Specialist hobbies tend to be, by their nature, expensive. Comic book aficionados are happy to spend $5 for 20 pages of story or hundreds of dollars for a single collectible “key” issue. Dedicated sports fans spend a small fortune following their favorite team across the globe. Cosplayers pour shocking amounts into their elaborate costumes, and what vintage stamp or baseball card collectors spend on their collections would surprise all but the wealthiest among us.
One specialist hobby stands above all else, though: that very particular kind of music fan who might spend thousands of dollars on equipment to hear things that are, frankly, beyond the capabilities of most human ears. I’m talking, of course, about audiophiles.
A Subject of Scorn
Even as “geek culture” has become increasingly accepted and comic conventions have gone from small gatherings of dedicated fans to massive multimedia events attracting the biggest actors and filmmakers on the planet, a certain scorn is still reserved for audiophiles.
Audiophiles aren’t just seen as fans or even as collectors, but as people with far too much money, building audio systems that function more as status symbols than as any actual appreciation of music or sound quality.
There’s an old joke that sums it up perfectly: music fans buy audio systems to get the most out of their music, audiophiles buy music to get the most out of their audio systems.
But do they actually deserve this reputation?
Audiophiles vs Audiophiles
The truth is there are two kinds of audiophiles. One group really are status-obsessed snobs who spend fortunes on audio equipment just to show other status-obsessed snobs how much they spent. The other kind of audiophile has just as much disdain for the first group as “normies” do. They genuinely care about making the music they love sound as good as humanly possible, and if that happens to cost serious money, so be it.
This second group is hardly above a certain snobbery, of course, and it remains a mystery to the rest of us how they hear the differences they insist they hear. But they come to their passion honestly.
Budget-Conscious Audiophiles?
The whole point of the first group is to spend as much as possible on gear. The second group invests in the hobby the way most hobbyists do: by spending a portion of their disposable income, carefully. This group is budget-conscious by definition. They need to buy the best gear they can afford without eating into savings or the money dedicated to living the rest of their lives.
They will spend hours online collecting as much information as possible before committing to each component. They will watch hours of YouTube headphone reviewers and hit up lists of the best phono preamps, turntables, cartridges and speakers on sites like Vinyl Pickup. They will typically set a budget for a component and then compare everything within that price range. They are nothing if not thorough.
These audiophiles obviously need enough disposable income to indulge the hobby at all, but they certainly don’t need to be rich.
When Non-Audiophiles Are Audiophiles
This might seem counter-intuitive, but you don’t actually need to be an audiophile to be, well, something of an audiophile. You may not want to spend anywhere near what the serious hobbyists do, and you may not hear the nuances they can. But if you love music, and who doesn’t, you want your music to sound good. You may not be able to tell the difference between a $500 and a $1,000 pair of headphones, but you will almost certainly notice the difference between a $10 no-name pair and $100 “entry-level audiophile” headphones from, say, Sennheiser or Audio-Technica.
And even if all you want is a basic system, a decent turntable, an adequate amp, some solid headphones, it’s not a bad idea to listen to the audiophiles, especially the many YouTube channels aimed at ordinary listeners. Headphones in particular are tricky, because brands like Bose or Beats can be mistaken for quality on price alone, when a $200 pair may not sound meaningfully better than $50 cans from Sennheiser or Sony. The audiophile crowd is also genuinely good at explaining what to look for based on your own tastes and needs.
Whether you’re a serious audiophile or just a music lover looking for solid equipment to play your favorite records, it always pays to do your homework.
