Does the Audiophile Community Have a Problem?

[Rensselaer]

I’m sorry Ron i think this article is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever read. The audiophile hobby is about GEAR as much as it’s about music. Please name one hobby that women are into that’s about gear. I can name more than a few gear based hobbies that are male oriented: motorcycles, cars, fishing, guitars, watches, bicycles, etc.

I can’t think of one primarily female hobby that is about GEAR.

This is more woke crap that ignores the biological gender differences between men and women.

Quilting, Crafting, kitchen gadgets and (possibly unique to my wife) tools and gardening equipment (even begged me for a cement mixer for Christmas one year).

 

[jeff1225]

we don’t disagree often but here is one of the exceptions.

There are plenty of women into sports cars! Porsche actively markets to them. Hodinkee has female editors and writers (Cara).

But really the bottom line is you aren’t approaching Karen Sumner at a show and explaining about how you removed “room tampons” and the sound is better. It’s just common courtesy.

Tang made a comment recently joking about the size of his member post vaccine. It’s garbage and not how we conduct with each other in public. Take the jokes and wink wink attitude private.

We are better than this as a forum, no question about it. It has *nothing* about being woke. It’s about being freaking nice and respectful.

Over and out.

Of course it’s about being woke and forced inclusion. Porsche markets to women but they’re not buying 911’s. The Barbie dream house always sold 4X the Barbie Corvette. Let’s face facts, audio is a men’s hobby. 99% of women at an audio show have been dragged there by their husbands.

 

[jeff1225]

Quilting, Crafting, kitchen gadgets and (possibly unique to my wife) tools and gardening equipment (even begged me for a cement mixer for Christmas one year).

You’ve pointed to hobbies where the creation of something is the goal, not the gear itself.

 

[Zero000]

The problem is you.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I want to thank everybody who participated on this thread for posting his thoughts!

 

[bonzo75]

I want to thank everybody who participated on this thread for posting his thoughts!

As long as you take feedback and change, not just say a polite thank you and stay stubborn

 

[jeff1225]

I want to thank everybody who participated on this thread for posting his thoughts!

"Their thoughts" would have been the appropriate gender neutral post Ron.....

 

[Ron Resnick]

You are correct -- I was wrong -- but for a different reason. "Their" is correct not for a gender neutral reason but for a plural-to-plural conformity reason. "Their" is a better grammatical match for "everybody" than is "his."

I wrote "his" rather than "his/her" only because I did not think we had any female posters on this thread.

 

[Al M.]

You are correct -- I was wrong -- but for a different reason. "Their" is correct not for a gender neutral reason but for a plural-to-plural conformity reason. "Their" is a better grammatical match for "everybody" than is "his."

I wrote "his" rather than "his/her" only because I did not think we had any female posters on this thread.

Not quite, Ron. From the Oxford English Dictionary Blog:

A brief history of singular ‘they’ | Oxford English Dictionary

OED ambassador Prof Dennis Baron turns to the OED to provide a brief history of the singular 'they' - from the 14th century to present day:

public.oed.com

 

[jeff1225]

You are correct -- I was wrong -- but for a different reason. "Their" is correct not for a gender neutral reason but for a plural-to-plural conformity reason. "Their" is a better grammatical match for "everybody" than is "his."

I wrote "his" rather than "his/her" only because I did not think we had any female posters on this thread.

There are no women on this thread, that's my point.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Not quite, Ron. From the Oxford English Dictionary Blog:

A brief history of singular ‘they’ | Oxford English Dictionary

OED ambassador Prof Dennis Baron turns to the OED to provide a brief history of the singular 'they' - from the 14th century to present day:

public.oed.com

I follow, and I have always followed, the Chicago Manual of Style.

From your link: "The well-respected Chicago Manual of Style still rejects singular they for formal writing."

 

[Al M.]

I follow, and I have always followed, the Chicago Manual of Style.

From your link: "The well-respected Chicago Manual of Style still rejects singular they for formal writing."

That may well be, but what you prefer from a particular source does not seem to reflect the perception of correct use in broader society, as it is discussed in the link.

I personally don't like the use either, but at the same time I judge my distaste to be irrelevant to the general perception of correct use.

This is a well established use, not some fabricated neo-artifact like "Latinx", which is a term that Latinos and Latinas themselves generally do not use.

 

[Rensselaer]

That may well be, but what you prefer from a particular source does not seem to reflect the perception of correct use in broader society, as it is discussed in the link.

I personally don't like the use either, but at the same time I judge my distaste to be irrelevant to the general perception of correct use.

This is a well established use, not some fabricated neo-artifact like "Latinx", which is a term that Latinos and Latinas themselves generally do not use.

My post was deleted. I was told wasn't relevant to the thread. I see Ron Liked this one, but I don't see any greater relevance to the thread "Does the Audiophile Community have a problem" than mine. Doesn't offer anything related to the love of audio either. Makes me want to look elsewhere for a site to follow.

 

[KostasP.]

Why is that changing the subject? What do you mean by the "same"? Both groups are audiophiles, no? Or is one group "more" audiophile than the other?

Did I become more of an audiophile after switching from headphones to speakers? I don't think so. (Of course, even today I may not meet your definition of an audiophile...)

I have two sets of STAX earphones with their respective amplifiers and three pairs of high-end dynamic headphones driven by the SPL Phonitor 2 High Voltage amplifier, used in parallel with my main speaker-based system.

Both listening formats COMPLEMENT each other and one does NOT negate the other as alternative listening experiences.There is no reason at all to compare the two unless one suffers from an audiophiliac syndrome of some sort. Once you experience and appreciate the intrinsic values and properties of each format, you accept both of them as being able to fulfil your audiophiliac needs, based on your mood and listening requirements.

It is almost preposterous and narrow-minded to associate audiophilia with high-end, two-channel stereo set-ups. I tend to prefer my speaker-based set-up but this does not in any way diminish my earphone set-ups. Some hard-core head-fi audiophiles will undoubtedly have their own preferences. So what?!

Al, there is no need to seek approval or validation from anyone! Cheers, Kostas.

 

[tima]

Not quite, Ron. From the Oxford English Dictionary Blog:

A brief history of singular ‘they’ | Oxford English Dictionary

OED ambassador Prof Dennis Baron turns to the OED to provide a brief history of the singular 'they' - from the 14th century to present day:

public.oed.com

I was happy to find this qualifiaction at the end of that post:
The opinions and other information contained in the OED blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

I thought the guy's multiple attempts at acceptance of singular 'they' were weakened through his claiming that people use it in conversation when those who know better are not looking. Overall the post was more woke editorializing than history.

 

[tima]

My post was deleted. I was told wasn't relevant to the thread. I see Ron Liked this one, but I don't see any greater relevance to the thread "Does the Audiophile Community have a problem" than mine. Doesn't offer anything related to the love of audio either. Makes me want to look elsewhere for a site to follow.

Stick around. Maybe the quackery will blow over.

 

[Al Stewart]

FWIW below is some recent data out of the computer gaming industry. Just an example of a thriving hobby with lots of men and women participating. It is not a "kind" environment--lots of trash-talking bravado.

 

[morricab]

Stick around. Maybe the quackery will blow over.

Sadly, intolerance and/or cancellation for ideas you disagree with or find offensive is only on the rise in all arenas of life...might be a while before the pendulum starts to swing back...

 

[bonzo75]

My post was deleted. I was told wasn't relevant to the thread. I see Ron Liked this one, but I don't see any greater relevance to the thread "Does the Audiophile Community have a problem" than mine. Doesn't offer anything related to the love of audio either. Makes me want to look elsewhere for a site to follow.

I don't know which post of yours got deleted, but Al's post is not irrelevant it is a nice one in the flow of the conversation (rare for Al)

 

[tima]

Sadly, intolerance and/or cancellation for ideas you disagree with or find offensive is only on the rise in all arenas of life...might be a while before the pendulum starts to swing back...

Yeah, we have that here in the States as well - imo it is almost entirely political. Whether it can swing back, I don't know. I suspect there are more tolerant middle-of-the-road people than the media would have us believe. I see the media primarily and academia to some extent as the main sources of stirring things up. Now it creeps into the audio media as witnessed by the OP article - written to generate division.

Although the political divide is pretty obvious at WBF I have not felt much intolerance here - at least not to the point of people no longer talking to each other. Certainly among the 'regulars' we manage, and for the most part I think we actually appreciate one another for adding value even though there are disagreements. (It would be boring if we all agreed.) Granted we all have our quirks. The latest bout of 'administrative fervor' seems to have a few rude people at its root . Just putting 'em on holiday for a couple months could have been, imo, a more effective (corporate) approach to maintaining relative harmony among 99.99% of participants, but ... maybe something will be learned from that.