Editorial: Rich’s Ramblings
Are you a music lover or an audiophile? This question is often posed with the implication that the two are mutually exclusive, but I don’t they need be. But let’s back up for a minute and define what we mean by “music lover” and “audiophile”.
For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll define an audiophile to be someone for whom high sound quality is very important, at least in theory: there are many audiophiles who aspire to very good (read expensive) high-end equipment but are without the means to purchase it, so they must settle for equipment that is more affordable but has one or more sonic flaws. This doesn’t matter, it’s the aspiration that’s important (rather like the car enthusiast who covets a Ferrari yet drives around in a Mazda 3). For the audiophile, the pursuit of audio excellence is probably a never ending journey.
A music lover, on the other hand, is someone for whom the music is tantamount: they are just as happy listening to their favourite music on a cheap MP3 as anything else, and are probably blissfully unaware of high-end audio. For the music lover, the music itself is the journey.
There will always be extremes in both camps (for example, audiophiles who have a $250,000 system on which to listen to their three perfectly recorded records, or music lovers who aren’t at all interested in high quality sound reproduction), but I think that given the opportunity, most people would be a hybrid, i.e., someone who loves music but actively seeks to maximise their pleasure from it by investing in a high quality audio system.
I think the challenge facing the industry today is how to reach this potentially huge market. I’d assert that most people who might be interested in investing in a high-end audio system aren’t even aware of the high-end. For them, brands like Bose and Bang & Olufsen represent the pinnacle of home audio reproduction, which is unfortunate because although they may be fine “lifestyle” products, the products made by those companies hardly qualify as high-end (despite their high price tags!).
As an industry, we need to educate people on the benefits of high-end audio, preferably by exposing them to a well set up system with their own music. Of course, not everyone will be interested, but I think that if we can make high-end audio more accessible to the masses, the industry as a whole would be much better off.
I have no idea how to address this on an industry-wide basis, but we can all do something individually: invite more friends over—especially music lovers—for a social listening session. Play them their favourite pieces of music on your system so that they can hear what’s possible. Of course, it’s unrealistic to expect to convert everyone like this, and not everyone—even once they’ve heard the results—will want to spend a big pile of money on an audio system. In other words, not everyone is able to invest tens of thousands of dollars in their audio system, but good sound can be had for a lot less than that, which is of course where the need for an experienced, helpful dealer comes in. But that’s another essay!
As I write this, Christmas is almost upon us once again. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a prosperous, healthy, and happy New Year!