I was doing some c-19 induced house cleaning and found a paper version of this article written by Matt Kramer in Cigar Aficionado. He is currently writing for Wine Spectator. This article started me on my audiophile journey in 1995. Very well written article about the people in our hobby and the folks that feed our audio needs. It made me laugh out loud. Still on point 25 years later (except for a prediction on HDCD’s). Good stuff. Be grateful that we get to experience the joys of audio.
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Only a Wine person could understand the Audiophile mentality from the outside. Great read, thanks for posting.
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awesome.
Worked at a downtown Minneapolis bookstore during the early-mid 90’s, and Cigar Aficionado was brand new and one of my favorite diversions. (Occasionally bought a cigar to smoke while reading it.)
I don’t remember this article, but reading it brings me back.
I still have the Rotel RX975 receiver I bought around that time, too.
Thanks for sharing this!
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I have read that article before. It really is well-written AND spot-on; and aligns pretty closely with my experience (and opinions).
Thanks for sharing.
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Great read!
One of my favorite lines in Matt Kramer’s article: “keep in mind that audiophiles don’t live in what might be called the real world.” Truth.
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I found the paper article buried in an audio file with highlights on it. I bought the Totem Model 1 speakers he mentioned in the article and a Mircomega CD Player. A $3 cigar magazine has cost me tens of thousand of dollars of audio gear but I really enjoy the journey. I was also working downtown Minneapolis in the early 90’s. Have a great day.
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Very interesting article. Thanks
It made me laugh that he was horrified with the prospect of spending $2495 for DAC and transport. I just bought a transport alone for that much cause it seemed like a great deal. Thankfully I don’t fancy wine…
Remember 1995 dollars
Looks like a 70% increase (decrease in dollar value) from inflation so roughly $4200 today.
I was at Baxter’s Books, in the Northstar Bldg at 2nd and 6th. I remember selling books about this new thing called “the Internet.”
Muuuuuch simpler times.
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That was fun and very revealing. I especially loved the cable nuttiness, which is still very true today. I also found it to be the best argument for never going audiophile. Who has access to local dealers to loan equipment at the low-end of the audiophile price spectrum for home trials? And who has the patience and skill to trial multiple pairs of speakers and amps? (I know the answer is the “true audiophile”.) It’s enough to make you go headphone-only.
The crack about audiophiles listening to music only to calibrate their appreciation of their equipment was hilarious and true.
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on the subject of vintage audiophilia, this is pretty awesome. From 1959.
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