Itâs crazy how much money some people spend on unnecessary purchases without realizing, (and you can save) by just being more conservative on what you buy and giving more priority to audio if thatâs your goal. I know for myself Iâll live pretty cheaply and sacrifice things that most wouldnât for the sake of this hobby, but even scaling back on things in a more reasonable fashion can net you a lot of funds for a setup you previously thought wasnât attainable for yourself
Itâs also funny how some will look incredibly differently at how you spend your own money, spend 50k on a sports car for yourself? People wonât bat an eye. Spend 50k on a nice 2 channel setup and suddenly people think youâre insane lol. But itâs not all that different in the end, both are hobby purchases for your own personal enjoyment, and both can be equally enjoyable/worthwhile to some (but not all lol). Itâs a whole lot easier to see value in something you both know about and enjoy yourself, otherwise just looks stupid or a waste to those who arenât into it. I sure wouldnât spend any big money on coffee/clothing/car/vacation/etc stuff, but I know some people who are super into that and I can see why they would, itâs just not for me and not something Iâd spend my own money on, a waste for me but beneficial for them
Well, at the end of the day only you can decide what is a waste of money for you. My own opinion, you only have one set of ears, so owning many, many earphones or headphones means that on average very little utility is gained from any one set. For me it makes much more sense to own a small number of headphones/earphone which are good, which then allow you to enjoy music, which should be the main objective.
I think the idea that we should be obsessively interested in different tunings of various headphones is basically a weird marketing spin. It sure sells a lot of headphones, but in my opinion all we are doing is listening to the different ways these devices are flawed, trading one flaw for another etc.
It would be nice to be able to have a perfect headphone without EQ. But I donât think it exists. If I can get there, or close enough with EQ, then problem solved.
It would be a better use of time and effort to learn how to EQ properly (hint: it doesnât mean taking some preset off some website), and to understand what âgoodâ sounds like.
Thereafter, you can forget about headphones and focus on the music.
Well, what do you need a knife, fork and spoon for when two wooden sticks and a bowl work just fine?
You also do not need a smartphone to check emails and get live updates on traffic jams on your route to your also unnecessary vacation.
Some people build scale models for their hobby, others tear down and repair old tools/machines.
People spend a LOT of money, time and effort in creating music, so it only seems fair to bring a share of appreciation for enjoying that music. And you simply do not get sound quality out of the cheapest Chinese old sewerpipe recast into earbuds included with your fancy new SmartphoneâŚ
In the past 2 years, with all thats happening with the pandemic and spending so much time at home, working from home and being unable to travel or go to concerts or bars, this hobby has been a lifesaver.
Music is pretty much like traveling and experiencing a journey when you cannot otherwise do so⌠its like feeling something real and human and emotional just by closing your eyes and sitting back, a soundtrack while working and relaxing both. To me its such an enjoyable, fun and worthwhile hobby. And theres the industrial design, craft, and technology appeal to headphones and audio equipment, appreciation of a well crafted, useful, and artful piece of technology.
Its a beautifully crafted thing that you can also experience and enjoy in many useful ways and in different situations.
I think of it like how some people love cars or motorcycles, but nobody really needs a high performance carâŚ
Hasan, IF you are saying we should feed the hungry and help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in this world, then YES, sure and hopefully that is a higher priority to us than our hobby.
Otherwise you sound like someoneâs wife complaining that her husband spends too much money on his hobby and needs to buy her more purses and jewelry.
Just sayinâ
God Bless,
Wayne
anything thatâs not a necessity is technically a waste of money yet everyone still buys them
people assign value to different things whether its cars gaming audio etc.
This is one of the more bizarre posts Iâve read here. Itâs an audiophile headphone forum, and a bunch of audiophiles are being told theyâre dumb for spending so much money on a hobby they enjoy.
My initial reaction is to call this post total bullshit.
One, the OP has no idea about peopleâs levels of discretionary income. $1,000 may be a lot of money to some and pocket change to others depending on their income.
Two, if people are deriving pleasure from the hobby, who the hell cares how much theyâre spending? Sure, there is not a direct correlation between money spent and happiness with the hobby. But everyoneâs calculus is up to them.
I think the post is not bizarre, you must stay open-minded and try to see OPâs perspective.
Maybe they are feeling they are not getting their moneyâs worth, maybe they cannot justify spending X amount of dollars, who knows.
Income plays a big role, but mindset too. Some people donât spend their money on their pleasures and things that make them happy, but instead are more interested in investing and holding onto money. There are all sorts of people out there. Some can financially afford (easily) expensive things, but donât.
I think that as long as the person is happy, I donât care. Your money, do what you want with it. However, Iâm against telling someone that they didnât spend their money well and calling them dumb or things of that nature. Itâs the same vice versa. If youâve got hell of an expensive setup, donât go around telling people that they are stupid for not owning it or (perhaps something more common) attacking people when they innocently say they cannot hear the difference between cables and you attack them.
As long as it stays respectful, Iâm all in for it. Just donât be an asshole, and you should be fine.
I think itâs such a joy to see when you have two people that are in completely different position and they respectfully share their position.
Itâs okay to see a six, itâs okay to see a nine, but as long as you can see/understand and respect that the other person sees a six/nine, itâs good.
P.S. When I write âyouâ, I am not referring to you, yourself. Instead, I am generally referring to people.
Youâre getting way too much thought and charity from some of the posters here. All of your posts have been along the lines of âdrrrr, spending money on things is bad.â Find another place to troll.
When I went to working from home, I starting viewing part of my old gas budget as my office gear budget. Once I got a nice desk, monitor, keyboard, and mouse upgrades, audio gear was the last thing on the list.
I have chosen a couple things that require very little space and not a ton of money. Affordable audio gear, and video games, combined I probably only spend $200/mo. I live in LA, my rent is 12x that amount, and gas costs over $6/gal. The money for a hobby that keeps me home and not driving somewhere seems pretty smart.
To be honest not only being an audiophile, but also to other people who have other hobbies or interests that can be a waste of money without any form of RESTRAINT and reasonable CONTROL of spending.
Anything can be a waste of money, if you keep on spending unnecessarily on things without any form of reason in your mind, also just because youâre an audiophile does not mean it automatically you will waste a lot of money and a LABEL such as that shouldnât be the deciding factor as the overall conclusion to everyone here.
Yeah, being an audiophile is a waste of money. That is the price of being obsessed with technological advancement for improving audio devices. Some audiophiles are professionals that concentrate on enhancing sound equipment inventively. It creates competition in the audio marketplace. Instead of purchasing outdated headphones, the audiophiles obtain improved ones with decreased flaws for hearing sounds.
