Why so many angry audiophiles?

@rok2id ,

I am not sure there is any connection between "audiophile" and "music."


Unfortunately there is a tendency among us to take things too seriously. 

Every single show I've been to (plus a few demos) have had an over intense atmosphere prevalent. Sometimes even the demonstrators/designers/dealers get caught up in it. 

Usually the visitors are a group of taciturn, serious looking men trying to focus upon the sound with great intensity. 

It's often feels more like we're auditioning the performers rather than enjoying the performance. I'm usually exhausted towards 5 o'clock on such occasions.

With such high prices and livelihoods at stake it's hardly surprising that there are some strong feelings on display. 

Money always tends to do that, but the events of the past year will have done little to lower blood pressures either. 

Don't believe me? Well how about putting some money on the outcome of some hitherto uninteresting sporting contest and then watch how quickly it becomes an object of temporal obsession.

Fancy a snail race anyone? No? 
How about the outcome of certain vaccine delivery programs?

@sbayne,

"It’s the same people arguing over the same things over and over. I’ve literally left threads and come back 6 months later and yep: the same people arguing and saying the same things. Audiophile fuses, MQA or Tekton speakers anyone?"



These things take time. The analogue (vinyl) - digital debate is only a mere 4 decades old. The cable debates are of a similar age. Early days.

You know with money and vested interests involved, audio can start to look like a microcosm of politics itself.

Remember that Zappa quote about government? 

"Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex."

I'm certainly with Frank on that one, especially if he meant to include the banks and the pharmaceuticals!

@gavman,

"Anger is a rational response to current events, and to the failures of others to recognise them for what they are. One half of our nation has been lied to by the media they consume, and had their worst impulses cultivated by those that see political advantage in greed, divisiveness, and xenophobia.
The other half recoils in horror at the base venality, and anger at the incompetence and injustice."



Absolutely! And we all know what happens to repressed anger, don’t we?

The problem is that some get stuck in an anger loop where nothing, no victory, big or small, can break what may have become habitual.

All those who have been hating on one certain individual for the past 4/5 years may soon need to look elsewhere to vent their seemingly endless vitriol.

[I can't even say his name for fear of inciting an attack of further irrational apoplexy amongst some of us here.]

Recent events have generally helped no one other than billionaire globalists and billionaire global pharmaceuticals. It’s certainly been a great year for the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk! Things seem to be going pretty well according to plan in the people’s Republic of China.

Many of us are still trying to follow the official line handed down to us by our elected representatives, desperately hoping for a return to something like normal. Hoping to soon put the past year down as a bad memory. A black mark in our history.

The rest of us try to find ways to adapt to what is now being called the new normal having lost all credence in the perennially uncommital words of self serving politicians.

This is why we all still look for pleasure in music and the arts. This is why we all still value high performance audio equipment.

It can be a serious business at times but going by what’s happening on other forums, websites, Twitter etc I still like to believe, comparatively speaking, that we are a bunch of well mannered and civil individuals.


@sbank,

because Yoko Ono.
because "perfect sound forever".
because mp3.
because compression.
because internet throttling.
because I can’t browse local record stores during pandemic.



All those things too, although 320kbps is far from bad.

@celtic66 ,

"Has anyone here clearly and profoundly won a toxic argument whereby the opposing party simply acquiesced, admitted fault and gave thanks for pointing out their complete lack of understanding and pillock-like nature?"


Me neither.

Although I am sometimes surprised to find, usually many months later, that my opponent might then be espousing quite different statements from those previously.

The reverse also happens. Certain opinions I was ridiculing about the pandemic back in March 2020 don’t seem quite so conspiratorial now.

These often cherished self beliefs are not things we are likely to change in the course of an argument are they? However they can eventually give in to contradictory opinion if given long enough.

This is why propaganda is so effective.


@mahgister,

"But the anonymity of these forums make people resembling more to their own dark shadow than to their real self...(C.G.Jung)"


Or maybe the shadow is their real self?
The one they themselves may not even be aware of?

Don’t long term married partners sometimes tell each other things like ’I know you better than you do!’?

@afisher,

"Anger is generated in a lot audiophiles when the reality is nowhere near the promise of buying this or that recommended by professional reviewers or chasing recommendations made by strangers without personal consequences on the internet.

It’s very easy to go down the rabbit hole in this hobby and finally coming up poorer and wiser."



Yes, with so much disappointing gear (up to 90%?) it can definitely be a frustrating business to get into.

Far too many rabbit holes to get lost in.



"I have found that buying an entire system that you can hear from the remaining good brick and mortar dealers eliminates a lot of the anger and frustration generated by the hit and miss buying of never heard components off the internet."



Yes that could be a great way to start off.


It’s probably not very practical for most of us here. Not when we might have become attached to some of our gear.

Another issue is cost. If I was to sell off my system I’d be struggling to get £3k for it. I don’t fancy my chances of assembling a more satisfying system with that budget. Maybe, maybe not.

And then there’s that age old problem of finding a dealer that stocks a sufficiently wide range of equipment to give plenty of scope to contrast and compare.

Good dealers here in the UK are very hard to find nowadays (esp outside London).

I personally like the retail chain Richer Sounds and that’s where I would go if I ever wanted to assemble a complete system from scratch again.

Their loudspeaker range includes some of the top models from Dali, Elac, Monitor Audio and Q Acoustics, which might be sufficient for 90% of audiophiles.