synth, saxes, violins, a large screen TV so we can watch youtube videos of people playing songs we want to play, a video camera so we can record ourselves and see how bad our timing is!  (BTW, it takes time to get over the cringe factor seeing and hearing yourself play - you think your playing pretty good (while your playing) and then you watch and hear yourself - yikes!)

Our audio equipment helps us play our instruments better. We listen to the songs, stop and play our instruments (if the song is the same as what we are playing).  We listen not for "air", depth, staging, speed, accuracy, bloom....words that characterize audiophile equipment.  On the contrary, we are listening for timing, added notes / passing notes, variations of how notes or chords are played (legato vs stoccato), and well then there is Bach in his own universe or Monk in his own universe,  dynamics (piano piano, forte forte) - crescendo / de-crescendo, etc.   This is not a better or worse....but just different reason why we use this equipment.  

My uncle was university professor in music and played in jazz bands / night clubs. He passed away from lung cancer (second hand smoke).  He did the same thing - had pretty nice audio gear but it served to help him be a better guitar player; I picked up his habits.

So when I listen to music systems....I am listening for a different reason. I think many of my musician friends do the same and care less about the audio equipment....and this answers some of the questions why musicians don't necessarily spend a lot on audio gear.  Notice a lot of musicians will just use their smartphone...and that's that; listening for a completely different reason; not better or worse...just different. 

I attribute buying tube gear, for example, because I am also an old ham radio operator who previously used tube gear; the tube gear is a visual time machine back to a different time in my life.  If I were to get some "new to me" used gear, I would probably buy Pass Labs gear.  (And that may happen as I find another amp to tri-amp the LX Mini + woofer. I only added the woofers to the LX Mini because i think the two lowest octaves on the piano don't sound so good with just the LX Mini...otherwise I would have skipped the woofer option)

So for me playing music is the first priority and audio equipment is just that, equipment, to help our family become better amateur players.

I was speaking with Donna at Sota recently -  I turned in my Sota to have upgrades done.  I purchased the Sota back in 1985 new.  We had a very nice conversation about our family playing instruments and where the Sota Saphire sits in the music room.  She laughed and said she would really enjoy seeing that.  Brian Hartsell from the Analog Room / co designer of the Wavestream Kinetics gear, said the same as Donna.  His shop was 4 miles from my house.

To the original poster's comment, yes,  I think playing an instrument makes you more appreciative of the audiophile hobby.  But I think what really happens is that if you really take up an instrument and practice regularly, the audio equipment serves a different purpose - not better or worse, just different.  My two cents.

-stu

Mandolins are much more difficult to play than pretty much any ukulele (except maybe a Tiple, which is essentially a 10 steel stringed uke) ...I wouldn't recommend mandolins to anybody (and I have one). Also a note on Don Ho, I saw him play with his amazing band, The Aliis, in the mid 60s and he was great...also was in a jazz club when he walked in in the early 80s and he sang a few songs and blew everybody away...he was really good, and a nice guy. I sold him a Fender Twin in an Anvil road case in about 1980 or so, and his technical dude gave me a tour of his stage in the Hilton Hawaiian Village geodesic dome (Bucky Fuller's first large commercial version of one). Don came out to talk story and give me a check for the amp...cool guy, great musician.

One thing that has influenced my audio listening Is I’m very aware how a piano sounds in my house as I hear my daughter play it regularly. I really learn the sound of that instrument in the house. This is more important for our hobby than actually playing the instrument. Also I’m very in tune to hearing a guitar through an amp as I put my amp in between my speakers if I want to jam with a record. Invite over your musician friends to play their instruments in your audio room is even better than going out to live performances.

I’ve never found musicianship correlates to the audio hobby. I think people with extensive musical backgrounds hear music differently than ones that don’t. Even some musical background makes a difference. Musicians hear and understand chord changes and have a better appreciation and understanding  for say Brubecks complicated time  changes. They understand what tensions give blues it’s sound for example. I’m a guitar player, played piano a little,  and a variety of other instruments in my youth. I feel it has given me a very open ability to hear and understand music.  But most musicians I know couldn’t care less about our interest of great sound reproduction. I wouldn’t say  that it puts a person above any non musician audiophile in this hobby. These are two different things imo. 

Don't forget RSIs and perfectionism. All that practice is hard on older hands and fingers. When I was younger, my excuse was lack of talent and dedication to practice. I wish I had stuck with the piano beyond the child's first lesson book. It is good for any age brain...

I’ll hop right on it ASAP and get a bunch of Don Ho albums. 🤗

I tell people to get a great sounding ukulele (some inexpensive foreign made ones can be pretty damn good) if they want something to get going on...I have a Kamaka I bought in 1964 which led to a career as a musician (now there's piles of fancy guitars all over my house) and live sound technician. I don't know if this is connected to my home audio addiction, but I have worked with a few well regarded Jazz players who are also audio geeks...not many are, but so what?

Part-II- To clarify my last entry a bit more, by getting an inexpensive classical guitar ($250), you can get chord charts and music books for "beginners" that show you how to play many, many popular songs. Can you sing on key? Then you can play and sing for many enjoyable hours without a great deal of innate ability or a natural gift. The next level is learning to use your thumb on the bass and your other fingers on the treble (Travis picking), or using a pick and learning to double-pick instead of just "strumming". 
The next level is being able to name every note on every string on every fret, and transpose a series of notes all the way up and down the neck instead of just the 1st five positions. Then pentatonic scales, arpeggios, and so on. But basic guitar is mostly fun, and back in the days of my youth you could be the life of the party by fooling around on a guitar (everyone had one back then). We called it jamming, and I played until my fingers got too sore to continue. Then you could appreciate what a group like The Doors were actually doing on a record. 

There is another approach I don't think anyone mentioned-
A friend some time ago brought over a Casio mini- keyboard with a bunch of different sounds you could choose to play. It was mainly a "one finger at a time" portable music machine for those with no talent but a desire to experiment. I admit getting a real kick out of playing it, and it was priced well under $100. Of course, you "might" want to get a 61, 76, or even an 88 key model after fiddling around with that device. Or not, Either way it was a lot of fun. Much later on I bought a Yamaha piano and found a teacher. Early on it was easy, but I soon found out (after 3-4 years) that it was impossible to play Bach, Mozart, etc. like it's supposed to be played. Who has five hours a day to get to the next level? But the Casio is still pretty cool and I highly recommend getting one instead of a video game. Or... an inexpensive classical guitar (nylon strings are easy on your fingers).

I am wondering how similar any instrument played in your living room sounds compared to the same instrument in a completely different setting with different acoustics, with, likely, electronic sound equipment being used and the instrument played in conjunction with other instruments as part of a band. I agree listening to music may give you a frame of reference but I also think that what you hear "live" is not necessarily undistorted and is, likely, processed and otherwise tailored to the signature sound the band wants to present. I have gone to concerts and been amazed at how much worse the band sounds in person as compared to their recordings - in a word, I don’t think trying to replicate the sound of a live performance is always going to result in a pleasing experience in your listening room.

I’m both an engineer and a performing musician, which is why it was natural that I live my life as an audiophile. I’ve been doing location recording for more than 40 years. My wife is a professional violinist here in the San Francisco area. The link I am showing here is of a concert her string quartet did last August with guest pianist, Carl Blake,  of the Dvoark Piano Quintet. It’s a gorgeous piece and one I feel worthy of being presented on any hi-end audio system.

Y’ll who just buy gear and tweak with it are missing out on half the fun by not engineering your own recording. The web page has links to all four movements in 24/96 resolution and you’re welcome to download them by right clicking the link. The photo on the page shows the ensemble and the microphones in an ORTF configuration, so you can see for yourself where everyone is sitting and then imagine that in your listening space.

Enjoy.

Temescal String Quartet - Dvorak Piano Quintet

I play piano (not well) and have sung in multiple city choirs for the past 47 years.  I sight read and have excellent singers pitch.  I am a part time recording engineer for a symphony, chamber group and multiple choirs.   I prefer following scores of piano music as available on YouTube (great videos of played piano with scores rolling to the music).   My sister who is definitely not an audiophile and doesn't use the equipment I set up for her (listens to her car ratio and iPhone) is an operatic singer, plays piano and saxophone beautifully.  Some people prefer making music than listening to others in high fidelity.  I prefer listening to others make music in high fidelity and performing music to the best of my ability.

@edcyn  " but if you’re a working fiddler you can do more than fine when you got five figures in your pocket."

Got to laugh at this one.  My son was a concert violinist, and studied through college then quit to get a steady job (software engineer).  We were orchestra parents (as opposed to soccer, or football parents) and schlepped him around to concerts and workshops all over the Country.  I remember an occasion when we were at our local Renaissance Festival here in Colorado, my son was 7, and he was watching a "working fiddler" playing Celtic music in costume.  Got to talking to him about when he started, and how he started playing.  He chuckled and said he was a Suzuki kid, learned to read music, and taught himself the rest.  He then said he never spent more than $100 on a fiddle.  Interesting guy, funny, and a great fiddle player.

As for my son, he does not have a fine audio system, does not "get" my fascination with audio, and listens to his music on earbuds and computer speakers.  I admire him, and envious that he can enjoy his music without angst and the constant obsession with equipment and systems, and no, you do not need to play around with an instrument to be an audiophile and appreciate good sound, but you do need a degree of pathology going on.
         

I think alot of people here do either play or played an instrument. But just a love for music is enough. 

mirolab -- to me, part of the fear you see from non-musicians holding an instrument is simply a matter of the non-musician being afraid they're going to drop your precious instrument, destroying a friendship and being millions of bucks in debt to you.  In any event, yes, I'm happy to intimidate anybody into holding & trying my two cheaper fiddles, but I've yet to let them come close to the expensive one...which truly ain't very expensive, in any case.

I understand the OP's question, and I see it as literally opposite activities.  As opposite as INput and OUTput.   Listening to music is input to your system.  Making music is a creative endeavor, which is OUTPUT from your system.  Someone earlier mentioned the difference between watching sports and playing sports.  
Here in the US, I believe it's also cultural.  So many people are literally "afraid" of instruments.  If they don't know how to play it, they hold it as if it was a bomb about to explode, and they feel very embarrassed about possibly making a "wrong" noise.  In other cultures, making music in the home for pleasure, is far more common.     

Our music room is littered with instruments. Horns, strings and guitars, and all are used and enjoyed. Not sure which is more gratifying on a given day; Marshall and Ampeg stacks or our McIntosh stack.

I've been playing guitar and 5 string banjo for more than 50 years.  I'm now focusing on classical and flamenco guitar.  That's how I got started but got distracted by rock n roll.  Wish that had not happened because by now I could have been an accomplished classical/flamenco player.  That's the problem with guitar.  You can play any kind of music with it and its easy to get distracted.  To say classical guitar is difficult is an understatement, unless you are playing the simplest tunes.  

I play guitar every day. I'm good enough to play most of the non-virtuoso stuff. And I play bass once in a blue moon. I don't equate playing an instrument with listening to music. They are two separate activities for me ... unless I'm in a learning mode, when I hear something and say, "I want to learn that." Otherwise, I'm just listening to the musical experience.

As far as knowing what instruments sound like compared to what you're hearing through your speakers, there are just too many problems to mention. All speakers produce correct notes, so let's ignore that. Let's start with multi-tracking, overdubbing, equalizing, compressing, processing, the room, the mics, etc. IOW, recordings aren't real. So there's no use trying to compare real to not real.

BTW, please don't buy a $100 guitar and call it a day. That's a sure way of getting frustrated. The most important thing about a guitar is its "setup". I gave up guitar when I was 16 because the strings were high and I couldn't get it to stop buzzing on every chord. I thought I didn't have the ability. Fortunately several years later I went back and rented a good guitar with a good setup. Investing $50 in a guitar setup when you buy a guitar is the best money you can spend. Can you get a good guitar for $100? Sure. Especially a used one. In fact, I like a Strat-like guitar I purchased used for $80 better than my real Strat that would sell for $1,000 today. But I did have to set the intonation and work the frets a little.

I've always played (mostly acoustic) guitar. I have a bunch of 'audiophile grade' guitars. Meaning, high quality, well made, great sounding (and expensive} lust-worthy guitars. I also played piano for a while. I also need to say, I am not very good.

But i consider playing and listening two, mostly unrelated, activities. Kind of like when I was a kid. I loved playing hockey, but watching pro hockey was not that interesting.

I've learned a lot about how someone constructed a song from playing. I can hear a bass line and riffs in guitar music. I was amazed how mathematical Gershwin's music is on piano. I like to sit where I can see a guitarist's hands when at a small concert to understand what he is playing. Learning a song is a lot about understanding what the musician was thinking. But I really see playing and listening as two distinct activities.

Ironically, for acoustic guitar at least, the player is not in the best position to listen. That's why some luthiers have played around with sound ports on the upper bout to give the player a better sound.

Good question, though. And learning an instrument is its own reward. Like becoming good at tennis, or skiing, it takes effort and repetition. You have to enjoy the journey. I've taken lessons from some very well known players and the best lesson I ever got is that music is not a competition. If you play, you win.

Does Guitar Hero count.  I play guitar sometimes and if I go to guitar center I always goof around on the keyboards to see what strange music I can create.  I used to play trumpet a long time ago.  Too bad I never heard Miles Davis until I got out of college, might still be playing today.

When I was about twelve, I sat down one lazy afternoon and picked my way through more than 250 pop songs, all without sheet music.  It was exciting and gratifying to be able to do this, and those around me recognized many songs and were pleased.  Gradually, however, I became more aware of the missing notes, the transitions I couldn't play, and all the rest of my limitations.  Eventually, I found myself up against a wall of frustration that could be overcome only by working much harder at this.  It was the steady improvement in my ability to hear and understand the music that undermined my interest in playing it.

frogman -- great post!

@lloydc Dead on with your note regarding recorded music never being the same as live. Recorded music is tweaked to "sound" like the artist/producer intended. Not to be a true representation of what instruments sound like. Take my drums for example. I've got a great kit... Raw, in just about about any room with no mic'ing etc. they sound really good. However, set those bad boys up with a great mic set, put some effects in the mix and eq them for the space... they are an entirely different animal. Any "acoustic" instrument will be the same. Anytime something has been recorded the "instrument sound" is altered one way or another. This includes pretty much any instrument. So, in some ways, the "audiophile" pursuit of "perfect reproduction" really is impossible. But, it's still a fun pursuit and makes me happy, and I'm endlessly amazed at how little things can make such a difference in end product listening.

Stringreen offers good advice re the value in taking a music history or appreciation course as an alternative; although not everyone will “lose interest“ in playing around with a musical instrument. Doing so may lead to a more in depth commitment to the instrument; and the value of a more causal acquaintance, as the OP suggests, is still very real. One does not have to preclude the other.

Like Stringreen I have been playing musical instruments since very young. Since age five in my case and professionally and exclusively as a profession for over forty years. I would like to offer some thoughts on the musician/audiophile issue as there are some misconceptions that get bandied about frequently.

The idea that musicians don’t care about the quality of reproduced sound is mistaken. Of course there are musicians that don’t particular care to devote the time or energy into assembling and maintaining an audiophile quality audio system. As has been pointed out, some musicians don’t have the means to do so. More importantly, many don’t (and I believe this may be an important reminder for SOME audiophiles) because when musicians listen to music the focus of their attention is usually on musical performance matters and not on matters of “sound”. Of course, sound is an important aspect of performance; but, only one aspect and there are more important considerations in music performance. Additionally, and this is why I don’t agree with a single one of Geoffkait’s assertions, musicians are usually too busy with not only performance considerations, but also musical instrument setup and “tweaking”. As a result there is little inclination, or time, to add one more thing (audio) to the list of things to obsess about. More on that momentarily.

Having said all that and to debunk the “musicians don’t care about audio” myth, based on my experience and that of many other colleagues, I can state unequivocally that as a percentage of the population of professional musicians, there are infinitely more musician/audiophiles out there than the percentage of audiophiles within the population of what could rightfully be called music lovers; never mind the general population.

Contrary to Geoff’s assertion there are, in fact, many parallels between being a musician and being an audiophile. Moreover, the idea that being a musician does not “in any way help when it comes to high end audio” is misguided and actually defies logic. Of course, this assumes that the goal of the audiophile is to achieve sound that best approximates the actual sound of live music and not simply sound that “sounds good” without the use of a reference other than that audiophile’s tastes and preferences.

Having been an audiophile almost as long as I have been a professional musician my experience has been that the level of changes and improvement in sound that we as audiophiles chase by way of the many tweaks, cables, vacuum tube changes, etc. are often far more obvious than the extremely subtle changes in sound (timbre, texture, speed, definition, etc.) that professional musicians concern themselves with when choosing equipment and its setup and tweaking. You think power cords make a difference? The very real difference they make is huge compared to the important difference resulting from whether a saxophone’s ligature (that little metal clamp that holds the reed in place) is plated with 14 vs 18 karat gold; or silver, or brass. Just one of the countless tweaks that an instrumentalist has to be sensitive to when setting up an instrument. Metal or plastic resonators on the pads? Metal or rubber mouthpiece? Which reed cut style? Was the cane for the reed grown in France or in Argentina? How tight or loose does the neck fit on the horn? Even the strap used to hang the horn from one’s neck can have a subtle effect on one’s tone; and these are the things that cause the more obvious differences in sound. Then you have the more ephemeral ones, like which mouthpiece causes one’s sound to project more than another. Two of the same model mouthpiece from the same manufacturer can sound identical heard up close, but heard twenty feet away may sound quite different with one sounding much more (or less) present or more focused. Same principles apply to all families of instruments in one way or another.

Then, you have performance related issues on a minuscule level that a musician has to have the ear for and be sensitive to. Intonation, timbral blend with other players, accuracy and flexibility with rhythm; just a few of countless considerations. You think it’s tricky setting up and correctly placing a subwoofer? Try having to take into account and adjust one’s playing on a moment’s notice to compensate for the time delay heard when having to play a unison line with a bass section situated forty feet away on the stage. The parallels are many.

And some wonder why some musicians don’t want to deal with audio?! Me? I guess I’m a glutton for punishment 😱

Best to all.

Playing around with instruments may be "interesting", but the interest fades too fast when one realizes that music is not coming out.  I've been playing violin since I was 6 and have been lucky enough to have made a good living from it....  Its hard, and you have to be lucky enough to have been born with the talent gene.  Its not just getting a decent tone from the instrument, or the application of scales, or this or that......its the art form of making music.  What may be more rewarding than trying your hand at a particular instrument, is taking a college music history or music appreciation coarse.  You will be awed at the genius lying in the grooves.

My garage has two separate rooms in addition to the space for cars.  One holds the bicycles.  The other has my early 20th Century Mason-Hamlin studio upright.  It's great to be able to stumble through my Chopin without getting dirty looks.  I don't care, either, that the piano is now incapable of being brought up to proper pitch.  As Mason-Hamlins always have, it sounds big and wonderful.

Playing in an orchestra and assembling a good sounding home audio system have very little in common. I don’t know why people think they are complementary. Entirely different skill sets. Maybe cryogenically treating brass instruments comes close. But I do not think the so called trained ear of the musician is any help when it comes to high end audio. Audiophiles probably have better trained ears anyway. 

Ime, real musicians rarely have great stereos at home.  There are several obvious reasons (e.g., they want to play, not just sit there), but one is that music is not financially remunerative for the vast majority (see, “Rockonomics” by Alan Krueger.)  income in music is concentrated in a small number of superstars, much like income inequality in society, only worse.  
   Another: stereo systems almost never sound like real music.  Sorry.  It can be a fair approximation, and can even be “better” in some ways, but it’s not the same.  The dynamics of real instruments are extreme.    I studied classical guitar in college, and still sort of play, so that sound is my benchmark in equipment.  Piano is harder to emulate, much less a symphony.

@ lcplthomas - well yes of course, if you want to be a "proper audiophile".

Anyone foolish enough to get hung up, or upset by the qualification or judgement of others in this recreation, there are some things I consider are actually important.

What you are/become, is your ongoing choice, and it's that choice that's led you here interacting with this forum. If someone feels special or more justified because of their chosen knowledge, skills or what have you - let them cling to it.

Please keep in context that it means nothing about any one else, any elitists don't know us, and cannot isolate and define us for our choices and tastes in equipment or music.

If we can acknowledge that we're all special, then nobody is special.
I have some equipment that I have started to gather, and I am learning so much from others in this forum who genuinely are passionate in sharing their experiences and knowledge with others in here.

Just because there's truth in turntables offer something digital may not, or being able to play an instrument and understand music, playback devices and such on a technical level may grant someone a better understanding of what's going on... Doesn't negate another's choice to enjoy what they can from the marvel of music to our ears.

If an elitist thinks they are special because they think they know more, have more, have more skills - let them be, it may just be all they have. Looking past their attitude you will find a passion for audiophilia, and just maybe by not judging we open ourselves up to the cause.

Great love and passion for the sound that moves us.