The more testing we do at Sound Approach the harder time I have with answering this question for myself. Recent videos we’ve posted on our social platforms have made me realize that the answer to this question is not as straight-forward as I may have once thought when I first began as an assitant brand manager making website updates in 2018.
I have had years to learn and more importantly, years to enjoy the benefits of listening to some of the most unique/expensive/excellent sounding products this industry has to offer. There are more than a few standout pieces of equipment for their quality and many I enjoy, if for any other reason than they opened up a new world of understanding and appreciation.
But the more important question relevant to this article is how my experience working with Sound Approach on audio gear applies to you in any way. In short, I’m guessing you haven’t had the opportunity to dive as deeply into this interesting world as I have and hopefully, what I’ve learned will help you better understand your own journey.
Let’s break it down piece by piece (pun definitely intended), shall we?
Are you a Music Lover?
This one is very simple. You are a music lover. If you’re reading this article, you’re interested in Music beyond just listening in the car or at weddings or when you’re getting ripped at the gym. I have yet to meet a person that doesn’t enjoy music so at some level, every person is a music lover.
We all enjoy different genres of music, of course. I also have a long-standing appreciation for classic 60s and 70s rock, like most in my generation. The Beatles were a pivotal aspect of my childhood and the first songs I can remember learning more about than just the lyrics. The Apple Anthology released in the 90s was one of my absolute favorites, dancing around my living room with my sister while we sang Oh-blah-di-Oh-blah-da.
The music is a part of who I am and who I will be in the future and it adds dimensionality to my memories beyond what they would otherwise be. The emotional impact of a breakup, the memories of my family when I was young, the relationships I build with people as an adult. Music is the ever present layer that underlies all of those experiences and in my humble opinion, probably why people can become so invested in their apprecaition of music.
Music lovers are content to listen to music anywhere, anytime, on any piece of equipment or speaker, or cell phone, or car radio. They will enjoy it and they will appreciate it for what it is. The spark that adds meaning to their lives.
What is an Audiophile?
An Audiophile is a music lover that has moved beyond the emotional connection of music to appreciate the finer details that are involved with the creation and ultimately, the playback of music. These are the people that know every album, every producer, every instrument, every secret behind-the-scenes story. And after they’ve absorbed all of that information, they’ll want to hear the music as the artist intended and create an environment dedicated to high-quality playback of the artist’s creations.
Audiophile is a tricky word in the audio industry because it doesn’t apply to everyone. For example, what does audiophile-grade even mean when talking about how something sounds? Many Sound Approach clients are looking for both high-quality performance and emotional connection and want to blend those two things so seemlessly they don’t notice it. However, an audiophile can often get caught up in how a thing sounds, which then directly impacts their emotional enjoyment of the music itself. This leads to a seemingly endless battle against the best and newest equipment offering the ultimate playback as the playback landscape changes.
As we’ve noted in previous articles and videos, the music world has gone through dramatic shifts over the past 100 or so years. When music first became easily accessible, everyday people were listening on vinyl records. Musicians could release whole albums and music could be consumed in the comfort of your own home rather than in a concert hall. Vinyl was extremely popular from the 50s until the late 80s when we transitioned from Vinyl to Tape with Reel to Reels, Cassette Players, and 8-Tracks. These forms of physical media became popular because you can’t listen to a record player in the car, and the quality was better.
The next big shift happened in the late 80s and early 90s when most people transitioned from tape to CDs. This was the first digital format and was made possible by the smaller size of electronics and newly available digital to analog conversion chipsets. Again, this transition was popular because CDs last longer, and the sound quality was better. Yes, I know this is subject to debate (among audiophiles).
After CDs, the transitions started coming faster. The early 2000s saw the release of streaming through online peer-to-peer sharing platforms like Limewire and Nabster. People were sharing their music with the rest of the world and each other and it was an amazing time to have access to more music than anyone ever thought possible. So much so, anyone who downloaded from one of these websites became an actual criminal. Obviously, musicians and record labels weren’t happy with this and quickly got to work on designing streaming platforms to replace physical media and peer-to-peer sharing. And the quality was better…actually, no, it wasn’t better, it was lower than CD quality, but it was definitely more convenient and that made the sacrafice in quality okay for most people.
The first streaming services became widely available in the mid-to-late 2000s and once again, music cost money. This doesn’t include Rhapsody or Pandora, released earlier but not nearly as popular as the illegal downloads. With the invention of smart phones and apps, music became even more accessible. The cat was out of the bag and people had gotten used to having access to playlists of thousands of songs, all their favorites, on one handy device. Again, they were willing to sacrafice quality because the wireless capabilities hadn’t caught up to where we were at with CDs in the 80s. Again, that was okay.
However, throughout the decades of jumping from one technology to the next, the name of the game changed dramatically. Sound-quality was no longer the driving factor behind the absorption of music. It was more about the accessibility and convenience that was offered following the dot com boom and immediate access to everything we all take for granted now. It was very similar to the shift from radio and live music to grammophones in the early 1900s and eventually vinyl a few decades later. Music was readily available despite the lower quality.
Audiophiles have lived through this steady progression of development and innovation during the past 50 years resulting in high-quality products and services that provides a level of audio quality that seems nearly impossible in our current age.
But people still cling to and enjoy the sound of vinyl. New developments have allowed for the improvement in playback quality that make older forms of physical media sound better. The debate between analog and digital lives on and vinyl and CDs have made a surprising comeback over the past decade. Analog sounds different than digital, there are different qualities between CDs and streaming that make it more appealing to young and older generations alike. And all of these factors are competing against convenience and quality.
Ultimately, these things are important because the progression through the years has led a significant population of the music loving community to have an appreciation and drive for high-fidelity sound, whether it’s vinyl, CD, or streaming, which in turn drives the manufacturers to create better and more accommodating products. All of this progression has led to high-fidelity products producing incredible sound and emotional connection to the music. Which is exactly what the audiophiles want!
Who is a Technophile?
As you can probably sense, our field narrows as we progress through each level. A technophile is almost certainly an Audiophile and definitely a music lovers. But they take this love for music to another level entirely. As the name would imply a technophile is most interested in the technological innovations and internal functioning of individual pieces of equipment and systems as a whole that result in high-fidelity sound. They make up a significant subset of the music culture and their input is often instrumental (again, I really can’t help it now) in making progress toward the new best thing in the audio world.
When I test a piece of equipment like the Eversolo DAC Z10, which we just unboxed in a recent video, I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of offering my opinion on that piece of technology. Not because I don’t understand what a DAC or a Pre-Amp does, but because the technology that makes it function the way it does is less understandable and there is always someone out there who knows more about it.
I don’t necessarily understand why a Hybrid Gain Control may be better in a particular setup over a Ladder Resistor structure. Instead, I’m better able to focus on how the unit performs against other products I’ve listened to. There may be other features that are important to me, like the LCD screen, simple menu navigation, intuitive controls, and the number of inputs and outputs, which aren’t as important to a technophile because there exists another brand that does it differently, or better.
I can appreciate that a system that creates individual gain control for each channel is better than one that may not do that, because it allows for greater control. But I may not understand, or necessarily care, why that specific technology makes it better. Does that make sense?
A technophile can look at these smaller details, dive into the schematics of a unit, apprecaite the complexity of the design and how it may work paired with a completely unrelated item to result in a level of performance hitherto unknown to anyone else (yes, I used that word in that sentence). That’s the major difference.
I’ve met many brilliant technophiles in this industry that have been able to explain products to the n-th degree but it’s always felt like they have a chip on their shoulder for anyone else that doesn’t have the same level of understanding or desire for understanding of how their system operates, or can be improved, or how and why it should be replaced.
Technophiles occupy the rabbit hole at the end of the audiophile journey that requires a deep love, respect, and determination geared toward music with the ultimate goal of understanding how everything works to provide perfect singal playback. And this industry would not be possible without these dedicated individuals applying their skill and expertise to improve our sound-quality.
What does it all mean?
Whether you are a music lover that could care less how something sounds, an audiophile who appreciates the greater emotional impact music can have through higher-fideility sound, or a technophile that understands how technology impacts performance, everyone is welcome and apprecaited in the world of music.
I define myself as an aspiring audiophile. I enjoy high-quality playback and appreciate the impact it can have on the listening experience. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to test and listen to and review products from hundreds of brands as well as the ability to travel across the US (and soon the world) to meet new and exciting people in this industry and learn as much as I can about how audio gear impacts everyone.
However, if I’m being honest, at the end of the day, it’s more about the emotional impact and interpersonal relationships formed that lead me to enjoy listening to music regardless of sound quality or equipment. I don’t need the latest and greatest (or most expensive) speakers to enjoy the music itself.
I hope this article has been helpful to show you the different types of people you may encounter along your audio journey. Please appreciate them when you meet and learn something, if you can. You’ll be a better person at the end of the day and it’ll be because of the music, no matter how you listen or enjoy it!
