I’ve been thinking a fair bit these days about getting newcomers involved in this sport. I know, I know—there’ve been untold numbers of editorials about how audiophiles are all balding, overweight, white-male boomers, and how hi‑fi is becoming less relevant with each passing year. However, my thoughts about this situation have been jump-started by several successful interactions with non-audiophiles who have subsequently come over to our side of the fence.
There is a problem, though—that’s for sure.
The fast-paced world of technological advancements is ever more frequently butting heads with the seemingly irreversible trend toward enshittification (I strongly suggest you read some of Cory Doctorow’s writings on this topic). And this convergence of high-tech production and rapid consumption is leading consumers toward poor-quality, disposable, entirely unsatisfying audio solutions. In my opinion, this trend started with the CD format. Not so much with the discs themselves and the players that decode them, but more with the whole concept of “digital” as a solution to a problem that never really existed. So we got digital speaker cables and digital toaster ovens. This situation intensified with the advent of the iPod and subsequently the iPhone. On occasion, I still encounter a first-generation iPod docking port on a hotel-room clock radio, archaeological evidence of a rush toward a trend that went nowhere. And these days, as long as a product comes packaged in some sort of white iBox, it’s considered on trend. So audio has seen a rapid descent into mediocrity, and, as a result, the majority of houses I visit either lack any audio playback capability or, at best, rely on a single shitty Bluetooth speaker.
My neighbor Rob sure knows all about that. Prior to me badgering him into participating in the My Audiophile Neighborhood project, all he had to listen to was his partner Jing’s UE Boom Bluetooth speaker. Contrast that piece of disposable tech with the top-end NAD stack that’s currently running at his place.
But my recent experiences have shown me that there’s some hope. I’m fairly chatty and—some would say—opinionated. My button-pushing nature clashes with my desire to help people, whether they want that help or not. So I’m always talking up audio and the need for a stereo in every home. Most times when I corner people at parties and start to go off, they either shift uncomfortably from foot to foot or deftly change the subject—but occasionally I manage to sink in the hooks.
That’s happened three times in the last few months, which is something of a record for me. The first time it was Rashay, the father of one of my daughter Toni’s basketball teammates, whom I helped with guidance in the setup of a pretty damn good analog front end. The second instance was my insertion into a sales transaction between two dog-park acquaintances. You can read the details about how I helped Aryn and Kareem build an entry-level analog system over on SoundStage! Global.
Malene represents my clearest, most decisive victory, but it was a long, drawn-out campaign. Years back, when I first met Malene, she utterly dismissed the concept of owning a stereo. Audio and music in general were of no importance. “I’m partly deaf, you see,” she said. “I couldn’t tell the difference, and I don’t listen to music anyway.”
“You don’t listen to music because your stereo sounds like shit!” I recall retorting, pointing to the all-in-one monstrosity she used for listening to talk radio. Eventually I badgered her into accepting a few hand-me-down components, including a pair of old-as-fuck Wharfedale Diamond monitors that still had some life left in them. Slowly Malene began to come around, and after a couple of educational sessions listening to my big rig, she started to see what all the noise was about.
Just two weeks ago I returned home from a trip to Denmark and Sweden. The original reason for this journey was that Marcia and I planned to visit Malene, who had moved back to Denmark, where she’d been born and spent her formative years. Since I was already in the neighborhood, I took the opportunity to stop in at Engström in Malmö, Sweden, just across the bridge from Copenhagen. As you may recall, the Engström Arne tube integrated amplifier blew my skirt up just a couple of months ago, and I was intensely interested in seeing where this excellent component originated. That story is coming shortly over on SoundStage! Global.
A fortuitous coincidence added another stop to our itinerary. Malene’s home in Veddum, Denmark, is a 40-minute drive from the headquarters of DALI, the Danish manufacturer of hi‑fi speakers. I had visited DALI back in 2022, the occasion being the premiere of their planet-smashing Kore statement speaker. The folks at DALI were superb hosts, and I came away with a ton of material for two articles that were fast, easy, fun writes. Since Malene’s house was within striking distance, I felt that a quick visit was in order. And since Malene was now interested in hi‑fi, she decided to accompany me and see what DALI was all about.
It was a great visit, and getting to view DALI and their facility through the eyes of a complete hi‑fi novice was instructive. In the end, we picked up a stereo for Malene, and you will get the chance to read about this adventure on SoundStage! Global as well.
So there are three recent instances of me interacting directly with people who have no idea that $20K speaker cables even exist and helping them build systems to suit their needs. Factor in my recent dalliance with the WiiM Amp Ultra—a firecracker of a budget component—and you’d be forgiven for thinking that I’m trying to edge Dennis Burger out of his editor’s position over at SoundStage! Access.
But that’s not my endgame for all of this. What I’m trying to do, one step at a time, is pull people into my world. “Start small, start modest” is my rallying cry. “But upgrade! You don’t have to spend a lot. Buy used if you have to!” In some ways I’m kinda like a door-knocking missionary, and I have to admit to one of my personality flaws here if I’m going to be honest with myself—and with you, the reader.
Back in university, I was fascinated with religion and the basis of faith. Not from the angle of my faith, as I’m totally not the believin’ type. But rather about how religion works. I took several courses on this topic, both psychology- and philosophy-oriented. In the one I remember best (I still have the professor’s thesis), we discussed the motivation and background reasoning behind the desire to proselytize, to win someone over to your personal beliefs. Basically, the successful conversion of a non-believer reinforces your own faith and gives you a giant spiritual high-five.
I have no doubt that this motivation extends into the world of high-end audio. Let’s say you’ve just forked out $20K for those speaker cables, and you have a friend over for a listening session. He’s just amazed at how good they sound. He likes them so much that he goes out and buys the same ones. Suddenly your purchase seems even more worthwhile, and you end up enjoying the cables even more.
So it all comes down to that dopamine hit we get when another person validates our opinions, faiths, purchases, hobbies, all those sorts of things. And obviously I’m not immune. That said, I’d like to qualify this just a little, given that I think, I believe, that there’s a small, slightly more noble wrinkle in my motivation. I thoroughly enjoy my gig as editor of SoundStage! Ultra. I get to play with killer equipment. I get to listen to a system I couldn’t otherwise afford, and, since the components rotate with startling regularity, my sweet tooth is always satisfied. Also, I get to travel on the company dime and drink other people’s beer, which is always a buzz. The pay could be better, but I’ve made my peace with that.
That said, I need to keep my enthusiasm ratcheted up to a fever pitch. The necessity of writing is a constant pressure. I subscribe to Grammarly (which regularly nags me about my use of commas), and apparently I’m in the mid-90th percentile among its users for productivity.
Over the past three years I’ve made a deal with myself. When writing becomes a chore, when it becomes a grind and I start churning out boring, generic reviews, I’m going to hang up my writing hat. It hasn’t happened yet, and I still have fun generating provocative metaphors and idioms that make managing editor Gordon Brockhouse’s hair fall out at an accelerated pace. But I do need a muse.
Reaping the fruits of my proselytizing helps with that. I get to experience hi‑fi through naive, fresh eyes, and watching someone respond to a $1500 system like a kid on Christmas morning refreshes me. It also helps keep me honest and maintains my relationship with the concept of value for money, which is sometimes lacking in the Ultra world. And it provides me with writing material, which is its own high-value return.
So I’ll keep badgering my friends and neighbors about audio, both at the entry-level and upgrade tiers. I don’t think Aryn is going to give in—she’s just too happy with her system as it sits. But Rashay’s still interested in moving forward with system upgrades, and in the next week or so we’ll be heading over to fellow SoundStage! Ultra contributor Phil Gold’s place to audition a pair of speakers that he’s looking to sell.
And I’m not going to give up on Malene. Surely she should move up to a multi-channel rig, and those bookshelf speakers she just got could easily be repurposed as surrounds, right? But Denmark is a heck of a commute, so maybe that will be next year’s project.
. . . Jason Thorpe
jasont@soundstagenetwork.com
