Review of Benchmark DAC1/AKG K701 System

[poppachubby]

I'm not picking on AA here, but the question he poses in this thread:

Music lovers

is what guys like myself and Worf (presumably) are talking about. The belief held by many audiophiles, that you can't be a music lover unless you have a "high quality" system.

As dramatic as my post sounded, the aim was not to say that we should all abandon the audiophile (electronics) hobby, but to remind us that a love of and enjoyment of music does not require never ending upgrades, and bankruptcy.

Audiophiles traditionally claim the love of music as the reason for this hobby. I dispute that claim. Love of Electronics, tweaking and gadgets is IMO the real driving force behind Audiophilia.

Uhhhh, hey man. I think you didn't get AA's post. He didn't say anything about high quality, but rather, that extremely low quality presents an issue.

[Ajani]

Uhhhh, hey man. I think you didn't get AA's post. He didn't say anything about high quality, but rather, that extremely low quality presents an issue.

Oh no, I got it.... and I should clarify: when you refer to things as extremely low quality, you are starting down a slippery slope... In AA's case he is referring to the cheapest of the cheap (laptop computer speakers and freebie headphones that come with your ipod)... However, Audiophiles with far more expensive setups than what AA has, will often refer to his gear as low quality... it's a slope... so that's why I differentiate between love of music and love of equipment...

[poppachubby]

True, true. I suppose low quality is subjective, however, in the case of digital files, low quality is defined by an actual number ie 128kbps. As for the rest, I would like to think that most audiophiles are reasonable enough to assert what is low quality and what is off the charts, unlistenable.