Is audiophile gear real?

It depends on what you mean by audiophile.
Speakers have different frequency responses and there is no much you can do to get around that.

Some like a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system with the appropriate size speakers that can reproduce a large frequency range combined with an appropriately high quality source audio will sound distinctively better than plan mono or stereo from one or two small speakers.

Think of it as something like SD vs HD vs UHD video. You can surely tell the difference between SD and UHD can't you? But the difference between UHD on a roughly calibrated consumer HDTV is a pro calibrated UHD monitor is going to be more subtle.

The audiophiles like you're probably thinking of are people who think even the pro calibrated UHD set-ups aren't good enough and chase non-technical gimmicks because they actually don't have a very good understanding of the technology.

Go to any professional sound tech's house and they'll just have a mish-mash of random old crap that actually sounds great together because they know the true no-bullshit capabilities of it and how to set it up right. And it will sound incredible. No need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yes, of course and sometimes it's great.

Yes it exists and it sounds amazing. What exactly is your issue with this? People spend a few orders of magnitude more on sports cars and no one says anything about it.

Ok, but what about the amp and heapdhones? Did we forget that exists and has a very noticeable difference?

It's not real. Every pic is photoshopped.

My motherboards built in dac had static and buzzing anytime you moved the mouse.

Maybe it works for extremely professional people in the music industry.

For so-called "audiophiles", however, you can bet it's placebo of the highest order.

at what point is it just a meme and jumping the shark?

do audiophiles really actively notice the difference? why do cable holders like this cost like $100 a piece. like wtf? just to hold the cable?

with that money you can get like a good set of headphones or a good used 70s/80s era amp at a thrift store

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Any decent amp should be enough to be transparent, audiophiles can pay more than 1000$ for an amp, when there's no noticeable difference from a 100bucks amp. Speakers and headphones the same kinda, there's a price point where quality can't be improved forwarder mostly due to the limitations of human hearing, but audiophiles don't care and keep buying speakers and headphones WAY WAY WAY pass of what is objectively better, and since each headphone/speaker sounds different you can technically hear a difference but "difference" doesn't mean better.
Yeah, that happens sometimes, some motherboards have shit DAC implementation, not the DAC IC itself that is bad, it's it's implementation.

They mostly buy it since it's their hobby, and the placebo effect is actually rather strong, especially if they believe in it.

While in reality, audible sound quality improvements from source gear and source files cap out very early. Headphones/speakers make up most of the difference, but the high-end stuff is ridiculously overpriced, and isn't really worth the price tag for the tiny improvements.

You are never going to convince an audiophile he is wrong because like someone already mentioned it's mostly a bunch of boomer and soon to be boomers, who instead of accepting that loss of hearing is natural, they have to convince themselves that it's actually because they didn't have the right setup.

I can't stress enough how important it is to know about this if you are trying to understand the mind of the audiophile, as they refuse to believe there is a difference between being a 16 year old and 25 year old boomer.

That is snake oil but in terms of audiophiles, there are many who will obviously not buy those kind of things but still spend a lot of money on things they would never be able to prove makes a difference in audio blind tests.

There is a reason that you don't see this on high fidelity review sites. The people would simply never be able to predict what is better in terms of audio gear in a blind test. That goes for amps, speakers, headphones, anything you can think of.

>Soon to be boomer
I don't think that you really understand that term means

You can just take the local headphone general if you want to peak into a small problem with the audiophile argument. What you will immediately notice is that pictures of expensive headphones is far more prevalent than any discussion of the actual sound. And when it is a discussion about the sound, it's mostly a discussion of some graph rather than any written words on how something sound.

It is obvious what is happening here, it is a community for people who purchase things to show, not people who are deeply interested in sound quality or music (even if they believe they are).

I don't think you really understand hyperbole.

old people can't hear the higher frequencies that audiophile setups are supposed to be capable of producing you monkey nigger

audio-technica and sennheiser are the only brands you can reliably buy good equipment from
stax is fucking hyperoverpriced garbage, even worse than bose

>that hackintosh in the corner
this image was crafted by the gods

>It's like tap water vs spring water.
>Sure, tap water will keep you alive but can you say you're really LIVING?
yes I can, even though I only drink tap water.
WTF are you listening to on these things. Is it like you need absolute purity of sound so that you can hear a bee farting during a pause in Handels Messiah, Do you have to be able to hear the drummer breathing in Motorheads Ace of Spades. WTF are you listening to that requires that level of sound precision?

Me I listen to really great music, but I dont need to give myself an enema, and have a team of surgeons on hand to make sure my ears are 100% ready to listen through my 15 thousand dollar headphones and my 20 thousand dollar amps. Wtf exactly are we supposed to be getting excited about in terms of what can you hear that I dont?

Do you have a team of surgeons to clean your ears before you listen? Do you have a team of fluffers to wank you off so you are relaxed enough , before you use a set like this?

>tl;dr
>bend over and let me dick your ass so you become gay too

not him, but what does soon to be boomer have to do with hyperbole?

Ok, I agree on the amp part past 100$ being irrelevant, but transducers have a much higher ceiling of quality, and 1000$ may be what it takes to get something "good enough". I'm fine with my setup, my headphones cost me 200$, my amp and DAC (separate) another 200$ for both. I know I can improve my headphones, but not really the stuff behind it since it's nearly at audible perfection.

Yeah, but audiophiles can spend like 20k on transducers, which is what I meant.

What is the point of having dumpsterdived amp from a thrift store for someone that wants to showoff and has like $50k invested in this hobby?

At a certain point it's not just about sound.
Think of mechanical watches. Buying a 20k Patek Phillippe isn't motivated by getting more accurate time since a 10$ Casio can do that much better. Those people want a hand-made engraved gold watch where the movement is 100% mechanical.
My point is, you might buy expensive stuff for non-practical reasons. Look at the art market, there's no practical point in owning a Van Gogh. I assume people who buy expensive speakers do it for something like that.

I don't think so, at least those audio companies like Stax or PS audio aren't joking with their bullshit, they advertise their bullshit products as superior audio.

Oh look a thread about things that most people cant afford therefore its snake oil or worthless, never change NEETs with sour grapes.

>he doesn't own audio enhancing crystals

>most people cant afford therefore its snake oil or worthless
usually the victims of such markets are people who have no or zero expertise on the subject.
It will take ages to convince idiots those simple things.
First, your gorillion dollar tube amp was replaced half a century ago with a solid state one that costs 1/100th and amplifies the signal without distorting it.
Second, your gorillion dollar headphones don't use exotic materials, are not subject to patents, are not made by unicorns in neverland, their BOM is roughtly $20. The impulse response in some frequencies is due to the choice of manufacturing.
Third, air and the -20khz +20khz band have limitations. you can't have infinite quality, it's a band and has a specific throughput. given the correct sampling and the accuracy of representing the data you can have the _same_ results on a $50 system that you get on a gorillion dollar one.
... but you are right on something. I can't afford to be that stupid and such a victim of consumerism. I have a degree in STEM and my fair share of knowledge in electronics and signal theory.

someone posted a year ago on an audophool thread a usb with wood insulation.
god damn it, I cannot find it anywhere.
it is the cringiest thing I've ever seen.

the concept of diminishing returns shouldn't be this hard to understand

It is about anything on this board, anything that above the budget of the average NEET is diminishing returns or snake oil with you guys. Instead of being happy for others that they can afford nice things for their hobbies everyone dog piles on people who have means, it is hilarious to watch people justify their mediocrity.

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That is cool, but all your "knowledge in electronics and signal theory" falls apart when it meets reality and you listen to some $10k USD properly engineered speakers. But yeah sure it's the same as your earbuds, go on believe that if you makes you sleep better.

Yes, audiophile gear is real. But I would not say that they are necessarily better from a technical aspect, rather that they are colored to fit some consumers wishes/expectation for how they want it to sound.
There's equipment that's far superior to other from a technical point, and there's equipment that sounds far different from others.
"Tweaks" hardly ever work
Cables work to a certain extent, they have electrical properties that effects the signal and different shielding that determines how resistant they are to interference. How big the difference is up to how important the shielding or how bad/good constructed the cable are. Star-quad studio-grade cables are cheap and will outperform many audiophile cables in every way unless you want a certain coloration.
How clean your power is can effect the sound as well, but it depends on how unclean it is and in what way, also what kind of power supply your equipment are using. Linear power supply are normally more sensitive than switched supply.

So the real question is if you want something that's technically good or something that sounds in a special way. Sounds reasonable?
Sorry for the bad English, I'm a Swecuck.
>Third, air and the -20khz +20khz band have limitations. you can't have infinite quality, it's a band and has a specific throughput. given the correct sampling and the accuracy of representing the data you can have the _same_ results on a $50 system that you get on a gorillion dollar one.
Bitch please

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some people's brains are so fucked up.
your placebo is like schizophrenic-tier power

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

proving my point
stay away from science-related jobs

Could you please explain what you are saying.
That there's no difference between a good $10K speaker and a $50 speaker, or am I understanding it wrong?

no and you are retarded

I think that past from certain point you're getting into snake oil ground.
However I have some 40 bucks speakers and my brother has the Presonus Eris E5 with a decent audio interface and they sound noticeably better.

All you need to do is come with your $50 loudspeakers to a shop and compare them to $10k genelecs or something like that to see your "knowledge about signals and electronics" crushed into dust.
But you are just a religious zealot, you have nothing to do with science, you would never have a bravery to listen to a good loudspeaker system, because that endangers your beliefs.

>I only drink tap water.
Please get a filter even if it's a cheap one user

Ah, thanks! I've always known that something has been wrong with me.

>you need to be able to hear a frequency for it to make a difference
brainlet.
youtube.com/watch?v=lGeh-PLySGE

audioreview.com/product/amplification/amplifiers/balanced-audio-technology/vk-200.html

balanced.com/BAT-Architecture
reading reviews here persuaded me to buy the BAT VK-200 in 2006. I paid just under $1,000 and drove eight hours round trip from NH to NYC for it.. its still running every day.

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came here to post this

if inaudible higher frequencies create impressions which impart the perception of dimensionality or space or headroom or ambience... if you digitally cut off frequencies above 20k because you believe human "hearing" can not perceive them you create a flat dead and unnatural sound... live music doesn't exist in a vacuum. Your head is in 3d and you need higher than audible frequencies to create a reference for area.

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Reviews are meaningless, prove me wrong
>trusting old men online making money coming up with buzzwords.

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amps are for high impedence headphones and external dacs are for if your motherboard gives off static when using its dac. anything else is snakeoil.

Depreciating returns apply to everything, including audio equipment.

There are people who pay thousands for meme headphones using outdated 1970s technology, like Stax. They don't even sound amazing, they have no bass so you can't listen to anything except violins sonata and acoustic guitar music.

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Anyone here could recommend a good tape player?

youtube.com/watch?v=XeHWAlX1K08

Could your $50k audio rig fool somebody into thinking they're listening to a live piano performance?
No? Then where is your magical clarity/headroom and the mystical frequencies that your rig can supposedly play? Or is your 24bits/384Khz file not enough?

>"I only listen to robots, you don't even understand"
youtube.com/watch?v=9gMX_hR-RoM

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>tfw I only drink tap water

youtu.be/4ZK8Z8hulFg

Luxury audio equipment is bought for looks over performance, though it would be disingenuous to say that most luxury audio doesn't perform well. But then again you have non-luxury audiophile equipment like Schiit that destroy headphones and perform worse than chink equipment at a third of the price. Brands like McIntosh are bought because they perform exactly as they say, are an American company, and because they're a recognizable brand of audio.

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If true your statement invalidates your opinion .

music listening is subjective... Did you read the manufacturer's White paper detailing the Am design? The reviews function to give reference to the technical design specs which until you actually listen to equipment is without significance..

There is nothing about the design of this Amp to create an impression of its performance in producing audio signal ... You don't buy an Amp and have someone tell you what to experience when listening and you don't hear music by reading specs or reading schematics.

>tfw programming while listening to your audiophile grade robots

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Apples and oranges

REMINDER AUDIOPHILE TECH IS PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC GARBAGE. ACTUAL DOUBLE-BLIND STUDIES HAVE PROVED THAT THERE IS NO DETECTABLE DIFFERENCE IN SOUND QUALITY FOR HIGH END EQUIPMENT. "WARM" SOUND IS ACTUALLY JUST DISTORTION. AUDIOPHILES WILL NEGATE ALL MENTIONS OF DOUBLE-BLIND STUDIES BECAUSE IT REMOVES THE POWER OF SUGGESTION AND DELEGITIMIZES THEIR JUSTIFICATIONS OF HAVING SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON LITERAL USELESS SHIT

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Those mongoloids with their "stacks" on portable DACs always make me laugh

yeah probably because you bought shit motherboards

I just hire a band to play in my house for ultimate fidelity

Remind me again why this /mu/-tier broscience shit is allowed on the technology board?

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Audio gear follows diminishing returns.
$1000 dollar headphones are great, so are $2000 headphones but you're not getting 100% increase in quality.

If you're half bat & rich you can eek out thousands of minor improvements and different setups but obviously shouldn't fall for the crystal/gold cable bullshit.

Tards here always blame it on ground loops because their shit integrated amp logitech gayming speakers cant pick up the distortion and noise PC DACs pick up

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It depends on how much you enjoy Music. And how much you have to spend. Don't forget, you can buy "Hi-Res" Masters that will outperform most systems!

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how do you fix this? i've had the issue again ever since i moved into a different house. fixed it in my old house by moving the speaker and pc power into different outlets, but that hasn't worked. considering getting a ground loop isolator but i couldn't find one that fits my speakers' connections
i've got yamaha hs7s running through a focusrite scarlett 6i6. ground loop had been my only guess up til this point

Up to a certain price point, there is a good reason to spend some more shekelz on audio equipment. But over this, it will get pure placebo meme and a waste of money.
The price point, where it gets ridiculous is varying.
But so much i can say, a cinch audio cable is already perfect at a price of 50 Euroshekelz. You will never need more than that.
Loudspeaker cables are perfectly fine at the same price point already. There is no need to buy 4.000 Euroshekelz cables, they have no fucking advantages over the 50 shekelsz ones.
Given the 50 shekelz cables having a good shielding and good quality copper, they will last you forever.

>The sound becomes generally clearer, more live and gets more space. Improved transient reproduction, more vivid resolution of fine detail.
>Due to the increased transparency, e.g. the breath in voices or the fingerplay on the strings are more perceptible.
>The bass is more contoured and more colorful. In addition, the three-dimensional image of the sound reproduction is improved.
>The stage appears to be wider and deeper.
>All of this leads to an increase in what audiophiles probably strive for the most: the best possible transmission of the atmosphere and the emotions stored in recorded music.
Also this:
audioshark.org/computer-digital-audio-11/fidata-audio-network-component-11397.html
Enough said

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OMFG

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For cables, yes. But for things like speakers/room and recordings that's not quite true

This. Gif related.

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Can I get the original YouTube video please? I was looking for it the other day

> it's literally impossible to hear the difference from a highend DAC and motherboard's builtin DAC
Completely false. This isn't the fault of the DAC chip but rather the amplification circuitry in motherboards is trash also the PC case is full of EM interference.

He was cringing at the painfull siblent highs on those ultrasones. He overacted it for a meme and to make a point. You should probably watch the actual video before talking shit about headphone grandad.

For real audiophiles only.

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It is a scam

Jbl! Jbl!

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Real up to a certain degree, huge diminishing returns after another (where the quality of the original recording would make far more difference than any of the outputs) and then a whole bunch of snakeoil bs after that.

youtube.com/watch?v=L34S4Tt1EuQ

Whatever you say, user.

Of course, speakers, DAC's, Amps and stuff can't be at max perfomance for 50 shekelz each.
I consider a few hundred shekels up to 1500 in some cases for each device being a resonable price.
It highly depends on the device you consider to buy, and what it is capable of doing and how many connections and options it has.
You pay for usability also, not only sound. And sure, brand names will get paid extra.

Depends on the mobo, while some motherboards really do have shit audio, most modern computers are transparent, what you're referring to is mostly an issue with older computers but depends on what computer you have.
My point isn't that any mobo sounds the same as an external dac, but that a decent mobo does.

Well, I'd say that this is just depends on how poor you are. For some person $10k might give the least quality he wants.

But user, I don't listen to classical, and I generally find most classical music annoying.

i think its more like a colorful 14 inch 640x480 screen, which gets most of the job done, compared to a 90 inch 8K screen, which also gets the job done, but there's more detail available, and gives a more life-like presentation

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buy used, get the same for 1/5 the cost