What Alan Parsons thinks of "audiophiles"

I find it a little ironic that members of an audiophile forum would actually agree with such a sweeping statement! Nonetheless, I get your point.

Itā€™s not possible to know the exact meaning from the limited context of the quote in question.

Depends what one defines as an audiophile, and if that could be clearly defined - is he was referring to all of such, or just ones who obsess over audio equipment (?)

Unfortunately, the over-generalisation of the quote does make him sound rather pompous, although itā€™s highly possible the quote in question is taken well out of his original context, and so meaning, and cunningly used [by someone unknown to us] as a windup : )

2 Likes

Whatā€™s really sad (with all apologies to Debs) is the thread had organically taken such a fun turn with our 60s though 80s adolescent boy crushesā€¦and now we are back to talking about Alan Parsons. (Or is it Partridge?)

No we are not! Suzi Quattro anyone?

Oh, and Debs, feel free to add your crush of choice!

Stu

I am sure she at least peaked at Tiger Beat magazine back in the day!

I find it ironic that the comment came from the recording engineer who added the sound effects (I suppose we would call them ā€œsamplesā€ these days) that helped turn Dark Side of the Moon into the ultimate audiophile test record.

2 Likes

Peeked - guilty as charged.

Peaked? or peeked?

I donā€™t think I have heard or read about any ā€˜knownā€™ musician, Rock star, Classical maestro or any other musical celebrity who owns audio gear, the sort that audiophiles would be interested in. In my life I found the opposite, people who play instruments and compose music, are not so concerned about the HiFi, but are more concerned in the composition, execution and even interpretations of music. Ocassionally one sees HiFi gear in dramas, programmes or in films on TV; its such a rare sight that it is immediately noted and discussed on HiFi forums!

Or piqued, even?

1 Like

She might get piqued if someone tore out the page of a fave teen idolā€¦preventing her from getting a peek and reaching the peak of her ogling enjoyment because her interest could not be piqued.

1 Like

No ones mentioned anything about Neil Young and his High Res streaming Xstream, a suitable upgrade over his Pono.

Thatā€™s because we donā€™t have Alan Parsonā€™s comments about it. Perhaps itā€™s good fodder for a new thread?

I remember there were high expectations as to the Pono but it never took offā€¦?

Yes, Pono sadly was rather publicly kicked to death before it was even properly formed. But one of the really good things to come from it was thanks to the late Charlie Hansenā€™s input into the actual Ponoplayer itself. Using the ESS 9018 DAC he incorporated not just a rather interesting digital filter, but also a fully discrete, fully balanced, zero-feedback current-to-voltage stage. This then went to a fully discrete, zero-feedback buffer stage to drive both the headphone output and the line-stage output. By using what is essentially four output amps, you could drive either two sets of headphones, or drive a suitable set of headphones in balanced mode. Paired with Sennheiser HD600s (IIRC these were used in development) the sound of this little personal system is quite sublime. Itā€™s hard to pin down exactly why though. It lacks some of the hifi drama of say an Astell & Kern, and isnā€™t as forensic as say, a Sony ZX2 but it just makes you want to keep listening to the point where you just get lost in the music and you find that time has just disappeared. Thereā€™s no better way to describe it than to say, itā€™s lovely. The shame is the rest of it - although the Toblerone shape and unpretentious fisher price styling does have a sort of ā€œanti blingā€ appeal. Itā€™s a shame that thereā€™s unlikely to be a Ponoplayer Mk2. Until then, it remains my DAP of choice, if only for the lovely music it plays.

I remember Neil Youngā€™s main argument for a Pono was that often artists go to specific lengths in the Studio to acheive ā€˜theirā€™ sound but equally often that particular sound is lost on an average system. He than showed a video/clip on youtube a pono playing inside Amiracan model car and he would invited guests to sit inside the car and listen to the Pono audio, then the guests were invited into his camper van and just asked to describe the sound. Most of the guests (I think some may have been in the music business) were all animated and enthusiastic in their own ways as to the surprising detailed and musical sound. This viewing got me all excited, that here is a product that may revolutionize HiFi, reasonable priced product to trounce expensive high end gear. Unfortunately not so, but I am grateful for Neil Young wanting to bring enhanced sound quality to the public/audiophiles, crossing the gap between studio finished article and the abillity to hear it in essence what was intended in the studio.

Hi

Just started a 14 day trial of Roon - the first song on Roon radio was Alan Parsons

Scary ā€¦
ā€¦ but then again Iā€™m not an audiophile :joy:

CK

I keep reading this as Alan Partridge.

2 Likes
7 Likes

I once made the mistake of listening to Alan Parsonsā€™ music to listen to my equipment. The equipment was fine; the music stank.

1 Like