High-End Hi-Fi: Luxury or Necessity

People are willing to spend more on headphones than I would have ever thought possible a decade ago, thanks to the iPod, iPhone etc. Of course it's a shame that $400 sometimes buys glorified junk, but for the most part I think pricey headphones are more than just a fashion statement, they are an acknowledgement that HiFi still has a place in many people's lives. I think anyone who spends that much on cans likely spends some time appreciating the music, and if that person lacks the skills or means to set up a proper stereo rig, headphones are going to have the 'next best' presentation of the music. As technology advances, smaller speakers and sound bars will bring HiFi level experiences to more and more homes as well.

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Edited by PobjoySpecial - 5/16/13 at 2:14pm

I like it either and that reminds me of something related to audio somehow...

" To Do is to Be " - Nietzsche
" To Be is to Do " - Kant
" Do Be Do Be Do " - Sinatra

I think the real question isn't "high end" v. "low end," but what qualifies as active v. passive listening. If I'm sitting on the subway for 20 minutes with a nice set of over-ear cans and an ipod full of lossless music, is that a high end or a low end listening session? Is the session active or passive? How about commuting in a newer car with an upgraded sound system? The key is making sure that your active listening is high quality wherever you are, and that's happening more and more, even for your average music listener who doesn't realize it.

Used to be that unless you spent a fortune on gear, you had to choose between listening to quality music and listening to portable music. That's not the case anymore. Good headphones are everywhere, and even the overpriced stuff like Beats is still worlds better than the average headphones that the average listener would use five years ago. Same with portable music formats: DAPs are big enough that carrying around lossless music files are realistic, and even 256kbps AAC is much harder to tell apart from CD than the good old 128 kbps MP3 or, god help us, a dubbed tape played on a walkman.

To answer the question objectively: any hobby is NOT a necessity. It may or not be a luxury, but definitely not a necessity.

I figure if you can afford it? Then who's to tell anyone else what they should do with their money.

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Edited by PobjoySpecial - 5/16/13 at 2:17pm

In a time when hi-end sound can be had on a service industry wage you would think that every young male out there would have a solid little receiver and a great sounding pair of bookshelves. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. My three teenage sons listen to as much music as I ever did. They have heard what good sound is but really don't care. My 17 year old is completely content booming away on his Logitech computer speakers, the 15 year old has a portable Sony I-pod dock that screaches throughout the house and the 13 year old mostly just uses his tv speakers. They have jobs, they have money, they love music but just don't need 20hz to 20khz at 0.001% THD to enjoy it. Though it bugs the Hell out of me in a way I have to respect that. There was a time when the audio equipment seemed to be more important to me than the audio itself...that's when I knew it was time to get into home theater.

the loudness war has ruined the experience for me at least in some genres.. so many cd's sound better in my car than in my home thanks to the over-compression.

Definately luxury. At this stage of my life, I finally can afford a lot of the electronics I wanted (within reason). Yet, I use my setup mostly for movies. I was once a lad never to been seen without earphones in my ears. Over the last decade or two, I have never been able to seat down and listen to one CD in it's entirety.

Man, I hear you there, brother. When I was younger, I had all the time in the world to spend listening to music and watching movies (and I did). But I couldn't afford any really nice gear.

Now that I can afford some of the good stuff (within reason, like you said), I've got so very little time to enjoy it, that I wonder if I'm crazy for buying the gear in the first place!

There's sound and then there's...music. One is what we all hear from womb to tomb. The other, a form of art that commands attention, or at least should. I'm guessing that most entertainment systems focus more attention and money on video than audio. Yet, as in the enjoyment of wine, where the nose gets short shrift, sound plays an enormous role in the overall experience, yet is undervalued. Spending oodles on earphones where the source is compressed is akin to trying to get a nice photo image on paper from a poor negative. There's no detail to recover or re-create. And there are few artists today that have both the interest and clout to ensure that what is recorded is properly handled from capture, let alone playback. Unless, and until, this is re-instilled in artists of the world (thinking here of those who are so concerned, like Neil Young) the industry and consumers will not be afforded the "luxury" of great music reproduction, no matter our pocket books.

At least there are still venues to listen to the real, live thing -- be it in the concert hall or the back porch.

Luxury, to the audio enthusiast its a necessity but I believe they are a small niche.

Same with wine for example, most people drink wine casually and prefer to buy cheap bottles. Only a small niche spend money on good bottles and truly enjoy wine. To this small group, good wine becomes a necessity.

Is music important to you or isn't it? Do you need it like you need air and water? Do you appreciate music on a visceral, emotional level while understanding it as an intellectual pursuit? Does your appreciation of music exist entirely apart from your social life, your personal history, or your "use" of music to help create context for the other things you do?

If music is one of the things that makes your life worth living, you will be an "active listener" whatever sort of equipment you own.

It's illuminating that many professional musicians don't own audiophile equipment for home listening. They listen to the music, not the sound quality; they listen through the reproduction quality, as long as it's good enough. You don't need perfect fidelity to get inside the head of the composer or the performer, you just need to be able to hear all the parts.

I have a pretty good home audio system, but I've been playing and listening to music my whole life, and I don't know that I appreciate music any more when I use a $2000 system than I do when using headphones on the train or my car stereo... or that I appreciate it any more or less now than I did in the Sixties when I was using whatever portable record player I could get my hands on.

It was learning to listen that made the difference.

Isn't the goal to have the music in our home sound just like it was being performed live? Dialed in room acoustics is the real necessity. Top notch gear completes the goal.

To me the goal of home audio is to reproduce the recording the way it sounds in the recording studio, warts and all.

With the nuckleheads of today's world, I personally NEVER walk around in public with earphones plugged into my ears. I want to hear my surroundings and pay close attention to those who may harm me. Whether it be a bus while crossing a street or a pick-pocket in a subway station, I refuse to be distracted by itunes or iphones. Want to listen to music---make time! Want to play golf---make time!! Want to read a book---make time!!! Taking music on a portable device everywhere you go and using it while doing whatever you do is like texting and driving.....Really??? It can't wait??? You you absolutely have to listen to low-resolution music every minute of the day, then high-end high fidelity music reproduction most likely is not an issue in your life.