What Makes an Audiophile Tick?

Audiophile in hot pursuit of perfection

I was having a conversation with my father this morning on the way into work. I think Kathy will attest to the fact that on any car ride of more than a few minutes I am usually on the phone to a family member or a friend - hand's free - I'd like to say it was because I am just that efficient, but it really isn't that. True, and yes, not efficiency; this is an ongoing thing in our household. :) Usually we talk about politics, news events, our dogs, kids and family news, but this morning he started opining on the reasons someone would spend a lot of money on a stereo.  This was after I told him, the previous day, the price of some speakers that I was very curious about (for those keeping score, it was German Physiks).

German Physiks Speakers ... the object of my eye

"It's got to be that they are after a trophy to show off to their friends" he started with, but throughout his theorizing it boiled down to "It's an ego thing" or "it's a show-off thing" or "it's for self validation." Don't get me started on the pot, kettle, black thing. And please, don't look in the family closet. The skeletons are Halloween decorations. Honest. 

I found the perspective to be very interesting.  I think I would be delusional if I didn't claim to be an audiophile, but it gave rise to a moment of self reflection, and also for thought about the motivation of others.  Why do we do what we do?  What is our motivation?

And I suspect there is a grain of truth to the self-validation, but that isn't it.  It is a kind of trophy - especially when you see the lengths some makers go to make the gear pretty - and frankly that matters to audiophiles far more than they will admit to even themselves.  But I can't buy into the same stereotype (yes, pun intended) that runs out and buys a Porsche when they hit middle age.

But you also see some companies cater to the first time high end stereo purchaser - the kind of person who will want to splash out on a trophy and drop $250,000 on a media room with cinema-like fittings, and sound and picture to blow away any ticket selling cinema.  They also might buy a similarly priced stereo, too.  Have it ensconced in a media room, listen to it for a month, and then hardly use it ever.  That kind of person exists, and due to all of the newly minted tycoons coming out of Asia they are spending a lot of money and, frankly are the reason for what growth there is in audio, and certainly for more than a little price tag growth.


Why a Stereo is a lousy trophy ...

This is a trophy (This is cheaper
than some speakers, by the way)

This is a trophy

While some folks will buy an expensive <fill in the blank here> in order to have a trophy to reassure their fragile egos that they have "made it" - of all the people in it for the sonic realism, I have never met one that bought a stereo for that reason.  A typical trophy seeker will want the bauble to fulfill more than self reassurance.  Those types will generally buy a sports car to drive around on a sunny day.  Everyone loves nice cars, so it is easy to show them off, people appreciate the color and speed of something like that.  A stereo generally sits in a room (we'd have it be the living room - but often it is in a separate room) and is played in the evening and rarely shown to friends.

This is a trophy

This is NOT a trophy

If a trophy seeker is truly after validation from his or her peers in the form of a stereo, they would be better off getting a a B&O home theater and throwing a lot of house parties.  It looks like it costs a lot of money (which it does), doesn't sound bad, and people have heard of B&O the same way they have heard of an Audi convertible - and by the way, this blog likes B&O a lot.

A Stereo is the worst thing you can buy to reassure yourself ...

From the chatter on forums, and by personal experience, the pursuit of sonic perfection is all but reassuring - in fact the path is fraught with doubt.  Before diving too far down, let me paint a picture of a typical audiophile:

Paradigm Speakers

A "typical" audiophile is from the middle class.  No, really, they are. The first audiophile I ever met was a machinist working at a company with me.  He had a pair of Paradigm Speakers (He called them the 'dimes) he was astonishingly proud of, and would spend some evenings (with eyerolls from his daughter) adjusting their placement by inches and seeing if the sonics improved by very much.  He had other interests, but this was a biggie for him.  And he was by no means the exception - he's the typical buyer.

Given typical circumstances, an audiophile is constantly alternating between being shocked at the high cost of the gear they think will get them one step closer to musical nirvana, and complaining bitterly about it, and devising a strategy to do an end-run around it somehow through buying used, or saving large amounts of money by ekeing the life out of big ticket items, and skimping on other discretionary expenses where possible.
 The "typical" stereo system owned by an audiophile is generally $5-10k. This audiophile probably spends about $2k a year on "upgrades."  While this is a lot of money, it is in that zone of being achievable by someone making a middle class income, and making priority calls.  Given family budgets, it is this reason we feel the stereo shouldn't be locked away in a "listening room."

This is a 'typical' audiophile system

But the ultimate goal for 99% of audiophiles is to achieve a realistic illusion of a live performance.  But when you are trying to achieve that, given the realities of recordings, speakers/amplifiers at any price, room acoustics, and the vagueries of various source components - you are doomed to fall short no matter the price level.  You are, with apologies to Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, and can't help it.

How people to respond to it differs.  I am rather proud that I am not a gear merry-go-round kind of guy - the system has added sources in the last 5 years, but it basically has the same core elements as it had 5 years ago, and I descended into the madness a decade ago.  But I know this is not normal - a more typical case has the person swapping out things in the same price class in a desperate attempt to find just the right combination.  But, I suppose some people would look at me in a similar sense of pity.

I think it is obvious that this path to self-validation is a dead end.

The real reason is far more neurotic and impossible ...

I think you can spot the trend - it is a lousy vehicle to impress people, and tends to make you forego the typical trappings that peers would have in order to "show off."  And it sits hidden away.  The reason for it isn't likely the same reason someone goes out and gets a big house or convertible.

Hologram-like presence ... is this so unreasonable?
(From Vanilla Sky)

The reason is as I said above - it is the pursuit of perfection, which is impossible to actually achieve.  Yet real improvements towards that goal are possible, and are stopped only by prudence, limits of bank account, and willingness to alter your life further.

But at its core the quest of the audiophile is no less than perfect sound reproduction.  And I can think of worse things - as an engineer, this is a noble cause, and incremental installments towards it, perhaps contributing in some manner, are all justifiable pursuits (mind you, I drank the Kool-Aid and asked for seconds).

But ... I also ask you to drag it to the family room once you cross the "good enough" threshold and enjoy the music and fun it brings to the family.

And I will leave you with one thought, and it sits in my head from time to time ... one of my favorite audiophile salespersons has a saying:  In order to forget you have a stereo, you have to spend a hundred thousand dollars on one.  Hmmm ...