What is an Audiofile System

986s

986s

Active Member
OK.... I just don't understand where that cutoff is between a good system vs an audiofile system. What makes a system an audiofile. Mine is a pioneer sx-1280 amp, technics sp-25 turntable with a 303 micro trak tonearm (old radio station table), shure m91ed cartridge and marantz 660HD speakers. My present system is better than the one I had in college in the 70"s. I listen to it every day but it just seems like your above average vintage system to me. Maybe I'm just to old (64), but I don't get it. Been listening to records as long as I can remember....
 
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Some gears were classified as high end home entertainment grade.

Some were considered professional grade.

Some were designed to be flagship grade, cramped with all the options available.

Audiophile may use any one of those grade in their setup. :naughty:
 
Balifly said:
Some gears were classified as high end home entertainment grade.

Some were considered professional grade.

Some were designed to be flagship grade, cramped with all the options available.

Audiophile may use any one of those grade in their setup. :naughty:
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And so may a NON_AUDIOFILE.
Lotta non- millionairs drive Cadillacs. I drove several from new to classic.
 
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You don't list an OCD in your system, so you are not an audiofile.

*Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
 
ferninando said:
audio equipment does NOT and audiofile make.
it is what is inside the skull.
U are an audiofile Mr. 986s and dont let anyone tell you otherwise.
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You are absolutely correct. Audiophile refers to a person, not the equipment. The definition is a person who is especially interested in high-fidelity sound reproduction. So a turntable, amp or receiver should be refered to as a piece an audiophile would be interested in but not as a piece of audiophile equipment.
 
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Let me say this is a meaningless thing. What does "audiophile" mean? Literally it meant to mean a person who likes "audio" and therefore listening. But listening does not tell me anything about the quality of the music being listened to. For me, it is my opinion, the "audiophile" is not the one who loves its high cost stereo system but those who love listening to good music. Because it's always my opinion that the music is first heard with the brain and then with the ears ... And the brains are not the same ...
 
From a marketing standpoint, the term "audiophile" applies as soon as the price tag seems too high for what you're getting.


Consider the following:

A: "Hey, except for the colour, these cables are exactly the same! Why are the red ones ten times the price?"

B: "The red ones are audiophile cables."

A: "Ah, makes sense. Thanks!"
 
Audio file = a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system, such as mp3.
Audiophile = a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction.
 
Ah yes, once again I'm fortunate enough to wake up, greet the world, and thank it for allowing me to live here.
I do this whilst listening to an RCA table top radio, beside my bed.
This wooden box started my quest in life to capture the sound of all music that is pleasant to my ear. It originally graced my Grandmother's kitchen counter, over 45 years ago.
Is it a $1500.00 mini audio rack system, no... It's a wooden box that spews WBGO Jazz 88 for breakfast.

This audiophile approves.
 
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IMO, an audiophile system is a system set up to deliver as good sound quality as possible within it's limits (may it be economy, WAF, room, etc)., because the owner actually cares.
 
986s said:
OK.... I just don't understand where that cutoff is between a good system vs an audiofile system. What makes a system an audiofile.
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Terms are used in different ways by different people, and from past threads on the subject, one's age and the region they grew up in seem to make a difference, too. My conception of the terms equate "audiophile" with "high end," with both of these contrasted with things labeled "mass market" or "mid-fi." Brands like brands Pioneer, Kenwood, Akai, EPI, Technics, Toshiba, Philips, BIC, and so on, were classified as mass-market or mid-fi. They qualified as "hi-fi" because they met the DIN 45 500 standards for gear to be called hi-fi, but no one called them audiophile or high end brands. I paid no attention to high end components until the 1980's, but brands in that category would include conrad-johnson, Apogee Acoustics, VPI, Audio Research, Mark Levinson, etc. In the 1970's, I assembled a good-sounding mass-market system using products from BIC, Pioneer, and EPI for about $600; an audiophile system would have been several times that price. These days, I like the definition given at PCMag:

"Quite often, audiophiles are as passionate about the equipment they use as the music they listen to. An entry-level, audiophile-class stereo system typically begins around $10,000 and includes a CD player and/or turntable, AM/FM tuner, preamplifier, amplifier and two speakers. A very high-quality system with similar components can cost upwards of $100,000" http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/38179/
 
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