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Post by blahdiofile on May 16, 2018 3:53:03 GMT
So the two choices for being a music buyer seems to be financial ruin or being proud to be unable to have a long term relationship. "I choose records over women" vs "I guess we'll just let the bank take the house eventually" what a fun hobby! link
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Post by jeatletoes on May 16, 2018 4:03:59 GMT
As someone who definitely fell down the vinyl rabbit hole for a while -- most of them are full of SHiTe.
It literally is an addiction, "thrill of the hunt" as they like to call it over there. Which is fine and good, in moderation. But when you are spending more time looking for that next fix than enjoying what you already have, then you may just have a problem.
It's like constantly upgrading hardware - at some point it's no longer about getting good sound, it's just getting your buying high.
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Post by blahdiofile on May 16, 2018 4:34:57 GMT
I love records. I buy them a lot. I can see how they can be an addiction though. But the answer over there isn't get your addiction under control, it's hide the receipts
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daved
Better than Steve
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Post by daved on May 16, 2018 8:58:32 GMT
I went through a dark period in the early 2000s. Buying every CD that came out. Buying stupid hi Rez shit. Swapping receivers every 2 years. Then I just snapped and realized I was wasting my money. I think Stereo Central actually helped me see the light. It really has nothing to do with loving music and everything to do with chasing an imaginary pot of gold. There is no perfect sound. Once you realize this you can start actually loving music again. My iPhone and ear buds are no different than the liquor cabinet stereo I grew up with. It’s all about the music.
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Post by MOUNT SUT on May 19, 2018 15:40:46 GMT
When it crosses from a hobby to an obsession, you either reign it in, or it reigns over you.
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Post by cwf on May 20, 2018 18:18:16 GMT
I went through a dark period in the early 2000s. Buying every CD that came out. Buying stupid hi Rez shit. Swapping receivers every 2 years. Then I just snapped and realized I was wasting my money. I think Stereo Central actually helped me see the light. It really has nothing to do with loving music and everything to do with chasing an imaginary pot of gold. There is no perfect sound. Once you realize this you can start actually loving music again. My iPhone and ear buds are no different than the liquor cabinet stereo I grew up with. It’s all about the music. This.
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Post by amygrant on May 20, 2018 20:27:43 GMT
Yeah I cared about that shit for a few years (I was in college though and broke so I couldn't have purchased any expensive shit anyway, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Then I realized it was all stupid.
I've got about 60-70 vinyls. Probably 3-400 CDs. I just download shit in FLAC now and call it a day.
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Post by hoffa_nagila on May 20, 2018 21:20:19 GMT
I still buy CDs. If I just want a song or two (my rule of thumb actually is if I want less than half), I'll go for a download. Vinyl? If it's not on CD, and it's not available as a rip or download, I have no choice. But it's rare. Bought my first one in a while recently. I download plenty of unofficial stuff. Oh, and I've recorded most concerts I've seen, and with rare exception the recordings are quite good. I enjoy the whole collecting aspect and as long as I can afford it, I'll continue. If I had to stop buying CDs, or only buy CDs that I couldn't find a download for (which would account for a small percentage of my collection, I'd venture), I could. It would take some of the fun away, but as much as I enjoy the whole hobby of collecting, I could live with it being a digital only thing. Listening to and enjoying the music is what matters most to me, and lately it's been such a thrill. In a perverse way, I'm kinda glad that my new job involves a slightly longer commute, because it means more listening time. (the old job was a little under two hours round trip, whereas this one can push 2 and a half hours, at least from my limited experience so far.)
I've cut down on concerts, which are a far more expensive hobby, ever since I seriously started saving to buy a place (and now actually have a mortgage.) But, the few concerts that I do go to, I splurge for. Like Bob Dylan. Spent big bucks to see him last year, fourth row. And if that's the last time I get to see him, it sure was a hell of a way to end it. And now with a new job (which means my shift/hours are more unpredictable) I'm even less inclined buy tickets to a show. I've already had to call out sick or take a day off for many shows in the past. And now I won't have days I can schedule to take off (this new job does give you off just about any holiday you can imagine, plus your birthday, which my other job had traded off for giving people their own days to schedule off.)
As for gear? Sony earbuds, which I now have three unopened pairs of Aside from getting them online, Target seems to be the only one to carry them. I found this out last summer, when I was out after work doing some shopping and enjoying the weather, when I got a bit tangled up and fucked up the wire and lost sound in one side. And I needed to fix this situation before getting back home. I later got two more pairs when I had to spend "company points" after my company changed to a private franchise. And then I went to buy my sister a pair (because she needed new earbuds and it was easier for me to go to Target and then see her rather than go home and get a pair and then go see her) and there was a sale so I got an extra pair for myself. I should be good for another 7 years or so.
I do need to be more careful with money right now. The new job has a higher top pay than the old one, but right now I'm at the starting wage, which means for now I've taken a 35 percent cut, not to mention I'll be laid off far more than I was. I didn't have much choice though, the plant closed!
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Post by aggressivebeta on May 21, 2018 15:48:41 GMT
The Hoffman forums are a blessing and a curse. On one hand, people exchanging information about different masterings is good because it saves me a lot of time and money not having to constantly buy and sell discs to get one that sounds good.
On the other hand, there is so much misinformation on that website about audio hardware and the censorship...particularly in regards to the objective vs subjective debate...makes it impossible to have a rational discussion.
The elitist subjectivist crowd in particular are the absolute worst kinds of people, like jh901. With people like him constantly spreading around misinformation, it’s no wonder it creates a sense of classist anxiety in other forum members who aren’t knowledgeable enough to refute their BS, so they upgrade things that they don’t really need to.
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Post by Sanjay Gupton on May 21, 2018 23:05:11 GMT
I don't get that at all. I like to go buy records, but I've always paid cash and never bought things I couldn't afford. I've bought things I don't end up liking, but that's probably on me. I pay cash for equipment, too. I bought a nice pair of Martin Logan speakers (not nice enough for a SHiTe, but I saved for a long time and I like them) and I have a nice turntable that SHite's call "entry level" and when people ask about it they either say to buy a vintage turntable from the vintage store, or just spend a little more, like four times as much and get something that looks like Brian Gupton teabags nightly. No thanks. I like what I have and I only know one person who has actually spent more on a stereo than me. I don't golf though, or have a fancy car or gamble much. My hobby is records and the main objective is getting music I like to listen to. I have Spotify too, and it's fantastic. Sooner or later I'm going to start getting rid of a bunch of CD's.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2018 23:39:27 GMT
Over the weekend I ventured over there to see what was happening in the world of Hoofy. In one of the Beatles discussions about the record boxsets someone mentioned how they enjoyed both the mono and the stereo boxes. He was ripped to pieces because how dare he likes the stereo releases. Someone came to the poor guy’s defense and said something about don’t let the pickiness consume life and if you enjoy something enjoy it, if you don’t that’s fine but don’t put others down for it. He was then ripped to pieces because “obviously you have a piece of shit system that allows something that sounds like shit to sound good to you.” Ridiculous people.
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Post by secretsauce on May 22, 2018 13:38:25 GMT
The elitist subjectivist crowd in particular are the absolute worst kinds of people, like jh901. With people like him constantly spreading around misinformation, it’s no wonder it creates a sense of classist anxiety in other forum members who aren’t knowledgeable enough to refute their BS, so they upgrade things that they don’t really need to. The arrogance of the subjectivist crowd pisses me off no end. And these are the very same bunch of idiots that'll post endless DR lists in the "which CD mastering of X is best" threads. Gah!
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Post by essayceedee on May 22, 2018 14:11:36 GMT
Audiophools really are some of the most repugnant, abhorrent people on earth. I went through a similar phase 15+ years ago where I was dipping my toes into the world of vinyl and tubes and all that nonsense and I had the misfortune of meeting many of these fucktards in person. Ugh.
They seriously all look and act like they came off the same assembly line: middle-aged, paunchy, balding, ugly with the most condescending, superior, douchey attitudes imaginable and HORRIBLE taste in music. As a young-ish guy in my early 30's with long hair and a collection of "brickwalled" modern music, I realized quickly that I needed to stay as far away from that shit as possible. When I discovered FLAC downloads shortly after that and finally realized that all amps sound the fucking same, I was free.
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Post by aggressivebeta on May 22, 2018 16:27:23 GMT
The elitist subjectivist crowd in particular are the absolute worst kinds of people, like jh901. With people like him constantly spreading around misinformation, it’s no wonder it creates a sense of classist anxiety in other forum members who aren’t knowledgeable enough to refute their BS, so they upgrade things that they don’t really need to. The arrogance of the subjectivist crowd pisses me off no end. And these are the very same bunch of idiots that'll post endless DR lists in the "which CD mastering of X is best" threads. Gah! I think what bothers me most is that the subjectivist crowd doesn’t realize that they’re exactly the idiots that “hi end” manufacturers target. You know...they sell equipment with an extremely high price tag, but when you look at the specs they withhold some very important information about how it sounds. What are they hiding? Doesn’t matter to the subjectivist crowd because objective information like specs don’t matter to them. “Just use your ears!” They say. But if they really had golden ears, they’d find that the equipment sounds exactly like the specs say it should. I would not be surprised in the slightest if speakers that cost more than my house have a 4-6 dB top end boost to sound better to their target customers: Rich old idiots who can’t hear anything above 8 kHz. Of course you’d want to hide those kinds of specs because why would anybody intentionally want to buy bright speakers that cost as much as a house? The elite subjectivist crowd prefers comfortable ignorance to uncomfortable truth. Period. The actual accuracy of their equipment is irrelevant as long as they have their status symbols and no buyers remorse. There’s a reason that serious audio engineers find audiophile communities so laughable
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bradman
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Post by bradman on May 23, 2018 2:21:48 GMT
What was the make of CD player that was actually a cheaper player completely encased in a new shell? That one is my favorite. The audiophools think transports impart easy to hear tonal and sound qualities, it is hilarious.
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