It is not secret that I am not a big admirer of what is called the audiophiles community. I feel incredibly bored among them and they feel frequently incredibly insulted around me. Thanks God!!!

I do not value the audiophiles masses, have little respect to them, has no use associating with them and it will be surprise but I also feel that have very little common audio-interests with them. In their individually the audio hoodlums are near-tolerable but as soon they clustered in their audio packs then become absolutely appalling, at least to my taste.

"The Shepherded” are the representatives of audio herd, among those, whom the audio industry “affected” the most.

The Shepherded audio person usually has reasonably well paid job and from reasonably to highly educated. He has some extra money and extra time to spend in his life, so instead of sniffing cocaine, polishing his Harley or painting his boat the Shepherded chose to “do audio”. The audio interests of the Shepherded are very restricted and usually drift atop of the audiophile’s foamy waves. The main objective of the Shepherded’s “hobby” is to harvest the industry marketing accomplishments and to implement them in own listening room. Any more or less evolved objectives of music reproduction are mostly alien forms for a Shepherded audio type. If some kind of sounds are played with the Shepherded playback then juts it is juts in order to confirm that the Shepherded playback assembly is still working and comply with the “embraced definition of success”

The Shepherded people are well familiar with many audio models, they flawlessly pronounces the model’s abbreviations and versions. They know many names of many manufactures and have the whole army of audio reviewers at their Outlook contact lists or phonebooks. They change equipment habitually in tight accordance to the new prevailing audio-marketing wind. The Shepherded listening room feels like a trip to a dentist office where instead of the cases with the insurances clams you are surrounded with the fresh produce of the audio marketing …

A Shepherded does not pursue to any specific sonic result and has no explicit sonic objectives. For him Sound in his rooms is purely a unsystematic outcome of equipment he has managed to collect. The criteria for the Shepherded “equipment accumulation” is not “Better Sound” but rather a “Better Company” that with the contemporary audio industry ( and in the context of the Shepherded primitivism) could be summarized by just one factor:  who tall more thrilling and sensational irrelevant fairytales about a company or about a products. Do I have to reveal that the lever of the fairytale’s irrelevancy is very proportional to the level of the Shepherded’s demands?

Sure in his mind the Shepherded’s accumulation of “audio assemblyment” has a deep rational and profound reasoning but in realty it is nothing more then juts the sucking in the audio rumors and reaction upon them with own financial strength. Since, there is for a Shepherded person no association between the efforts he spent for playback and the results he get in his listening room, the only one driving criteria for Shepherded is celebration of own self-image.  Sheng-Yen suggested that satisfaction of own none-noble pretentiousness is one of variation of the deluded view of life. By pretentiousness, he meant an amply pursue of triumphal reputation, the reputation that lacks in substance. Sheng-Yen proposed that person with a deluded view of life is like a dog chasing his own tail while he believes that it is another dog's tail. This “another dog's tail” is EXACTLY where the entire stupid audio industry lives and it is not surprise that the phone numbers of the Shepherded Audio-Morons™ are being sold by audio dealers to each other as the “gateway to haven”. I can give a VERY LONG list of very expensive and very popular audio products that perform at insultingly low level and were made available only because there is a huge army of the Shepherded simpletons out there. My rough estimate that it is 30% of all people who do high end audio…

I relay do not like those people. Sure, I use them; I visit them from time to time and satisfy my curiosity about specific audio products. I do not kiss their asses and care less about their “audio-friendship”. In reality I do not find even my avenue to deal with them is worth any attention. The reasons I do not feel that they are valuable even to “browse sound” is because a Shepherded do not “work” on Sound and if even something interesting or potential had happen in his listening room then the Shepherded juts steps over it without ever noticing the potentials. The Shepherded ALWAYS STEPS OVER THE  NONE-ACCOMPLISHMENTS:  it happened in past with each single Shepherded that I know. It happens with them as soon as some cretin from the Internet or a writing-whore from audio publication screams to the pack of the “pre-tuned” Shepherded: “fetch”.

It is imposable to bring any argument to the Shepherded as they stupid type lacks of any audio sense. I for years try to incentive some people that I know asking them to inject “the Shepherded detector” into the audio awareness. It should be some kind of a placebo notion, placebo devise or placebo technology that has an enormously positive reputation, no benefits and that should be “swallowed” by the army of the Shepherded retards and acts as pH indicator paper on any audio Shepherded. Ed Meitner did it phenomenally with SACD but I feel that even slicker “Shepherded Gauge” might be invented.

I use the word “groupies” loosely and under “audio groupies” I recognize a quite large pack of the abhorred by me audio individuals. The Audio Groupies are the people who made own awareness subordinated to some kind of audio initiative, concept, brand, company, product, group pf interest or most frequently a marketing slogan (or something that will call “X-Subject” in this post). As a result their audio interests shifted from “doing audio” into burning efforts to sustain own attachment to the group of the similar to themselves and promotion/cultivating the stupid anti-meritocracy within the circles of own influence.

The Audio Groupies hardly have any connection with reasoning or rational regarding the subjects of their admiration – the X-Subjects. Initially they did assess the X-Subject or at least they were reading the bumper-stickers on the colorful marketing wrappers of those X-Subjects, eventually they got infatuated with the “X-Subject”. However, there is more to it…. The Audio Groupies are too primitive species (at least in terms of this audio intellect) to be able to embrace benefits of a given “X-Subject” and pressure of own “super tasks” (look for Stanislavsky’s System). For the simplistic Audio Groupies the “X-Subject” itself does not recognized as a set of usable benefits but instead is become a mark of encapsulated awe, similar to the prehistoric people who worship cattle’s bowel movement for it’s “mysterious” fertilizative duty. So, the Audio Groupies instead of the USE the fertilizers to grow better crop begin  to cover themselves into cow’s excrements, dancing their ritual audio-salsa, sacrifice chickens, and declare as “heretic” anyone who would look at their Shamanism laughingly.... As the result, for Audio Groupies the interaction with any X-Subject becomes not the USE of the X-Subject but practicing inquisition to protect the X-Subject.

The biggest problem with the Audio Groupies is that they do not understand that any success of any audio “X-Subjects” belong of END USER but not belong an industry solution providers. Any technology or notion in the hands of barbarian produce barbarian results and in contrary: in order to get a higher level of results any “X-Subject” should be properly employed by end users and the results should be properly understood by user’s own capacity. The Audio Groupies are not creative, are not inclined to originality, not inventive or have power to create. They rather are individuals bound in servitude, subordinance and following. Anything, that question their subject of admiration – the X-Subject - they accept as a personal trespassing of their little territory and hey immediately begin to built up resistance. However, the Audio Groupies are not really smart people, have no well-developed cogent understanding of own audio actions and seldom able to shelter intelligently own views. So, instead of reaffirming own inspections they encircle themselves with who sheep that same losers and dilute own fears in a sophistic mass-enthusiasm. Alexander Pope was right when he said that fools admire, but men of sense approve. The Audio Groupies in their nature are fools and they do what all fools always do the best in order to feel better about themselves – they cluster into herds.

Therefore, in audio today we have many groups of the “special interests” that violently protect own status – I call them the “Audio Groupies”. It is hardly possible to deal with those people as the have no individual consciousness. Instead of individual awareness then have a slavish desire to protect own membership in the Group and protect the group’s interest form any possible doubts. It is imposable to find Sound in context of any Group of Interest or in context of any individual Audio Groupie. Sound and the interest to Sound are well hidden with the Group’s self-serving Interests and Sound is rather a commodity of the Groupies, instead of being the purpose of the participants’ interests.

So, I personally feel that any Groupies only by the fact of being subordinates of the “groupism” are disqualified from being a subject of any serious Audio attention. I treat them like I would treat an experimental medical mouse. You can purposelessly play with the run for a while before you inject it with some kind of deadly illness and then put it under microscope to die. The Audio Groupies do not demonstrate any inventive or self-sufficient thinking and if you understand the given group agenda (their reliance upon the X-Subject) or the given Groupies’ fears then know not only any single thought they are able to express but also each single sound you hear from the Groupies’ audio installations

There are a quite a number of the Audio Groupies among the mentioned above Shepherded type. Their X-Subjects are primary companies and products, some of them end user and some of the pre-nursed industry players. There is also a large army of DIY Groupies that are the class on their own….

As far as I concern all of them absolutely equally boring and have as much own value of sonic interests as that experimental lab rat… You can study the Pavlovian reflex with that parasite but too bad animal to keep it even as a pet….

I have writhen about it on a past and I would not go over it again:

http://www.GoodSoundClub.com/TreeItem.aspx?PostID=976

However, in the thread that enumerates the most appalling audio types I could not do not mention the DIY type.

To make the long story very short: a progress in audio could be determined ONLY by deepening of musical evolvement of the individual who does Audio. Audio DIY movement (as a structured generality) and the 95% of DIY individuals have no distinct interest in musical advancement. DIY audio is VERY simple and everything that you do “works”. How to assess the worth of that “working”? Here is where “something else” should come to the picture and unfortunately most of the DIY people do not have that “something else”…

I have seen many well experienced DIY people who would go into unspeakable death pontificating about the screen currents,   biasing methods, nature of transmission lines in cable and inner-molecules interaction is speaker’s diaphragms. However, in most of the cases all of their techniques are bounded to their underdeveloped understanding of sonic consequences and not bound to their ability/desire to USE the advances of their audio for something more then audio itself.

So, most of the DIYers, probably the 95% of all among those that I have seen, are juts too primitive listeners and have too dull musical interests. Sure, some of them can micro-solder with their eyes shot and holding the solder guns in their left toe. However, all those DIY-only skills have zero value within my coordinate system of the things that are absolutely essential for Real Audio. DIY people do not make better audio because DIY concept does not include definition of superiority of real audio accomplishments (that might viewed ONLY in context of musical evolvement).

There is a difference between building Sound and building a DAC, building a speaker or building a listening room. DIYers do not look at Sound as a Tool for something else but rather they look at sound as an Article of Trade, sort of a variable that might be played with in order to justify their audio self-amusement. There is nothing wrong with DIY audio as hobby. There is nothing right with Sound in the rooms of the DIY people who understand audio just as hobby….

The people who suffer from the vintagtism in audio are special breed of Audio Morons™. Those people discovered a single focus of interests in some kind of vintage item and this focus became a point an unconditional dedication and fanatical devotion. What is remarkable that most of the Vintage Sufferers very fast switch their attention from the alleged sonic benefit of a given vintage solution (actual or imaginary) to the superficial worshiping of the solution’s status

http://www.GoodSoundClub.com/TreeItem.aspx?PostID=1046

Yes, there were some interesting implementations in past, I would not argue about it. However, it is also well-know that many of interesting ideas and implementations from the past were not rendered adequately in accordance with the modern, way evolved demands for sound reproduction. It is fine when people USE DISCRIMINATIVELY, SELECTIVELY AND PURPOSEFULLY some vintage “crème de la crème” solutions but it never happen among the Vintage Sufferers. In fact that blindness to recognize and evaluate the actual results is what distincts the Vintage Sufferers (the appalling type) from the people who just employ selected vintage elements to accomplish the objectives they have in their minds (the respected type).

Vintage Sufferers live in the realm of myths and audio folklore. They frequently are Audio Groupies and for them even mentioning of some vintage products put their perception into semi-orgasmatic state. The Vintagers’ audio awareness is completely wiped out by the religious adulation on the vintage focus and in many instances it reaches a semi-clinical status. What I mean is that in many instances the audio events in which the Vintage Sufferers involve overdue any imaginable common sense. What I am saying is not related to personal audio preferences but I am saying about the very elemental common sense, not even Audio common sense. Just for sake of illustration here is an example that will make you to understand at WHICH LEVEL the majority of the Vintage Sufferers operate.

A year or so ago I visited one of those Vintage wounded Morons – Jonathan Weiss from Pennsylvania’s Oswald's Mill. The guy himself, like all the rest Vintage Sufferers, appears on internet as a person who elegantly jangler with vintage audio slogans and host an annual bash parity of Audio Groupies. Through the actual familiarity with the Oswald's Mill patient the smoke is evaporates and the reality of audio interests and audio familiarity become too self-evident – I when over it as a few others who warned me before my visit. Jonathan built a large installation with many vintage elements and what is the most remarkable that many, very many of his audio steps in his playback did not make any common sense. They do not make sense intellectually and they do sound exactly as they should – like the sonic residues of the very stupid and completely brainless actions. I am very far from criticizing the Sound of Jonathan playback – it was not Sound where it even worth to begin taking and Jonathan would not be a person who would understand the explanation. What I AM CRITICIZING however is the level of seriousness at which the Jonathan Weiss and the rest of the Vintage Sufferers Waste APPROACH THE SUBJECT OF SOUND REPRODUCTION. Do you want some specifics? I can give you a one out of many dozens that I have experienced at that listening room….

Jonathan had a phonostage that was a vintage pro-audio devise. I do not remember what it was but it was something in the style of Telephunken/Klangfilf from 50s. I think we all past that period evaluating those devises but Jonathan stuck in there… nothing wrong with it of course. Jonathan told me the fairy-tales about that phonostage - I hardly was paying attention to all of it frankly speaking as I have my own opinion. Then I paid attention to something that was remarkable. Jonathan proposed listening analog (I brought a few of my own LPs) and asked me which cartridge I would like to hear, all of his cartridges were vintage. Then he flipped up and played a few cartridges on his single TT/arm, asking which one I liked better. I kind of looked at him and did not understood what he was doing. I asked. He replayed that he has some MM and some MC cartridges and he do not know which model sound be better. Let me to highlight what Jonathan did: he re-mount the cartridges in his tonearm without even remote considering the something might be changed in the cartridges setup. They were different cartridges by design and even if to forgot (!!!!!) the overhanging, VTA, azimuth, absence of a an any even the most rudimental alignment protractor and any other things then … it might surprise even the most moronic people – Jonathan did not use even any objective measure to  measure tracking force. He juts switched the cartridges “as is” with no single adjustment, offering me to listen them, presuming that his vintage phonostage is the one that will “do sound” of his analog. I actually refused to play any of my records unit at least a VTF scale will be employed. A mechanical scale found after quite rigid search, Jonathan did not indicate that he knew how to use it…. The point of this story is to illustrate that the given Vintage Moron tomorrow will read lectures about the performance of his vintage phonostage. This illustration unfortunately is very emblematic and very-very many of people who worship the Vintage-dip sonic un-reasonability have within their mind the same level of SERIOUSNESS ABOUT SOUND as that Oswald Mill’s bluff has. I uselessly do not comment publicly upon my experiences regarding my private visits but since the Jonathan Weiss is kind of have already slaughtered himself I see no reasons do not use that Audio Cretin as an educational illustration.

As a type the Vintage Sufferers have invented a bogus stratification with themselves and they even run own vintage hype marketing to navigate “believes” across the hierarchy of those vantage layers. However, all of their Vintage literature has absolutely not relation to Sound that the Vintage Sufferers get out of their systems.

One of the most appalling, from my point of view, directions that the Vintage Sufferers go is their clustering themselves in bogus internet sites, user groups of the actual communities that are specifically dedicated to one specific vintage subject – would it be juts a product or a company. Thos communities are filled with incredible amount of Morons treating any issues with extraordinary amount of bias, prejudice and self-inflicted narrow-mindedness. It is not surprise that I found the Vintage Sufferers as one of the most appalling audio types.

Dear Romy,

I have stopped by your site from time to time over the last year to see what interesting things have been going on.  I generally do not say much, however I finally decided it was time to register and add a few comments to this discussion.

As you know, I was present on your visit to Jonathan and Oswaldsmill last year. I felt there were some factual issues to your post which I might address.

When you came, the Telefunken preamps you mention were not in service. They were not finished restoration/modification until months later (they were originally built by Telefunken as the playback preamps for their M10 broadcast tape deck and needed mods to be used for RIAA.) I know this because I am the one did the modifications. When you came Jonathan used a Shure SE1 tube phono stage, which unlike the Telefunkens, does not have a built in step up transformer. So Jonathan played non moving coil cartridges, first a Decca, which you did not like. So, he changed to a Grace F9 Ruby, but you also said you did not care to listen to anything except moving coil cartridges, as everything else was inferior. At which point we switched to CD for the rest of the session.

I've watched Jonathan spend hours setting up carts on his system, which is a Technics SP10 deck in the original Obsidian base, and the Technics EPA 100 tonearm. It is exactly the same deck Van Den Hul uses on a daily basis, as it enables very fast and easy swapping of carts and headshells, with on the fly VTA, very precise tracking force adjustment, and also a dynamic damping system. I know for a fact that Jonathan is very careful, very precise in setting up all of his carts, including the ones you listened to, as I watched him do this. Which means using a protractor to achieve proper overhang, checking azimuth, and noting tracking force. VTA is accomplished each time a cart/headshell is swapped. Otherwise, once a cart is mounted in its headshell, it is not necessary to check overhang again, to check azimuth again, or to check tracking force again, because that is done vis the arm. Jonathan did that when you were present, whether you noticed it or not. He always does it. 

Regarding the idea of the "Vintage Sufferers," since the vinyl system you heard at OswaldsMill dates to the early 1980's, perhaps you could define what exactly you mean by "vintage?" After all, your SME 3012 are at least one or two generations earlier than the OswaldsMill system you refer to. So is a good deal of your own vinyl gear, from looking at the info you have here on this site (Ortofon SPU, Koetsu, Denon 103, etc.) 

I find myself having a difficult time defining "vintage" equipment.  When does it accquire vintage status?  Why is it not just old equipment?  Unlike certain wines, it certainly does not improve with age.   If it did, I would not be kept busy repairing equipment with tired tubes and faulty components.

Thanks for allowing me to post a reply,

Best Regards

Doug Eisemann

Doug Eisemann wrote:

I have stopped by your site from time to time over the last year to see what interesting things have been going on.  I generally do not say much, however I finally decided it was time to register and add a few comments to this discussion. As you know, I was present on your visit to Jonathan and Oswaldsmill last year. I felt there were some factual issues to your post which I might address. When you came, the Telefunken preamps you mention were not in service. They were not finished restoration/modification until months later (they were originally built by Telefunken as the playback preamps for their M10 broadcast tape deck and needed mods to be used for RIAA.) I know this because I am the one did the modifications. When you came Jonathan used a Shure SE1 tube phono stage, which unlike the Telefunkens, does not have a built in step up transformer. So Jonathan played non moving coil cartridges, first a Decca, which you did not like. So, he changed to a Grace F9 Ruby, but you also said you did not care to listen to anything except moving coil cartridges, as everything else was inferior. At which point we switched to CD for the rest of the session. I've watched Jonathan spend hours setting up carts on his system, which is a Technics SP10 deck in the original Obsidian base, and the Technics EPA 100 tonearm. It is exactly the same deck Van Den Hul uses on a daily basis, as it enables very fast and easy swapping of carts and headshells, with on the fly VTA, very precise tracking force adjustment, and also a dynamic damping system. I know for a fact that Jonathan is very careful, very precise in setting up all of his carts, including the ones you listened to, as I watched him do this. Which means using a protractor to achieve proper overhang, checking azimuth, and noting tracking force. VTA is accomplished each time a cart/headshell is swapped. Otherwise, once a cart is mounted in its headshell, it is not necessary to check overhang again, to check azimuth again, or to check tracking force again, because that is done vis the arm. Jonathan did that when you were present, whether you noticed it or not. He always does it. Regarding the idea of the "Vintage Sufferers," since the vinyl system you heard at OswaldsMill dates to the early 1980's, perhaps you could define what exactly you mean by "vintage?" After all, your SME 3012 are at least one or two generations earlier than the OswaldsMill system you refer to. So is a good deal of your own vinyl gear, from looking at the info you have here on this site (Ortofon SPU, Koetsu, Denon 103, etc.) I find myself having a difficult time defining "vintage" equipment.  When does it accquire vintage status?  Why is it not just old equipment?  Unlike certain wines, it certainly does not improve with age.   If it did, I would not be kept busy repairing equipment with tired tubes and faulty components.

I do not feel that there are any “factual issues” in my post. I was informed that the Telefunken commercial corrector was used and it looks like wires were leading to it. I certainly did not trace the cables to see what was in fact connected. Why would I need then and why would I need it now?

If you look for factual discrepancies then I would challenge your comment “we switched to CD for the rest of the session”. We did listen records and you heard HOW IT SOUNDED - a pocket AM radio is way more exciting… It is ironic that you insist that Jonathan demonstrated any analog “precision”. I remember that I was pointing out during that evening (during the records listening) quite a number of numerous sonic problems that clearly derived from the barbarically setup cartridge. If you wish I can remind what they were. So, regardless if I “noticed” the Jonathan’s cartridge setup efforts or failed to notice them - the result was too indicative to see that they efforts were not spent at all.

However, you are missing the point of my post. I am very much not accusing Jonathan in wrong sounding. You most likely know that I eventually learned that Jonathan is as a pile of foul-smelling dirt into which I had a negligence to step. However, he was a good illustration of a person who spent a lot of tangible efforts in domain of vintage audio, accomplish superbly poor results, develop itself to the stage of being incapable to recognize the sonic consequences and keep running the stupid mouth about illusionary advantages of or his vintagetism. (Actually I presume that it was not his affords but yours as he is just too unintelligent to do anything substantial in audio with his hands). What I described is not just Jonathan’s audio problem but it is a common pattern for many people, I might bring up many other examples and illustrations…

Regardless, your difficult time defining "vintage" equipment.  I do not think that phrase “vintage” in audio should be used as “vintage wine” but rather as vintage cars, vintage cloth or vintage furniture… It is juts older, out of production elements and “vintage audio” is very common term everywhere. I do not know that makes an audio element “vintage” but I do know what converts a person who just use some “older” elements into a Vintage Sufferer.

This subject I complex and talking about it we should not take out of aim that fact that we are talking explicitly about audio applications. If so then let admit that friendship with various audio people severally cloud our views and rational of our opinions. I do not think people are different and all of us extend certain “extra leverage” to others if the others are our friends, member of family or just the people that we like. Nothing wrong with it, however where to bring the threshold between the “actuality” and our desire to make people who we like to feel comfortable, particularly if we deal with such as irrelevant and unimportant subject as audio is?

Sure, everyone would have own recipe how to deal with it.  My personal view is a complete disassociation of friendship from my audio interests. I do not pressure audio for entertainment of others and I do not use audio for development of my social circle (as many other do). In fact I found the social circles in audio are incredible boring and much more inferior then other “circles of interests”. So, the friendship-based audio I found always tedious, contra-productive and always severally underperforming. I might go on and on about the reasons why friendship-based audio is unfertile but would it be necessary? The important point is that audio people snowed under the slavery of friendship are hardly individuals who have own sight but rather Zombies with algorithmable pattern of reactions. They are very frequently are combined with all above-mention audio types…

Friendship by Alexander Pushkin (1818)

What's friendship? The hangover's faction,
The gratis talk of outrage,
Exchange by vanity, inaction,
Or bitter shame of patronage.

This is another type of appalling idiots that I can’t stand. Thos people run across audio enthusiasts in desperate but violent desire to develop a friendship. Not even a friendship but some kind of surrogate of familiarity that based upon absolutely contrived and falsely fabricated rational.  

The internet is a great tool for them that allow them to make friends in large numbers. Those people recognize that you use the same cartridge in your playback or use the same driver in your speakers and they feel that it itself is some kind of a justification for you to distinct them from crowd.  I really hate those countless emails from around the world with the typical “Oh, my god, we use the same color cable elevator, will you agree to be a Godfather for my children?”

I find this notion is absolutely ridicules; in fact I absolutely reject any unity in audio based upon the similarity of equipment or playback methods. AUDIO IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING NOT ABOUT USE, and until an audio  person demonstrate to me understanding I treat the person with presumption of audio Moronity ™ -  and I have a phenomenally high success rate to sniff out the idiots from light-year distance.

That  foolish “friendship” based upon the similarity of audio equipment is very frequently leads for the Morons organize into Audio Groupies  where possessions  or use of some kind of audio element become a Masonic hand shake between the member of the clan and those member are willing to suck each other proverbial disk just because they buy their audio from the same dealer and read the same review or just because both like 14inch tonearms. I would not even mention that the Morons go corporate-defensive and in instance convert themselves into brainlessly-angry barking scavengers if they feel that anybody doubt third clan superiority… Anyhow, you know the picture of it very well…

It is truly beyond me why in any other dimension might be reasonable people feel a need to united into some absolutely idiotic clans and develop idiotic relationship that are based on the fear to be on your own. Well, when I say that the majority of audio people are degenerates then I truly feel that audio friendship is something that if not seed then pollen of audio Moronity.