Are You an Audiophile?
Strong language warning: not suitable for sensitive ears
I have a complicated relationship with the word audiophile.
Despite fitting right into the definition of someone who “loves listening to high-quality audio” and “is enthusiastic about high-quality equipment for playing recorded sound”, I’ve always kept a safe distance from this word.
To start with, I don’t have any formal training in sound engineering or audio technology (I did toy with the idea, many times, but maths and physics have never been my strength).
Everything I know in this field is the result of countless hours of self-taught madness throughout the years. (My degree is in something completely different, which might explain why I’m making such a big fuss about a seemingly innocent word).
A mixing engineer once told me I didn’t need any formal training, but I don’t think you ever stop learning.
The main reason I avoid this term, though, is the class undertone attached to it: to be an audiophile, your gear needs to be of a certain calibre, your room should be big enough to arrange all your hi-fi components in a very specific (read: prescribed) way, and folks will look down on you if you move an inch from any of these unwritten (yet traditionally accepted) rules.
Do you know what I say to this? I’m a linguist by profession, so if you’ll excuse me while I check my thesaurus… OK, I think I got it: fuck that shit.
Much of my equipment and many of my habits tend to sit comfortably within the audiophile range. Not all, though. But I don’t care. You know why? Because I don’t want no part in that elitist world. (Yes, I’ve just used a double negative: because I can, and because it just hits differently sometimes).
If you want to be an audiophile, read. When you feel you’ve read enough, read some more. Read and listen. Experiment with what you have. If you don’t have the money for the gear, it will come later… or it may never come, but it doesn’t really matter, because the gear won’t give you the knowledge. I can assure you that by reading and studying you’re already one step ahead.
And if you want to call yourself an audiophile, go ahead. Be the inclusive kind, though. Don’t look down on others. And be inquisitive. Many of these self-professed audiophiles go on endless rants about entry-level turntables but they’ve never even touched one. They could write treaties on the superiority of analogue but they haven’t played a CD since 1985.
I know far too well the pain of not having much, or having very little, to feel comfortable joining a party full of self-obsessed pricks snobbishly pursuing a fake and meaningless sense of beloning to a pseudo club that is so far removed from the actual problems of this world —and, crucially, from any semblance of an emotional connection to the music— that it ends up making a complete mockery of itself.
Nah, I’m fine this way. Call me a sound geek, or fiend, or nerd. Call me whatever you like, but don’t call me an audiophile. Too much baggage.
Plus, I mean, can we address the big elephant in the room? Audiophile. Audio file. Enough to trigger them, especially the analogue purists among them.
Ha! Serves them well. I knew that language degree would come in handy one day.
Thanks for reading/listening. Happy spinning!
Someone told me that audiophiles listen to their equipment - the rest of us listen to the music. I’m a bit of a turntable obsessive, but mostly so I can explore the records from 78’s onward. I only avoid vertical cuts and cylinders as they would require even more equipment…
I’ve always been bothered by the terms audiophile and videophile, especially when they’re self-proclaimed. Like you, I find those terms elitist and snobbish, the whole “I’m better than you” or “you just wouldn’t understand” attitude just rankles me.
I listen to a lot of music, hours a day. I like it to sound good so I buy decent headphones and speakers. If and when I decide to get a turntable I know I’ll do a bunch of research (expect questions) and will end up buying something that is well reviewed but reasonably priced.
The music itself is what matters.