Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 13700 times.

Genez

Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« on: 6 Jan 2018, 02:35 am »


In my opinion... this video hits the nail right on its head.



twitch54

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #1 on: 6 Jan 2018, 02:53 am »
less audiophiles hopefully means more music lovers .......... not a bad thing IMO

Genez

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #2 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:27 am »
Are you saying audiophiles are not music lovers?   What is your concept of an audiophile?   NuPrime makes audiophile equipment. 


:scratch:   Did you watch the video????????

srb

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #3 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:47 am »
What is your concept of an audiophile?

Someone who obsesses over the directionality of non-directional component parts?

Genez

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #4 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:55 am »



Looks like no one has watched the video...   It mentions qualities in music that audiophiles look for in recordings.    Music lovers.


Freo-1

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #5 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:55 am »

In my opinion... this video hits the nail right on its head.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII


No wonder I've migrated back to classical music    :o

Genez

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #6 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:58 am »
Someone who obsesses over the directionality of non-directional component parts?



Why are you obsessing over that issue?   That video covers what has been happening to the quality of music recordings and trends that have been destroying sound quality, no matter what direction your fuses are orientated.

Genez

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #7 on: 6 Jan 2018, 05:01 am »

No wonder I've migrated back to classical music    :o


Yup....   for me I have migrated to live jazz and live music in general.   Many European jazz musicians intrigue me, because many of them have had a classical background and blend the two.  Being a musician makes me note the timbre of the instruments.

Freo-1

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #8 on: 6 Jan 2018, 05:02 am »


Why are you obsessing over that issue?   That video covers what has been happening to the quality of music recordings and trends that have been destroying sound quality, no matter what direction your fuses are orientated.


Yes.  European SACD recordings of classical performances do NOT follow this para dime.  (Guess that is one of the reasons why I'm listening to them).       

Freo-1

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #9 on: 6 Jan 2018, 05:05 am »

Yup....   for me I have migrated to live jazz and live music in general.   Many European jazz musicians intrigue me, because many of them have had a classical background and blend the two.  Being a musician makes me note the timbre of the instruments.


+1  Agree.


Thanks for posting this video.  It states clearly what I've been noticing for some time, but have not been able to work out why this was happening. 

Letitroll98

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 5583
  • Too loud is just right
Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #10 on: 6 Jan 2018, 07:10 am »
Well, the video describes the state of pop music perfectly.  However I rarely if ever listen to pop music, it's mostly grating on my ears.  I have a couple of pop lp's and cd's, some artist struck a chord with me and I bought an album.  In the car I mostly listen to the University of Penn station, they may play absolutely anything, except heavy rap and classical, at any time of the day.  Blues, jazz, alt rock, classic rock and folk, Austin City Limits type of country, spacey mood music late at night, tons of new artists, all sounding great.  So I recognise what the video says is true, it just doesn't impact me at all.

spence

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #11 on: 6 Jan 2018, 11:47 am »
Why? Because the phone has completely consumed their time.

JohnR

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #12 on: 6 Jan 2018, 12:11 pm »
Would anyone happen to have a link to the research referenced in the video? (I could only get 4 minutes into it before deciding it's basically schlock reporting.)

seikosha

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 360
Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #13 on: 6 Jan 2018, 12:34 pm »
Why? Because the phone has completely consumed their time.

Exactly.  It’s as simple as this.  Anyone around kids a lot kids can see it.

macrojack

  • Restricted
  • Posts: 3826
Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #14 on: 6 Jan 2018, 12:52 pm »
The number one reason for reduction of audiophile participation is realization of life expectancy (death). A few other prominent factors include loss of money, loss of health (especially hearing), loss of interest, and sometimes a change of interest. In my own case, there has been a gradual softening of requirements over the past 20 years. Nowadays, I'm more interested in watching than listening. Rap is repulsive, simplistic, repetitive, idiomatically obtuse and socially repugnant to me. Pop music seems to have abandoned any essence whatsoever and communicates so superficially and pretentiously that it fails to communicate anything useful to me. Everything else one might find without extensive digging is probably time worn, nostalgic or both.
Consider for a moment that "audiophile" is an artificial construct invented to designate who is a "mark" for exploitive pricing and fantasy specs. Some of us have found that we would prefer to avoid that title. We are among the missing ....... and our presence among the missing has become significant enough to generate specious reporting and speculative repercussions.

JLM

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 10654
  • The elephant normally IS the room
Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #15 on: 6 Jan 2018, 02:21 pm »
Thanks for the link.  I thought I was getting old and out of touch (with modern pop music).   :roll:  :lol:  :oops:

We have become a society of convenience, instant gratification, constant entertainment, and virtual realities.

Vinyl and tubes don't fit any of those attributes and can seem so 19th century to today's youth.

NuPrime fits in today's world: compact, energy efficient, digital friendly, simple aesthetics, and affordable.

Photon46

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #16 on: 6 Jan 2018, 02:23 pm »
That was pretty well produced short summation of the state of the popular music industry IMO. Your post's title might be more relevant to the video if it were "Why do we seem to care less about music today?" or something like that. Lot's of people in the sixties who loved music never became audiophiles and most professional musicians aren't audiophiles, so exposure to and understanding of good music doesn't mean one is going to develop an obsession with audiophile issues.

That said, one big reason for people's declining in complex music is the constant sensory saturation and infinite entertainment choices in our environment. Like the narrator mentioned, when we can get access to any song in the world, if the song doesn't grab us instantly we move on. We who grew up in the sixties didn't have access to every video, tv show, movie, podcast, or song at our fingertips instantly. We had fewer choices and we had to pay for each choice. The state of the music business is just a side effect of the broader picture in entertainment.

The one part of the video that was a bit too overgeneralized was where the narrator suggests that if you need repeated exposure to music to love it, it means you have been brainwashed into appreciating it. I get what he means in reference to mass market pop music, but it's not true for a lot of good music. I didn't like 2nd Viennese School music at first, I had to learn to appreciate Schoenberg and Berg. As well as numerous other examples.

Loved that "Millennial Whoop," I hadn't heard that one before!

Phil A

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #17 on: 6 Jan 2018, 02:38 pm »
For one thing, there are less high end audio stores than there used to be.  There are various reasons for it - some discussed here - https://hometheaterhifi.com/editorial/decline-high-end-audio-sales-new-outlook/

It seems the electronics that are most readily available are based on convenience vs. sound quality. People getting interested in music are going to hear the music on that type of convenient platform and the vast majority will never experience it on a good home system and probably don't really care about it.  Just look at the commercials on TV for Alexa, Google Home, etc.  They can hear music conveniently and do other things.

JDoyle

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 379
Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #18 on: 6 Jan 2018, 04:27 pm »
IMHO, the point that hits the nail on the head is the "risk" point that video makes. It's not like there isn't any new stuff with new bands trying new things (THERE IS!  :D). It's just harder to find, be exposed to and be pushed to listen to.

There are many reasons and many people to blame (including the listeners themselves  :( ).

I think we can all help though.  In this new year, ask yourself what you could do to expose something new to someone. I did this last year by making some compilation disks for my 30 something nephews. I gave them stuff that they never heard before... Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, early Genesis, King Chrimson Tommy Bolin and others.  I told them they must give them "the 5 play promise", before they stopped listening.

Truth be told, they didn't all love everything, but we compared notes and one in particular did enjoy most. We plan to share more back and forth soon  :thumb:

JD

Jon L

Re: Why do we seem to be seeing less audiophiles?
« Reply #19 on: 6 Jan 2018, 05:16 pm »
For one thing, there are less high end audio stores than there used to be.  There are various reasons for it - some discussed here - https://hometheaterhifi.com/editorial/decline-high-end-audio-sales-new-outlook/


That's a rather involved article, but I do agree that young people or newcomers simply do not have a physical place they can go and experience that "high end sound" and realize MP3 playing via bluetooth is not enough.  They DO have tons of easy access to youtube videos, on-line games, compressed entertainment, etc, so that's the way they spend their time. 

On the upside, if one did get the "bug," it will cost so much less money now to assemble a spirited system compared to a decade or two ago.  Speaker driver technology and digital technology (both DAC and amplification), in particular,  have yielded some beatiful gear at reasonable prices IMO.