Im joking really, im an audiophile myself with a decent hi fi set up that cost a few thousand dollars.
However, there is a subset of audiophiles that completely perplexes me. It just seems to me that at some stage, its no longer audiophilia (love of sound) but rather, some kind of neuroses where you have to control and make whatever you hear ‘pure’ or whatever it is. I worked in a psych ward years ago, and some of the stuff schizoprenics would say (about things being impure and such) echo alot of what I hear obsessive audiophiles say sometimes.
For example, theres audiophiles that would buy stuff like this:
https://www.toys4vip.com/en/luxury-toy/turntable/
A $133,000 turntable hooked up to a power conditioner, just so they can play a vinyl. I mean, this is fucking crazy right?
More than 100 vinyl albums?
Didn’t you mean to say “where does audiophile end […]”?
What you failed to mention in your rant was that turntable (designed by a NASA scientist genius who does space stuff you could never even comprehend) has a sound-damping plate suspended on a unique axis that eliminates micro-oscillations while the microprocessor controls the elimination of noise, ensuring a pristine sound without hissing.
I constantly hear imagined artifacts (or real) in digital representations of material… I can’t hear the difference between 16 bit 44.1 and 24 192… but there is something that goes on with the initial transients, akin to there being some infinitely small sample wide clicking distortion at the peak of transients… also the instruments are much more likely to muddy eachother and compete for space in the frequency spectrum…
But when I listen to vhynl or tape my brain is able to relax and just take it in because in those mediums even the wrong answers are right most of the Time. The instruments are able to sit within their perspective ranges more obviously.
Now over the years fighting with all the different forms of digital distortion I have this constantly nagging feeling like something in the circuit is wrong… and that’s mostly just my own psyco somatic auditory process.
My brain is hardwired to pick up any digital distortion so much so that even a hint of it removes me from the enjoyment immediately and must be dealt with… but the causes of lossy digital distortion are so vast any many that listening sessions often turn into troubleshooting sessions… but the “warmth” of vhynl and tape are undeniable and require no additional mental gymnastics because I can remain in a state of awe over the technology itself…
They say that some infinities are bigger than others… idk about that but I do know within the walls of analog mediums there is a literal infinity. Digital is great in sooooo many ways but forever missing that little tinge of infinity
It depends on how much money you have. If you are not super rich, yes, it is fucking crazy.
I’ve reached the point where sound quality is no longer improving. I’m swapping between different gear that is all equally transparent, trying to find something I really like, as an overall package: Performance, features, design, form factor, build quality, control feel, etc. I’m not addicted to chasing a perfect sound, so perhaps I fall short of mental illness, but certainly I am doing more “decorative” work than “substantive”.
If you have the money why not? No different than collecting watches, wine, art, cars etc. All those hobbies at one point lose rationality when it comes to cost.
Love of music + leisure time + introversion + OCD + money + slightly low self esteem + Y Chromosome = audiophile
Every ‘hobby’ has people like this. Some people pay 30 million for a painting or 100k for a bottle of wine.