Are you an Audiophile?

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Ever since I bought these slightly expensize head phones... Grado sr60s for $70$... I have been gradually trying to increase my sound quality. I am not at the level of the really high end esoteric sound equipment that people will spend two years salary on. But I am slowly increasing the sound quality in my modest system, and its fun to change something and hear subtle differiences that were completely lost before.

I have a soundcard on my computer that is designed more for audio quality than for games(M-Audio Revolution), despite being a PC gamer... I can deal with substandard surround sound quality in games to have amazing quality when it comes to playing music. I also encode all my music on my computer in a lossless audio format... just in case. I have the hard drive space to spare so why not... I output my sound to a plain stereo receiver(onxyo TX-8211) with no surround sound capabilities. It is just designed for decent stereo performance, quite rare in this day and age. And I have some fairly large decently sounding speakers I've had for a while, but never had a system to hook them up to. They are made by AKAI, but I have no idea of where they come from... I've just always had them. I suspect the speakers in my system are a bad link in the chain... but I haven't gone speaker shoping to compare them. When I get some money I want to spend some 200-400 on a pair of speakers... but just don't have the money for that sort of invenstment right now. And if I want really high sound quality I listen with my headphones, which are awesome. There are also some tweaks I have found to getting better sound quality out of my computer, which I found http://www.gamingforce.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63028&highlight=Sound+Quality. Mostly stopping windows from mucking up the sound mix, and having the player send the sound directly to the sound card.

Anyways, this is my sound system... a modestly cheap system... 100 for sound card, 200 for receiver, 70 for headphones... and the speakers were free. I wouldn't classify myself as an Audiophile though, not yet at least. But I do like trying to make my music sound the best.

Anyone here classify themselves as an Audiophile? What sort of Audio equipment do you use?

Well I've got a Sony mini shelf system with Mini Disc (and tuner, CD, tape). Before that I had AIWA which I prefer, Sony has almost too much clarity, like every instrument sounds separate whereas in AIWA you get a blended sound. I also bought Sony headphones but I don't like them, they are those ones that go around the back of your head (like you wear a baseball cap) and they hurt my ears, I prefer over the top of the head phones.

I still use a Sound Blaster Live! on my computer Need an Audigy 2.

I use my parents old JVC reciever for music. We got it in 1992 and it has an analog surround sound processor which sounds just as nice, if not better than the SRS-WOW feature that windows media player has.

I can't bring it with me though to oshkosh, not enough room in the dorm.

Well actually I believe that sony is actually a little too muddy, especially in the midtones (and even the bass). This seems to be the general conception among audiophiles. I don't like new speakers. Old skool Speakers like KLH, AR, and JDL are what you should be interested in.

I don't think I qualify to be an audiophile yet but that's the path I've chosen so I'm slowly but surely getting my ears in check.

I've got a 5.1 Alesis system with a beautiful 10" sub on my pc hooked up from an M-Audio 24-96 card. The sub is soooooo cool to play with using synthesisers - you can get it sounding like an 18-wheel truck engine - the whole house shakes ... I love bass.

I wouldn't say I'm an audiophile, but do have a more elaborate system than your standard stereo: I have an Echo Indigo soundcard, ESI active monitors and Stanton headphones. The monitors are lacking in sub-base, but you can clearly hear the rest of the frequency range that must stereo speakers can’t match.

Currently using the cheapo audio chipset that came with my laptop Plugged into a Cambridge Souns works satellite system, or a pair of Koss self sealing earbuds for regular audio playback. For more serious stuff I also have a pair of AKG K-240M headphones. At some point I'd like to ditch this seup all togeather, and move up to Genelec 1029's or 1031's, which are pretty much industry standard self powered nearfeild referance monitors. For headphones, I'd like to find something that has frequncy response that's as flat as the K-240's but with a higher sensitivity.

That being said, my belief is that audio is only as good as the equipment that it is recorded and mixed down with. The audiophile market on the other hand, is loaded with such things as $5000 20 watt Class A monoblock tube amps, $20,000 speaker systems, and even $300 POWER cables that all claim to make the source signal sound "bigger", "Warmer", more "live", and such crap as that.

Thats very true. I buy music that isn't exactly popular and won't sell too many copies, so some of these CDs I can tell don't have quite the same audio quality as others. And sometimes that is thrown in for artistic reasons. I don't really care too much, I'd rather listen to what I like which has lower sound quality... then listen to what I don't like... even though its recorded on superior sound equipment.

But even the Bad recordings have things that sound better after I have made some improvements. I can hear new interplay between the intsruments and vocal harmonys... even if they don't sound exactly natural. In my TMBG albums, its awesome how much Harmony they actually put into the record... that before I didn't even know existed...

I'm not crazy about digiital sound anyway, but since that's the current thing, what can you do?

Having grown up on vinyl, I don't think CDs compare - they always sound cold and clinical in comparison. I guess you don't have to replace styli and they last longer but feh...

I have my own (very well equiped) recording studio, does that count?

Agreed! I miss the lovely crackling and hissing of vinyl...

I have a m-audio revolution w/ a set of 2 speakers (logitech z-2300)

the combination sweeps me off me feet. Alas, for I seek greater quality still. But the pockets run only so deep.

I'm kinda more about the car audio - I have an Alpine CDA-7875 60x4 head unit with a pair of JL Audio 10" W3 v.2's in the back with a 500x2 Phoenix Gold Tantrum amp powering em. The weakest part is that I just have some Best Buy Pioneer 6x9 and 4x6 speakers for the mids; I think I should upgrade that but only once I get a new car and can get some circular speakers (I hear elipticals cut down on the quality).

As for my computer I guess what I have is ok; I have a pair of Boston Accoustics with a small subwoofer on the floor. Usually if I'm upstairs or down here and want to keep the music to myself (whether I'm listening to mp3s or producing) I have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 "dynamic stereo headphones" - esentially $100 dj reference monitors which sound awesome but they tend to throw off my EQing if I use em to produce.

I've found that finding Good monitoring headphones can be a bit of a problem, and I've been wanting to get a better pair for several years now. I like the flat and accurate response of the AKG's but I can't deal with the low sensitivity of them. The problem with a lot of Consumer audio gear is that the frequency response curves tend to accentuate Bass/ Low Mids from around 120Hz, as well as HF usually in the 3-6 Khz in an attempted to give the user 'Good Bass Response" as well as "Crystal clear Highs". This usually tends to throw off EQing. Unfortunately, to get around this, you have to spend about $300 for a decent set of Monitoring headphones.

That Beaing said, I've havn't heard much bad things about Behringer's Self powered Nearfield monitors.

There are WAY BETTER monitors than the Behringers. You get exactly what you pay for and spending less than around $1000.00 for a set of studio monitors is basically a waste of money, unless you are just doing things as a hobby. Then again many of the cheaper studio monitors are not much better than expensive computer speakers. Most people that are serious about recording stay very far away from the Behringers. I would never consider them for serious studio work, or any studio work for that matter. If you want good studio monitors, but can't afford to spend a lot, look at Wharfdales, Yorkvilles, Events, or even some of the higher end M-Audio ones. Also, studio monitors are not intended for casual listening, although it can be done. They are intended for accurate listening and are supposed to have a non-flattering flat EQ curve for accurate reproduction of recorded sound in an acoustically controled environment. I would not listen to my TV through any of my studio monitors, like I would not try to mix through the home entertainment system either.