The Ignoramus' Guide to the Audiophile's Mind (listening to music, electronic, rock)

Ambient · 08-31-2008, 10:35 PM

PLEASE STICKY THIS THREAD!

What is an 'Audiophile'?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia.org

An audiophile, from Latin audire "to hear" and Greek philos "loving," listens to music on high-end-audio electronics.

Audiophiles try to listen to music at a quality level that is as close to the original performance as possible. They use high fidelity components to try to attain these goals. Many are music lovers who are passionate about high-quality music reproduction.

Now that we have established what an Audiophile is, let's move onto the actual guide.

GUIDE

This guide is about sound quality, what's being robbed from your ears, and how it can help you live your life better.

First thing is first, this is, and will always be the chart to what is better in sound. Popularity is subject to change.

OBSOLETE Vinyl Record (A.K.A. LP [Long Play] record albums) BEST
LESS POPULAR Cassette (A.K.A. Tape) BETTER
NOT VERY POPULAR Compact Disk (A.K.A. CD) GOOD
POPULAR MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) WORST

First thing is first, all of the above audio is available to be downloaded in file format. To legally download and compare most of the above sound qualities, visit Nine Inch Nails' website and download their album (The Slip) for free by downloading a torrent and using uTorrent (can be found with Google) to open the torrent to download.

LOSSLESS VERSUS LOSSY

In our modern day and age, a lot of things are kept hidden from us. There are chemtrails in the sky, corrupt acts on the ground, and unknown activity underground. These aren't for us to go crazy and inquire about, but there are other crimes committed against us like standardization. In this case, a standard has been set and over generations this standard was being set in place right under our noses.

Originally, people would listen to and enjoy LPs, but as time went by someone decided that we needed something we could take with us and listen to wherever we wanted. Therefore, the cassette was invented, but unfortunately didn't sound as good as the analog sound coming from the Vinyl Records. Nobody noticed and time went on until we hit a digital era where people started using wireless phones, computers, and most of all CD Players. CDs required digital editing which further downsized the sound quality, but nobody was pulling their hair out as now they had something that would not lose quality over time like Vinyl Records or Cassettes.

Now, here's where we go into the worst thing to happen to music. The invention of the MP3 started in the early ninties, but took its wings in flight in the new millennium. It made people happy to see that they could fit so many songs onto one CD and listen to them without having to shuffle through CDs. They didn't realize that this was rock bottom in terms of sound quality. Mostly because the audio equipment most people used wasn't extraordinary and therefore they couldn't hear a major difference.

Then it was taken too far when in-ear buds were introduced. Nobody realized that this convenient plug for the ears actually damaged their ears unlike any overhead headphones could ever damage them. Without anywhere for the sound to escape, it travels through the air inside your ear and slowly damages it.

LUCKILY people are starting to realize the error of their ways online. People have been countering the introduction of MP3s and mass distribution of MP3s through things like iTunes and Limewire by inventing something that compresses audio like WinZip or WinRAR compresses files.

This file is known as a .FLAC file. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. which is like your typical .WAV (Waveform) file except compressed smaller. When I made the comparison between .FLAC files and .ZIP or .RAR files, I meant that you should think like this. When you put a program or file into a .ZIP or .RAR container you get a compressed file, but within it are the same contents and data, just made smaller. That's the exact same thing with FLAC, you hear the same thing as the output, but it's a smaller file.

TIPS

When ripping a CD always use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) which is a program especially designed to rip CD tracks to files which will produce the exact same sound as the tracks on the CD.

A guide to do this is located here.

If you can't find your fix online for lossless audio online like many others (excluding myself) then simply purchase the CDs.

Buy yourself a Cowon A3 and a pair of Sennheiser PX100s. They do me much good on the go and the Cowon supports nearly all formats of files out there and sounds incredible.

If someone tells you that the Apple iPod is the best thing to listen to your music with, NEVER listen to them again. Even an iPod hacked with Rockbox won't sound as good and won't last as long as something like a Cowon which can play most files natively. The iPod doesn't even focus on increasing sound quality, but rather focuses on useless things (for audiophiles) like GPS navigation and web browsing.

If you have a tape deck in your car, purchase a tape you can put in there with a wire coming out of it to be plugged into the headphone jack of your music player.

NEVER get a digital era (after '90s) Vinyl Record Player because it will likely have a preamp that's limited to 44kHz (CD Quality) instead of Vinyl Quality (24bit/96kHz or 24bit/192kHz). Especially if you intend on ripping Vinyl Records to .FLAC files.

FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

Coming soon...

So now that you're educated, get out there and start being an audiophile!

**jackhammer** · 09-02-2008, 12:19 PM

Nice well written post that may well be lost on those that have never bought vinyl. Big up on the Sennheisers.I have been using them for years and would'nt use anything else.

Ambient · 09-03-2008, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Nice well written post that may well be lost on those that have never bought vinyl. Big up on the Sennheisers.I have been using them for years and would'nt use anything else.

Thanks man, Sennheiser really blew me away with the PX100 headphones. They're light, easily portable, and they are amazing when it comes to sound quality on the go.

I hope this gets stickied though, Vinyl really is losing its way through the standardization of the iPod and MP3.

Luckily, our generation is all about spreading information. So at least there are a few people out there who are still in the midst of spreading the Vinyl love.

Crowe · 09-03-2008, 01:21 PM

Didn't know earbuds were so bad for your ear. I have to use them when I work out though, nothing else stays in!

lucifer_sam · 09-03-2008, 01:40 PM

Honestly, when I'm listening to music, the actual quality of it is one of my last concerns. But when I'm recording, it's one of my primary concerns. I guess you could say I'm not an audiophile.

Minstrel · 09-03-2008, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crowe

Didn't know earbuds were so bad for your ear. I have to use them when I work out though, nothing else stays in!

As far as I've read in the research, they aren't that bad for you, unless you crank the volume really high and listen a lot of hours per day on them. What's concerning researchers are kids who wear earbuds and turn the volume up so high that the music can be heard by people up to 4-5 feet away. That's insanely loud.

Ambient · 09-03-2008, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crowe

Didn't know earbuds were so bad for your ear. I have to use them when I work out though, nothing else stays in!

The Sennheiser PX100s are not in-ear buds, but they'll certainly stay on. You can't say you'll always avoid listening to really loud music especially if you're in a really loud setting so if what Minstrel said is correct, you'll still face that situation one way or the other.

However, I don't think the major media and marketing businesses would want people to release research results that bash in-ear buds because they're so popular. Perhaps that's why the research is different from my understanding.

From my personal experience, in-ear buds sound worse, and scar your hearing. I noticed that I would always be saying "What?!" and asking people to repeat themselves before I switched over to over the head headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

Honestly, when I'm listening to music, the actual quality of it is one of my last concerns. But when I'm recording, it's one of my primary concerns. I guess you could say I'm not an audiophile.

I think that's a bad habit, but that's my own paradigm. You can always learn new things everyday, and I think to appreciate audio quality is something worth learning.

If you listen to music at it's highest quality then you'll hear every instrument closest to the way the artist originally produced it. This way, you will comprehend music better and will have better grasp on techniques when recording.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minstrel

As far as I've read in the research, they aren't that bad for you, unless you crank the volume really high and listen a lot of hours per day on them. What's concerning researchers are kids who wear earbuds and turn the volume up so high that the music can be heard by people up to 4-5 feet away. That's insanely loud.

Aren't that bad, but they're still bad according to the research. The 'kids' you speak of regards to a sweeping generalization. Not everyone listens to the music that high. I didn't listen to my music at very high volume at all and I always caught myself as hard of hearing. If you can't hear then you can't comprehend, and it's better to be safe then sorry.

Putting your ears on the line when you're a musician is the same as not using a condom during sex. It could leave you damaged permanently and it's just plain out stupid.

**dreadnaught** · 09-03-2008, 08:52 PM

I dunno, music is music. I don't think hearing it better would make me apperciate it more.. but that's just me.

Wayfarer · 09-03-2008, 08:56 PM

I really need to get a record player and a pair of Sennheiser PX100s.

RezZ · 09-03-2008, 09:23 PM

You say the Cowon products are much better than Apple Ipod, and sound quality is better??

I have owned 2 cowon products, both Cowons competitors to the Ipod Classics. Both of the IAudio/Cowon broke within 1 year of purchasing them. My ipod (which i can put flac files on that sound wonderful) has lasted already longer than a year and shows no sign of slowing down.

Not only that but the menu system, screen, and organization on the Cowon products flat out SUCKS. I dont care how much you hate ipod or apple, they are far superior when it comes down to browsing your music on a portable device.

edit: Very nice post though, as long it wasn't just copied and pasted.

09-02-2008, 12:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
jackhammer No Kickin' In The Goolies Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 11,925	Nice well written post that may well be lost on those that have never bought vinyl. Big up on the Sennheisers.I have been using them for years and would'nt use anything else. __________________ This is my music if you want any of my crap just holler It wasn’t difficult for me to get into character. I mean, I know the beast in me, I’ve been drunk with him for fifteen years. So it was home from home you might say.

09-03-2008, 01:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
Crowe Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Chicago/St. Louie Posts: 693	Didn't know earbuds were so bad for your ear. I have to use them when I work out though, nothing else stays in! __________________

09-03-2008, 01:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
lucifer_sam blah blah blah Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,001	Honestly, when I'm listening to music, the actual quality of it is one of my last concerns. But when I'm recording, it's one of my primary concerns. I guess you could say I'm not an audiophile. __________________ there is no there there.

09-03-2008, 08:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
dreadnaught take no prisoners Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1,891	I dunno, music is music. I don't think hearing it better would make me apperciate it more.. but that's just me. __________________ Last FM

09-03-2008, 08:56 PM	#9 (permalink)
Wayfarer Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,718	I really need to get a record player and a pair of Sennheiser PX100s. __________________ Nothing can save imperialism, capitalism and revisionism from the remorseless vengeance of the proletariat and the peoples. Nothing can rescue them from deep antagonistic contradictions and never-ending crises, revolutions, their inevitable demise.

09-03-2008, 09:23 PM	#10 (permalink)
RezZ SpacerockeR Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pittsburgh PA, USA Posts: 2,594	You say the Cowon products are much better than Apple Ipod, and sound quality is better?? I have owned 2 cowon products, both Cowons competitors to the Ipod Classics. Both of the IAudio/Cowon broke within 1 year of purchasing them. My ipod (which i can put flac files on that sound wonderful) has lasted already longer than a year and shows no sign of slowing down. Not only that but the menu system, screen, and organization on the Cowon products flat out SUCKS. I dont care how much you hate ipod or apple, they are far superior when it comes down to browsing your music on a portable device. edit: Very nice post though, as long it wasn't just copied and pasted. __________________ - "A lot like lucid dreams... as different from normal dreams as they are from waking life." Last edited by RezZ; 09-03-2008 at 09:30 PM.

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