I’ll expand on my own deep insights with my deep biases.
1. Good recordings matter.
- Corollary 1: Most recording decisions don’t have anything to do with the limitations of CD (16/44) and have everything to do with decisions made by the recording engineer, artist, and/or the streaming site.
- Corollary 2: Music is emotional, so form factor (LP, tape, CD) tactility (physically handling media), or competitive consumption (“look at the size of my collection”, bit rate, codecs, branding, etc) trumps actual listening and psychoacoustics.
2. Frequency response matters.
- Corollary 1 : There’s such a thing as good enough. Once you reached a certain level (say, Olive score > 6.5 with sub) you’re done, end game achievement unlocked. Stop grinding and buying loot boxes.
- Corollary 2: Most loudspeakers don’t have a good neutral frequency response, and therefore aren’t good enough.
- Corollary 3: Most people are fine with non-neutral speakers because Veblen goods always trump good sound.
- Corollary 4: Audiophiles think they want good sound, but look for it in the wrong places (DAC’s, cables, cable risers, power conditioners, Hi-Res, etc).
- Corollary 5: Beefy power and big speakers are only a consideration if you listen above 80 dB. I don’t, but maybe you do.
3. Any room with do.
- Corollary 1: 5.1+ music listening beats stereo beats mono. The fewer the channels, the more room acoustics matter.
- Corollary 2: A subwoofer levels the playing field.
- Corollary 3: Sophisticated EQ and DSP can make a difference.
The only audio brands I trust is Angstrom, Axiom, Dutch & Dutch, Ethera, Genelec, Infinity, Joseph Audio, Neumann, Revel, and Sonos. The rest, they either don’t care or you don’t know what you’re getting.
