You likely know one person who considers himself/herself an audiophile. Everyone knows the type: that person who owns pricey, high-end headphones and earbuds, or one who takes pride in his $1000 hi-fidelity subwoofer system that makes the ground shake due to its bass. Casio Singapore is among the top companies that deal with this kind of hi-fidelity audio stuff.
And then, there’s you, content with whatever headphones or MP3 files you listen to on your device. There’s no difference between what you and an audiophile listen to, right? Such a question is tricky, but there might be an explanation.
Is Hearing Ability Unique To One Another?
There’s this age-old ‘maxim’ that goes: “Everyone hears things differently.” Maybe it’s enough explanation as to why some people prefer the sound of the $300 Beats by Dre headphones over that of a $1500 Sennheiser HD800. Well, this may not be exactly true, but you get the gist.
Trained and untrained listeners from different social backgrounds were asked to test different-tiered headphones. The results are as follows. Between two audiophile-grade headphones and a highly commercialized hi-fi knockoff, listeners preferred one headphone regardless of listening background and social profile. And that headphone is the one with a smooth response, an extended bandwidth, and a bass that could simulate the output of a loudspeaker in a listening room.
The “Obsession”
Audiophiles can be incredibly obsessed folks. They’re enthusiasts like everybody else of the same mindset, albeit of their own chosen “field.” Speakers can easily fetch for five digits in this hobby of theirs. And one thing about audiophiles; they like it personalized. They often insist that their systems should sound the way they want them. But there will always be the itch to upgrade and tweak, to achieve their standard of perfection in sound.
How do they want it, you ask? It all lies in immersion. What they often want is a sound that is enveloping and enrapturing; one that pleases the senses. But then, this sensitiveness to sound can be unique to anyone—some may like to keep it as it is, while others would want to push the boundaries. It then reverts back to the concept of “hearing things differently.” Maybe audiophiles are just born with that acoustic sensibility that not everybody has.
