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People who want fancy cables didn't necessarily waste money buying what they wanted just because they sound the same. People who spent time testing if the basic laws of phisics work in a $7 cable almost certainly did.

Most hobbyists waste a lot of money. I have spent thousands on equipment for my cameras. I don't use it that much but when I use it, it makes me happy. Most people waste a lot of money on their cars. They could achieve the same results with a cheaper car but somehow it's worth it. Add to that watches, phones, clothing and many other things.

Having worked little bit on the music production side of things, I always find it funny how much some people spend for a couple of feet of a high-end cables at home, just to listen to records that have been made in studios where the signals went through dozens or hundreds of feet of standard run-of-the-mill cabling.

If this is appealing to you, check out this guy who ran a much more systematic set of experiments on even more sacred and sensitive targets:

Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02tImce3AE

Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcBEOcPtlYk

These articles are no fun anymore, because it's almost impossible to find anybody to take the other end of the claim, that there's any perceptible difference in sound quality from high-end cables. Every audiophile forum I could find talking about this video all said the same thing: "no shit, of course, everyone knows this already".

I've been an audiophile for a few years during early twenties because it was fun to check out new and used equipment every weekend in the store I frequented, listened to various great music, and read reviews in various magazines. I had enough disposable income to afford a nice set of highly regarded yet less hyped brands, and even once helped out set up a set with a pricetag of a good house.

Life changed and eventually gave up on the hobby while still being drawn to music and the technology behind audio. Then a "golden" kick out the door of one employer meant I could build the speaker set I had in mind based on Siegfried Linkwitz's knowledge. The total cost for the speakers was about 2000,- but it did take between 2000 and 3000 for a fully active setup with two subwoofer towers and two 3.5 way main towers, all open baffle.

I have never heard a more perfect three-dimensional soundstage before and after, and it still sounds like the artists are actually playing in the livingroom even from other parts of the house. This was kind of Siegfried's message about good sound, the speakers are what make it (electronics are more than good enough at low prices) as long as they're made on scientific grounds, and not another heavy set of hyped monkey coffins. I have reached my audiophile end goal without forking over a fortune. Also fun, I came across one of the only two or three Yamaha CD-1 players made for Europe back then as a trade-in, one rarity I kept as souvenir of those early years. ;-)

This has been known for decades, how many audiophiles are still buying this stuff?

The same could be said of almost all luxury goods.

Tom's Hardware also had an article not long ago about there being no audible difference between a fancy cable and a trough of mud https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47015987

Electronics too! While there are measurable differences there are no audible differences between fancy DACs and the $10 dongle Apple sells, for prerecorded music at least. You had to pay thousands to get this kind of performance in the late 90's. https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-qu...

If you want good sound you can still spend money on big speakers and room treatments though. Physics.

For some, tis not about Quality but about Control. "If x y z happens I feel safe/in control". Changing anything about it = unsafe/the sky may fall.

Same logic scales up to social level if you notice what large groups burn cash on. The only way to reduce the cash burn is to give them something else to do that makes them feel safe and in control. Which is not for the faint of heart.

To be an audiophile you need (really) the fololwing:

3-way stereo in closed box (not a phase inverter)

a few valves

power and output transformers

non-class D sound source (bobbin or vinyl)

All of this is not expencive at all. What is expencive - a library of the music you really wish to re-listen.

in a previous life I went to school and qualified as an audio engineer, in Ottowa, which was then a hotbed of audio startups due to the ability to use the facilities at the NRC for testing and development, and there is most definitly certain characteristics that can be found in conductors, but no one at that time was suggesting that these were at the audible level, especialy for the very short lengths used in home or club systems. But on the other hand if you had a 300 mile long coil of wire bieng used in an anolog delay line, then perfection was barely good enough. Primary concern was shielding, and noise from power supplys, and generaly power supplys are still a huge source of noise. Consensus was to eliminate anything not needed from the signal path, and take care in creating a noise (buzz) free listening environment, with good spatial seperation. Major gear would have NO controls on the power amp, carefull ,carefull, everything in the preamp, cause it will launch your smoking speaker cones out where diagnosing the issue will be easy.

I'm sorry but this article is just clickbait.

It's comparing cables, which everyone with some experience knows they make no difference.

I expected something more substantial, like a comparison of different IEM price tiers, or a comparison of different DAC chips, or something else that actually matters.

Seems like rich people are wasteful with their spending.

Hobbies can be this way.

Also, speakers can be different between people since we can all hear a little different.

Same goes for microphones, not all microphones are tuned for the same way, so what sounds great and clear could be a little different in a person's case and still be valid.

I like Tom's hardware, but the thought did creep to my mind if I'd be directed to a commissioned product link.

I have been mulling starting a high end audio gear company. The rationale is, making something worthy of spending on, because it's something you love- is the authentic experience. If I can make something that will still be liquid at some reduced depreciation in 10-20 years, that's an honest product. I used to be a writer for luxury media as well, and there is an extremely rare ability in luxury to make it actually real as opposed to merely vulgar and expensive.

These articles are a bit like saying scientists find expensive watches do not tell time in any appreciably better way, yet even technical founders who should "know better," are still wearing them with a t-shirt and flip flops after their exit. The economics of high end audio make more sense as an analogy to jewelry or art.

After volatility, haircuts, cap gains and other risk, there are so few productive assets to invest relatively small amounts in, where a store of value that depreciates less than inflation and purchasing power is a desirable thing.

If you love music, it's a way to build a shrine to it. Arguably, the real problem is consumer gear that simulates the experience of something valuable that won't end up in a landfill, but its just crap you throw away when you move house.

If it makes you happy, is it really wasted? People waste money on a lot of shit they don't need, but if they're financially responsible and not going into debt and becoming homeless, who's to say they shouldn't be buying overpriced audio gear? If people stopped spending their disposable income on stuff they don't need to survive, the economy would collapse.

I mean: "audiophile" is a word defined as "person who wastes money on audio equipment".

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