Living in our little audiophile bubble means that everything we obsess over seems normal. It isn’t until we step outside the bubble and view our little world through the eyes of an outsider that one begins to realize just how far removed from the crowd we are.
Terms that seem obvious and normal to us like sound staging, transparency, resolving power, and bass extension engender either head-scratching or outright contempt.
Head scratching makes sense to me. Imagine trying to explain to someone used to listening on consumer audio drek how imaging works.
It’s the outright contempt that always boggles me. Someone who has never heard a high-end system—usually a pro in the audio or recording world—seems to get really heated about the terminology we use. In fact, I have been told that we are akin to the devil for spreading such egregious lies about a system’s ability to produce a holographic soundstage divorced from the speakers.
Why would this cause anger?
I suspect they somehow feel threatened.
What’s your experience been like?
