Audiophile
[1] The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with good acoustics.
[2][3] Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction—the initial audio recording, the production process, the storage of sound data, and the playback (usually in a home setting).
[4] The term high-end audio refers to playback equipment used by audiophiles, which may be bought at specialist shops and websites.
[5] High-end components include turntables, digital-to-analog converters, equalization devices, preamplifiers and amplifiers (both solid-state and vacuum tube), loudspeakers (including horn, electrostatic and magnetostatic speakers), power conditioners, subwoofers, headphones, and acoustic room treatment in addition to room correction devices.
Soft materials, such as draperies and carpets, can absorb higher frequencies, whereas hard walls and floors can cause excess reverberation.
A preamplifier selects among several audio inputs, amplifies source-level signals (such as those from a turntable), and allows the listener to adjust the sound with volume and tone controls.
Drivers are made from various materials, including paper pulp, polypropylene, kevlar, aluminium, magnesium, beryllium, and vapour-deposited diamond.
[14][15] Loudspeaker output is influenced by interaction with room boundaries, particularly bass response, and high-frequency transducers are directional, or "beaming".
Audiophiles use a wide variety of accessories and fine-tuning techniques, sometimes referred to as "tweaks", to improve the sound of their systems.
Sound-absorbing materials may be placed strategically within a listening room to reduce the amplitude of early reflections, and to deal with resonance modes.
However, many audiophiles still prefer speaker systems over headphones due to their ability to simulate an immersive, rounded sonic environment.
For music storage and playback, digital formats offer an absence of clicks, pops, wow, flutter, acoustic feedback, and rumble, compared to vinyl records.
Depending on the format, digital can have a higher signal-to-noise ratio, a wider dynamic range, less total harmonic distortion, and a flatter and more extended frequency response.
In the amplification stage, vacuum-tube electronics remain popular, despite most other applications having since abandoned tubes for solid state amplifiers.
Vacuum-tube amplifiers often have higher total harmonic distortion, require rebiasing, are less reliable, generate more heat, are less powerful, and cost more.
There is substantial controversy on the subject of audiophile components; many have asserted that the occasionally high cost produces no measurable improvement in audio reproduction.
Audiophile publications frequently describe differences in quality which are not detected by standard audio system measurements and double blind testing, claiming that they perceive differences in audio quality which cannot be measured by current instrumentation,[30] and cannot be detected by listeners if listening conditions are controlled,[31] but without providing an explanation for those claims.
