"Moral indignation in most cases is, 2% moral, 48% indignation, and 50% envy."

[mattgbell]

I am not aware of railing against anyone. If I didn't find what audiophiles had to say interesting I would not occasionally read and contribute to this forum. Unlike you, I would not call someone that believes in creationism a biologist because there is a conflict between what is required to think in a scientific way like a biologist and someone that accepts the creationist faith. Such people may call themselves biologists but if they do not think like biologists it does not seem reasonable description. Creationist biologists perhaps?

Language doesn't work like that. Usage can't be prescribed by one individual, no matter how right he thinks he is.

According to actual usage, anyone who does academic research in the field of biology is a biologist. End of.

 

[h.g.]

Language doesn't work like that. Usage can't be prescribed by one individual, no matter how right he thinks he is. According to actual usage, anyone who does academic research in the field of biology is a biologist. End of.

To be a biologist is to think and act like a biologist. This is the accepted meaning of what to be something means. To have the appearance of being a biologist is quite different. It is rather telling that you are unable to make the distinction and, within the context of this discussion, my expectation would be that you are an audiophile rather than a high fidelity enthusiast.

 

[Joe Hutch]

And what's wrong with jam butties....?

If I had no other way of knowing which day it was when I was a nipper, I could just check that day's sandwich filling. Thursday was my father's payday, so Wednesday was jam butty day, because there was no money left by then.

 

[Joe Hutch]

So, if it's label-attaching time, here's the various types of anti-audiophile to be seen from time to time on pfm:

1) The reformed audiophile. Spent shedloads in the past, climbed the Naim upgrade ladder right to the top, got bored with it, sold the lot and bought Sony. Now wants to save/rescue others from his own mistakes.

2) The engineer/DIY bod. Knows how stuff works, and what makes a component/system sound the way it does. Reckons, possibly correctly, that he could build a great-sounding system for buttons.

3) The consumer champion. Has a component/system cost in mind above which everything is obviously a rip-off, and wants to let everyone else in on the secret.

4) The computer boffin. Has built PC-system from scratch; streams all his music using free/home-brewed software. Wants to spread the word, usually with the dreaded phrase 'It's quite straightforward really'.

5) The room treatment advocate. Believes all money spent on equipment is wasted without putting lots of panels on the walls and bass traps in the corners. Usually unmarried.

And that's it, really. Not an iota of envy. Maybe a tad of indignation from the engineer/consumer champion types who think it's wicked for companies to ask, and consumers to pay, high-end prices for equipment that's either no better, or worse than, budget stuff.

 

[Joe P]

h.g.,

The Creationist biologist does proper peer-reviewed research on gap junctions. I imagine it would be much harder to be a Creationist evolutionary biologist, though. In fact, I can't see how that's possible.

Joe

 

[mattgbell]

To be a biologist is to think and act like a biologist. This is the accepted meaning of what to be something means.

No it isn't. You're inventing your own definitions again. Try using a dictionary. A biologist is someone who studies biology.

It is rather telling that you are unable to make the distinction and, within the context of this discussion, my expectation would be that you are an audiophile rather than a high fidelity enthusiast.

I don't care what your expectation is, because you're just making stuff up.

 

[Joe Hutch]

h.g.,

The Creationist biologist does proper peer-reviewed research on gap junctions. I imagine it would be much harder to be a Creationist evolutionary biologist, though. In fact, I can't see how that's possible.

Joe

I can sort of see how. God exists, and made the Universe and everything in it, but rather than doing it like the Bible says, He set Darwinian evolution in motion, knowing, being omniscient, how the whole damn thing would turn out in the end, right down to Apple watches.

 

[Steven Toy]

To be a biologist is to think and act like a biologist. This is the accepted meaning of what to be something means. To have the appearance of being a biologist is quite different. It is rather telling that you are unable to make the distinction and, within the context of this discussion, my expectation would be that you are an audiophile rather than a high fidelity enthusiast.

And you, are an absolutist audiophile!

 

[Steven Toy]

h.g.,

The Creationist biologist does proper peer-reviewed research on gap junctions. I imagine it would be much harder to be a Creationist evolutionary biologist, though. In fact, I can't see how that's possible.

Joe

Joe,

You are a scientist not an absolutist.

 

[Steven Toy]

So, if it's label-attaching time, here's the various types of anti-audiophile to be seen from time to time on pfm:

1) The reformed audiophile. Spent shedloads in the past, climbed the Naim upgrade ladder right to the top, got bored with it, sold the lot and bought Sony. Now wants to save/rescue others from his own mistakes.

2) The engineer/DIY bod. Knows how stuff works, and what makes a component/system sound the way it does. Reckons, possibly correctly, that he could build a great-sounding system for buttons.

3) The consumer champion. Has a component/system cost in mind above which everything is obviously a rip-off, and wants to let everyone else in on the secret.

4) The computer boffin. Has built PC-system from scratch; streams all his music using free/home-brewed software. Wants to spread the word, usually with the dreaded phrase 'It's quite straightforward really'.

5) The room treatment advocate. Believes all money spent on equipment is wasted without putting lots of panels on the walls and bass traps in the corners. Usually unmarried.

And that's it, really. Not an iota of envy. Maybe a tad of indignation from the engineer/consumer champion types who think it's wicked for companies to ask, and consumers to pay, high-end prices for equipment that's either no better, or worse than, high-end stuff.

Brilliant!

 

[h.g.]

A biologist is someone who studies biology.

It doesn't matter whether the person understands biology just that they study it? You don't consider the distinction relevant when it comes to being something? I presume you can see why understanding biology would force the rejection of a modern religion like Creationism though not, say, Christianity?

It is hard to know in situations like this whether people are defending a position because they believe it or are doing so for other reasons. Interesting stuff though in my occasional effort to work out how people can become things like audiophiles and creationists.

 

[mattgbell]

It doesn't matter whether the person understands biology just that they study it? You don't consider the distinction relevant when it comes to being something? I presume you can see why understanding biology would force the rejection of a modern religion like Creationism though not, say, Christianity?

Joe P has already given a good answer to this question.

It is hard to know in situations like this whether people are defending a position because they believe it or are doing so for other reasons. Interesting stuff though in my occasional effort to work out how people can become things like audiophiles and creationists.

Again, you're making stuff up. You have no grounds for any of your pop psychology assumptions.

 

[Joe P]

If the entry in the Online Etymology Dictionary's is correct, the term audiophile was coined in 1951 by High Fidelity magazine.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=audiophile&searchmode=none

Back then it wasn't used pejoratively, as audiophile referred to person with a healthy interest in weaved grille cloth and Bakelite.

Joe

 

[mattgbell]

If the entry in the Online Etymology Dictionary's is correct, the term audiophile was coined in 1951 by High Fidelity magazine.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=audiophile&searchmode=none

Back then it wasn't used pejoratively, as audiophile referred to person with a healthy interest in weaved grille cloth and Bakelite.

This article about the early history of the "audiophile community" also shows that the term "audiophile" originated in the 1950s.

 

[Joe P]

Matt,

Any mention of tweed grille clothe?

Joe

 

[mattgbell]

No, Joe, but some great material from the 1950s US press.

'Most obvious, and most off-putting for the casual listener, was the audiophile’s penchant for listening to his music at a high volume. As a New Yorker reporter put it: “amplifying records to a deafening number of decibels is considered good form in audiophile circles, and there is no denying that it is a sure way of demonstrating the extraordinary potency of one’s hi-fi hookup.” '

and

'Most baffling of all, however, was the specialized language audiophiles used to describe and discuss their equipment and the sound it produced. To a certain extent, audiophiles simply adopted the technical terminology of audio engineering, electrical engineering, and acoustics, but to most laypersons it sounded foreign and intimidating. Time warned readers that audiophiles “spoke a strange jargon full of ‘cycles,’ ‘decibels,’ ‘curves,’ ‘roll-offs.’” Indeed, some of the discussions in articles in High Fidelity, Audio Engineering, and in advertisements by manufacturers in such specialized magazines could even be a bit intimidating for some of the enthusiasts themselves. While some, more-inclusively-inclined audiophiles tried to downplay the importance of such terminology to outsiders – often with phrases like, “it’s really all about the music” – more hard-core enthusiasts, like High Fidelity author R.D. Darrell claimed that “only a dilettante audiophile…will shrink from pursuing his favorite subject into its more highly pressurized but by no means impenetrable engineering depths.” '

 

[Joe P]

Matt,

We need to bring back cycles per second. Hertz sounds vaguely painful, especially the mega ones.

Joe

 

[paskinn]

If I had no other way of knowing which day it was when I was a nipper, I could just check that day's sandwich filling. Thursday was my father's payday, so Wednesday was jam butty day, because there was no money left by then.

When we were kids, we were so poor that we only had six days in each week.

 

[Robert]

Meanings change.

Audiophile is now a dirty word to some (me included). Forever tainted by the antics of the wacky fringe, which thanks to a combination of media and profit motive became more than just a fringe over time.

I prefer 'audio enthusiast' and that's the term I use when being positive about fellow enthusiasts.

 

[radamel]

I hate euphemisms when referring to myself.

Proud to say I a am a Music lover and an audiophile.

And one should not forget that life is not a popularity contest.