This obsession with music certainly connects a lot of us together that would never otherwise cross paths.
The first thing to shock me in this hobby was that people actually listen to movie soundtracks. I had NO idea! I wondered who actually bought them and just supposed it was super fans of the various movies. But lo and behold, people buy them like pop and rock records.
And of course there is a WIDE division in what people consider music. I was on Head-Fi several years looking for feedback on good test songs when you are out shopping. One guy linked to a piece of music that was just computer sounds with a synthesizer and a drum machine, as I recall. I read all the posts and thanked everybody for their suggestions.
For this funky one I said something like âThanks for the input, but you and I have very different definitions of what constitutes musicâ.
That REALLY did not go over well. He started yelling at me about I just didnât understand the music and it was the absolute best way to test bass, etc. I apologized and backed away slowly.
I think that for many of us here, this may be the only thing that links us.
Just thought I would throw it out there as I am sometimes Very surprised at what pops up on âListening to tonightâ.
Speaking for myself over the last several years, I have gotten more into blues, discovered horn jazz, and even bought some rap/rock and country/rock.
I actually will say that this forum is rather polite, even when disagreeing with somebody. Head fi is a rough place to navigate, but my luck over there was typically 50/50 depending on the topic and the person. SBAF and ASR have to be the most pretentious audio forums I know of. Audiocircle is pretty bad too. I prefer to only browse the comments at those sites as the attitudes I have encountered have been abrasive and elitist.
I have found this forum to be very enjoyable and it feels like a friendly corner of the internet for us headphone and music nerds to have conversations about some things we love, even if our tastes are very diverse. I hope it stays this way as it grows. I have definitely listened to much broader range of music since I got into personal audio. I love to discover albums (or entire genres for that matter) because someone comments on how great it sounds on their equipment. I have explored lots of good music because of these types of suggestions. Now that Iâm working from home and have my desktop speakers getting some use, my wife will often walk in and say âwhat in the world is this?â to which I respond âItâs well mastered!â
I really like Head-Fi and have been on there for about 11 years. There is the odd A-hole, but I find that most people are very nice AND informative. Every time someone suggests a new product, I scurry off to Head-Fi as I know there is probably a thread on it.
I agree about SBAF and ASR. I occasionally get info from those sites, but you don`t hang out.
I go to SBAF when I want to read someone shitting on gear I enjoy. But I do like headfi as well. There are some pricks on there, but I think there is more content there that I trust than anywhere else.
I definitely agree on the discovery of new music. I check iTunes every Friday for new alt rock and new rock.
Plus, I subscribed to https://www.rockandbluesmuse.com/ which sends me an email every Friday with new blues and blues rock releases. It is free.
Also, I subscribed to Jazziz magazine. I get an email every week about new jazz releases, monthly digital editions of the magazine and quarterly paper magazines with two CDs of selected jazz music, each time. Great way to discover new music that you didnt know.
If you didn`t want to go all the way in, you can just subscribe to the free weekly emails.
That is great. I would like to start getting more curated picks for music. Music discovery is also one of the big benefits of Spotify in my opinion, I like their discovery playlists that it creates and I have found a lot of good stuff that way. However I feel like it can also take you in a circle unless you try to hunt down new stuff yourself.
I have found other audio forums to be generally of no help when asking questions. lack of response or vague attempts to assist happen. however I have seen the hostility as a lurker just reading topics that are of interest.
I agree on the general friendliness here, and am thankful for it. That sort of thing is fragile, though. So, we must all do our part to continue to model respect and helpfulness, or this forum too will become a haven for trolls.
I really like that thread. My only insight into what audiophiles listen to came from print magazines like Sound & Vision (or even when it was Stereo Review) when an author would share what cuts they were playing while doing a review. It turns out audiophilesâ music tastes are as diverse as the general populationâs. I think thatâs awesome.
My favorite place with my favorite people right here. There are other tight-knit forums and I visit for reference, but this is my home for audio related chit chat and some bullshit once in a while.
With hobbies, you can only share your joy with folks who have an appreciation of how much sacrifice goes into the hobby, otherwise it can come off the wrong way, especially since one of the first 5 questions asked by folks will almost always be, âHow much does something like this cost?â
I never learn my lesson and always feel awkward when that happens. You can sense the judgement seething through them, itâs a palpable feeling and it sucks. What sucks even worse is that you then have to sucker punch them back with a comment or just bite your lip and take the judgy Mcjudgy attitude right up the wazzoođĄ LOL, yep⌠I assume at least one other person here has experienced this with non-hobby oriented friends, family or acquaintances.
Anyway, thereâs an apocalypse going on, folks the world over dropping dead and yet here we are. Yep, I really like my little corner HiFi haven. And as long as Iâm not sick or dead yet Iâm keeping my spirits up one of the few healthy ways I know how and that is through my appreciation of the musical arts.
And yeah, I really enjoy the music posts very much, they really help me broaden my horizons! Thank you all, from the youngest to the well seasoned.
Your subjective opinion has no value here, you will eventually learn objective measurements are superior, otherwise you are just wasting space. Oh wait, wrong forum.
What I meant to say rando, you should go through the proper channels and get more familiar with the place instead of barging in spouting off at the mouth. Your opinion means jack shit here. Oh wait wrong forum again.
Hooray!! This is a great thing about this forum and should be celebrated. It takes literally ZERO more time and effort to be nice, and yet the default some places seems to be the opposite.
There are good people on ASR and SABF, of course. But there sure is a lot of negativity and Frankâs hypothetical âother forumâ responses are great examples of their worst impulses. Those type of comments are just about maintaining the status of the âinsidersâ at the expense of newer or more casual members. It reminds me of high school. A very technically competent and well funded high school.
Thank you all, from the youngest to the well seasoned.
