I was watching a Youtube video earlier from an Audiophile doing a 'rig rundown', visiting someone with a $million audio system (2 different ones actually) and gushing how incredible the music sounded through it. The owner was talking about music being more of an experience in it, including a Subwoofer (among many) where the primary reason for it being there is apparently its ability to influence the air pressure in the room. it struck me that almost nobody ever gets to experience that kind of set up - $60k DACs etc.
If you wanted to have that experience, or as close as possible, what are your options? Seemed like the sort of thing where someone could start a business, rent out a room with some incredible sound system and let people come with their favourite albums and experience it. I'd definitely pay to do that, just for the experience.
Link for anyone who is interested:
Puts guitar gear GAS to shame really!
Comments
...not something some rich guy on YouTube recommendeds.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Thing is, on going back and hearing it again a few years ago, it struck me that it wasn't that much better than Tannoy studio monitors in my office, driven by a cheap Denon amp - the primary difference being that my room is treated to be very flat and free of reflections (not much in the way of bass traps, but still...that wasn't the main goal), and his isn't because like most audiophiles he believes it's all about the signal path and nothing to do with the environment.
Both give great detail, both are a great listening experience, but one cost about 0.1% of the other. And mine sounds better at low volume, his has to be wound up to sound good. And, if I'm being totally honest, my Sennheiser Momentum 3 earbuds sound better than both of them in every way.
One thing I will say is that I have never, ever, heard a pair of uber-expensive speakers that would work optimally in the average UK house. For example, I recently went to the UK HiFi show with a mate who is planning to upgrade his speakers to these:
https://hifilounge.co.uk/product/wilson-audio-alexia-v-loudspeakers/
We listened to a demo of them for about 30 minutes. Not really long enough to make a conclusive decision, but good enough to get an idea of their capabilities. Aside from their hideous looks (in my opinion) they struck me as a lesson in engineering brilliance which somehow went beyond reality. They were hugely impressive from a technical standpoint, but not how I hear the world. The bass presentation and its control was extraordinary, but not how bass sounds to me. It was too controlled, too clinical, too unrealistic. Massive, powerful bass is not that controlled in the real world. Critically, at near-field listening, they simply weren't as nice sounding as my own speakers which are far, far cheaper. In the huge room we were in they could blow you away at high volume, in your average lounge with neighbours nearby, I'm not so sure. Now, the speakers that I own (after owning countless models over the years) could never fill a large space like those Wilsons do, nor could they control powerful, bass-heavy, music remotely as well at very high volume. However, and this is important, they sound natural, relaxing and realistic when you're ten feet away, or six inches from them. In my listening room (my lounge), I sit about ten feet from them. My house is modest in size. Even in large UK houses, you're unlikely to be more than two or three times that distance from HiFi speakers, so what's the point in owning behemoths that could fill a theatre with sound. It all boils down to having what's appropriate for your listening space.
Speakers vary hugely. Their sound presentation makes them arguably the most variable component in a HiFi system. For this reason, the choice of speaker you own is ultimately one of personal, subjective choice. My speakers - Harbeth Super HL5+s - are the cheapest components in my system, but are the one thing I would not change, Unless I had a bigger room, in which case I would buy their bigger brothers. For me, they are perfect. On discovering them, my HiFi journey stopped overnight. I'd found the sound that works for me. I already owned decent quality electronics from McIntosh and a very nice turntable - a Michell Engineering Orbe SE. While I love the look and build quality of the McIntosh kit, I genuinely think that I could replace it with other, comparable quality gear, and not notice a significant difference. Amps should be relatively neutral in nature if they're not going to colour the sound of a recording and deliver an authentic representation of the original music. Turntables and cartridges do present music in more varied ways, but vinyl is an inherently compromised medium, even if I do love it.
Price is the elephant in the room. I was lucky enough to buy much of my system second hand and get a good price on gear that I traded in over the years. I also bought it before I had the financial commitment of kids etc. The mate I mentioned earlier is wealthy and has helped me immensely by selling me gear really cheap, knowing that I could make money on it as I upgraded over the years. In short, I could never afford my HiFi today. Part of that is down to personal circumstances, but prices have also risen beyond reason in the last 10-15 years. An example; I paid just over £2k for my turntable many years ago - it was 6 months old when I bought it secondhand and was in mint condition. Today, the same one, with the same tone arm and cartridge would set you back around £8k new. I love it, but it's not worth anything like that kind of money in my opinion. The same goes for my McIntosh SACD player. It's a digital source, how exceptional can one be? It replaced a Marantz SACD player that was around a third of the price, but 90% as good. Diminishing returns in terms of sound quality vs cost are significant in the HiFi world. I'm very aware that I have paid more than I can logically justify have to get that extra little bit of quality. The reality is that you can get a fine system for a couple of grand, a wonderful one for under £5k and an extraordinary one for £5k-£30k. Beyond that, you're being indoctrinated into the world of snake oil, pixie dust and bragging rights.
For commercial systems I can generally make any given system outperform something at double the cost by spending a few hours on EQ and other DSP tweaks.
Hifi people would, it seems, rather spend money on different components than get the best from what they've got.
It’s clear that this is a segment that very much caters to the luxury/boasting market.
The remainder can be largely split amongst two camps.
The second is the ultra high-end segment, these are serious companies who are genuinely trying to push the boundaries and are using very expensive materials and processes and often operating out of high cost countries like the USA, Japan and Switzerland. They’re also in the business of making money, and at low production numbers it’s inevitable that the end user prices are astronomical.
I spent three full days at high end Munich, the first two attending as press, for a Brazilian hifi publication. The writer has 30+ years in the industry. One of the topics of conversation came to conclusion that in the 70s/80s there simply wasn’t the option to spend these sums of money on hi fi. Expensive kit, sure, but not anywhere near some of the stuff out there today.
I'm not convinced technology can always beat the physics. Physics is bigger and harder than me, and it wins every fight. Treating the room (which seems to be anathema to hifi people) is almost always the best and cheapest approach. To the point that we have a partner who does the measurements and treatment.
In learning about studio acoustics I kept coming across experts saying, "You cannot treat time domain issues (ie. reverb) with frequency domain tools (ie. EQ)
What upsets me is that people spend money on all sorts of nonsense without even the most basic treatment or even proper speaker placement. I suppose the hifi industry is comfortable with this arrangement
I treated my living room and set up digital room correction. My speakers are PMC towers similar to the IB1s that some mastering engineers use. It's very accurate lol. You can hear every production detail. No longer interested in upgrading
If I did change anything I'd probably get some active ATCs but I honestly don't think it would change my enjoyment of the music. Active crossovers are better for phase alignment between the drivers. But it's all meaningless if your room is faffing everything up