Quote:
Originally Posted by Ayn Marx
Define ‘audiophile’.
Why would anyone have a ‘favorite kind of record collector’?
Too often in discussions such as this such staggering ignorance is in evidence there’s little or no point in continuing.
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1. My definition of an audiophile is basically anybody that puts the "performance" of the audio equipment over the "perfomance" of the artist. That isn't even a bad thing inherently. I know a lot of audiophiles that really like to engage with the audio quality aspect of record collecting and listening. We all do to a degree. I prefer to collect records VG+ or better and I get miffed if I hear too many pops or tics on my records when there isn't supposed to be much of that.
However, there is a line that gets crossed far too often where audiophiles fall into pretty insufferable creatures. Going out of the way to describe how much money they spent on their gear, going into excruciating detail about the f*cking highs and mids, and generally sh*tting on any setup valued below ten grand or any pressing of a record that isn't of teh highest possible quality of mastering.
Generally I find audiophiles collecting a lot of classical. There is a whole sub-division of classical listeners who went the way of the CD long ago for reasons already discussed in this thread but there are still a bunch who have very large classical record collections. This is because most classical music pressings from 60's onward were mastered and engineered with audiophiles in mind. They're amazing quality and generally the people who buy them take good care of their records. They're not throwing that sh*t on at parties like Black Sabbath records and having beer spilled on it. Parties weren't that cool.
There's a whole clique of people who collect "audiophile" records which are basically anything that was made with the main goal of getting the most out of their hi-fi system. I have bought collections where there really isn't a general sense of "taste" but more of a collection consisting of
anything that is engineered to that audiophile quality. These can be great records by the way. It's my opinon however that a lot of these were purchased just because of their reputation as audiohile records rather than the actual content of the music.
Some examples...
Arne Domnérus, Bengt Hallberg, Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen + Lars Erstrand – Jazz At The Pawnshop
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
Anything Mobile Fidelity
Jennifer Warnes - The Hunter
Steely Dan and Dire Straits
Anything on Water Lily Acoustics Label
Anything Analogue Productions
Just a few examples. There's nothing wrong with owning any of the above. It's just that big time audiophile snobs
WILL own these records or be on the lookout for them.
2. I have varrying degrees of "favorite" kinds of record collectors because I deal with records collectors 45 hours a week and have been for over four years as somebody who runs a record shop. Whether or not you choose to find my opinons on this matter valid or not is up to you but I run one of more popular digging spots in the NYC Metro area which is a very popular hot spot for record collecting for its obvious music heritage ties. I don't just work at a record store (you're a doll by the way TH. Thanks for the backup) but I curate and operate a business that has record collectors as its main clientele. It's like questioning a bartender about why they have ceratin opinions about their bar patrons. Well, because that's all I deal with silly goose.
But, what the hell do I know?
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