Here Following from Part 3 ~ is my “passion” long before I got into nutrition.

I am writing this with some hesitance. But at some point, people will always ask what my “hobbies” are.

In short, something I invested for about eight years. Then ten years, without them.

Live it forward,

AW.

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My Definition of a “Hobby”.

As preface, I’d like to define what I think a “hobby” is. We all have our own “escape”, one way or another from the world of work.

Suffice to say, mine is a little esoteric. Rewarding at one time. Disappointment on another.

So what is it, exactly? It involves a lot of listening.  “Musical fidelity”, or simply Head-Fi. Headphones, “vintage” vacuum tubes. Power cords. DACs. Burn-in CDs* and more. 

* Yes. A compact disc. Containing nothing but whites, brown, pink noise, and sweep tones. $40 ~ was the price I remembered, ordering all the way from US. A little crazy, I know.

Another obsession followed. Vinyl collection (think of 2000s ~ golden era of soulful house, and deep house). Then more equipment. Buying a used Technics 1200MK2 and swapping its tonearm myself literally required days worth of trying. Then, patiently recording each and every vinyl I hand-picked / ordered from all over the world, including all the (however few) vinyl record basement stores here in WA.

Just like nutrition and “fitness” this hobby often projects a divisive conversation. Divisive, as in it is at first easy to ridicule because people they’d readily stereotype it all as a “lifestyle”. Fuelled by “irresponsible” financial decisions. And thereby “character”.

I don’t blame them. Because it is after all very costly lifestyle for either keeping or breaking ~ your significant relations.

But I do have a counter question readily in my head whenever I’m questioned at odds. “What “other things” you have wasted spent on, offering little back, if at all ~ to the way you think, express or do throughout daily motions?”

Opioids? Drugs? Booze? NFT tokens? Or ~ even more crazier that so few people don’t even ask – entire cars? and/or Boats?

Welcome to another side of me ten years undisclosed. Then another ten years losing it all almost everything (involuntarily).

Beginnings.

So where did it all began?  I grew up listening anything that is alternative. That includes foreign music. Japanese anime, movies and music in particular.

I became interested about “remastering”, or in the audio world ~ “Sweetening”.  I took existing music and retone, re-equalize waveforms and burn them onto a disc (or Minidisc®, back then).  Without knowing one iota about any of the tools – I found parametric EQs and “FFT” / Fast fourier Transform, and Notch filters within Cool Edit ~ were the only things I spent the most time with.

But call me guilty. I simply had no idea what I was doing. Completely void of patience, I was looking for anything, tools, effects/filters that provide the most instant and tactile feedback to my ears.

But what comes next, is both embarrasment and regret. Listening to my “work” the next day sounded atrocious. Horrible.

But I knew I was “chasing” for a sound signature I was after.

More importantly ~ listening to foreign music showed me what “distortion”, “clipping”, “warm”, and “fatigue” really meant not just to my ears. But also ~ my entire reaction, emotion, as a whole. And that taught me something unique.

Music ~ is first and foremost a foreign language. I firstly hear (or encode) the melodic tonality first. Then (decoding) the lyrics, second. I tend to prioritize the first being more important than the latter. 

Call me strange. The way I perceive “speech” is different than most people. I tend to notice the Tonality of someone’s voice first. Then, the decoding the Content of that conversation, second.

In any case I spent days, weeks, months patiently burning album after album, one “remastering” edit after another. Churning out numerous failed CDRs and CDRWs. Hours sitting down in front of my old Sony multi-disc changer/deck (and on Minidisc®). Listening for cues. Writing notes whether I should tweak certain regions. Or just restart my process all over again. Rinse and repeat.

And thus began – my audiophile journey.

Audiophile. (Greek ~ “Audio, Love”)

What reinforced all of this ~ was me stumbling upon a short 2006 documentary about “Greek Audiophile Society”. I was only 21 years back then.

I entered the world of “Head-fi”; a segment of audiophile amongst (exclusively)) headphone-based setups.

Long story short, here are (just few) things I have learned in retrospect of ten (10) years.

I can tell differences between power cords, interconnects and DACs. My first DAC*, being Non-Oversampling or “NOS” in 2007 – was my very first proof of “burn-in”. Along the way, fell victim to the lure of snake oil “tweaks”. But somehow, I can still hear the difference, the “airiness” between the musical layers ~ from a listening setup with and without ~ isolation feets.  

*As I’m writing this (July 2024)  as I decidedly switched the power on after ten+ years of hiatus ~ it’s giving its last breath. It’s developing a persistent left channel hiss for about 15 minutes upon powering. Certainly, it has had a great life :).  

Often, people resort to metaphors when it comes to describing sound. I am no different. Is it “clinical”? As in ~ forward, strident, cold, brittle?  Or is it “musical” ~ coloured, resolving, resolute, syrupy, effortless, rolled-off?

My “sonic signature” preference, if anyone wants to know, is musical but “incisive”. Full of information, but must be presented in a way that let me pay select attention, to any layer or part(s) of the music comfortably.

Mids ~  organic and lush, but not mushed. Lows ~ I don’t mind this to be slightly “rolled of” (fancy term for cut or reduced), but it must hit (in terms of sub) without spilling on everywhere else.

Soundstaging and imaging? Deep and wide as possible, but not binary “blobs” ~ left, right and centre. I never wanted to be part of the “mix”. That is extremely tiring, too upfront, and clinical listening experience to the point where I fail to understand why some call this “High fidelity”. Instead of front-most row seat blasted with noise, let me sit at least three or four rows back. Let me observe not just the orchestra, but the entire ambience, the room, reflections, the ‘space’ of it all. 

Subjectivity & Snake Oils.

There are some overlaps I find between audio and nutrition, all of which conveniently comes down to”Subjectivity”.  Anything that looks “good on paper”, is NOT an indicator of “good sound”.

Fitness coaches admit that “clean eating” ~ does not work long term. Just like chocolates and coffees – some bitterness is enjoyable. 

People actually love the sound of distortions. In the audio world we call it “colouring”. NOS / non oversampling DACs and/or any component with vacuum tubes, for that matter ~ fetches for anywhere between at least several hundreds to thousands of dollars. Yes. Thousands. Just for a single vacuum tube to “colour” a certain sound to result in ab “euphonic”, “warm” or “sweet” tonality.

For those not aware how this “industry” is received among general population, here is a little context. It involves strange obsessions. Many to the point of extreme(s).  And of course – an absurdly lot of money, even just for a power cable.

It is easy to dismiss this all as nothing but absolute snobbery. With the “right” marketing, curiosity can be exploited into commodity. This level of “snake oil” ~ I indeed fell victim as I dived a little too far down the rabbit-hole of “tweaks“.  “EMI reduction stones” and “cable elevators” ~ these two (just as examples) I do not think change anything meaningful. At least not in my “humble” setup, anyway.

But the most profound experience (yet also one of the more embarrassing, as I was only young “back then”) ~ was auditioning an (approx.) $AUD50,000 setup in 2008.

It was a mixed high-end brands setup (I believe) ~ inbetween Chord, Marantz, and Ayre . The Ayre component, as I may recall ~ was a “Universal Stereo Player” costing $15,000 (back then). The entire setup looked something like this. But obviously taller with layer(s) of equipment from the ground all the way to waist level.

Pre-amplifier, separate mono-blocks, separate power supply, custom cabling, and power conditioner. All sitting neatly on proper rack with isolation feet(s) + whole sleuth of other “treatments”. I was, quite literally ~ frozen in time soon as I pressed play.

The next five to ten years was, pretty much decided from there on.

I’d like to build a system of similar scale. Obviously, on the modest budget. Somehow.

 (Early 1990s) consumer grade electrostatic headphone under $1,000,  all the way from a very small shop in Singapore. Still remembering the store owner smiling at me curiously  ~ “…All the way from Australia, just for this?”.   

For looks, I even fell for the exotic Shima-Kokutan wooden anniversary Audio Technica closed back. I ended up buying it by “money order” all the way from Japan. Even though the mids sounded “honky” and the highs somewhat too much for me – I kept it anyway.

For headphone amps ~ frenzy buying and selling between solid states, hybrids and tubes; amounting anywhere up to thousands per year. Everything felt justified and necessary. The most expensive headphone amplifier I had on hand cost over $1,400.

From a skeptic to believer in isolation treatments ~ I bought a set of made-in-Japan carbon fibre isolation feet, costing just over $400 for a pack of four (4). 

The most I’ve ever spent on a “source component” was a CD player costing over $1,500 for brief (albeit only several days) worth of audition.

The most I have ever spent on a power cord, a silver one that is (made by independent brand “Passion Audio” I believe) was $400.

The “strangest” cables I ever tried – was a pure solid copper interconnect pair that actually required physical force to bend them to precise connecting positions. Otherwise, it will never lock into contact, and if not in correct position ~ may warp or worse ~ damage the RCA sockets. For courtesy I won’t name the brand here.

All these including IEMs ~ Etymotics ER4P and ER4S, and Westones 2.

That’s just “one” segment of this hobby. Crates of vinyl. Mixers. Used CDJs. Turntables. And cleaning sleeves were next.

But all that? Came to an end.

I had to sell everything. 

My health headed south. 2012 came my hyperacusis diagnosis / “unidirectional intolerance” as I often rephrase it. Then, my first ever disc injury led to diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. Compounded with the loss of finances in between 2016-2022 ~ I was literally pitching work for free as part of tailored job applications nearing the hundred(ths).

I have sold all the above. Including the very last of vinyl crate. Leaving all but few cabling, power conditioner and few remaining accessories despite I had no functional utilities on their own (because all ancillaries and components were sold).

I “left” all interests on audio for about seven+ years starting from 2015 all the way to 2024.

Only until recently as of May, as I am thankful for having reclaimed my finances ~ I decided to revisit this journey back. Hopefully, reclaiming that much needed “escape” I’ve lost for almost a decade earlier.

Revisiting the “hobby”.

In mid 2024, a lot has changed in the entire audio landscape. Mostly are heading for the better. But more on this later.

I am slowly rebuilding my humble setup.

Firstly, from a bit beat up, but grateful-purchased in ’22 of used Bose QC35II ($150) for commuting. And for casual listening at home – AKG182 with new silver cabling.

But for proper listening, I am rebuilding my inventory from the ground up. Starting with my (used) main work computer ~ Mac Mini M1, base and lowest model.

Planar IEMS first, then headphones. Starting with the “Let’s Shouer” S12Pro ~ I found them very plain, bassy and uninteresting until 7HZ Timeless AE came in. I am also currently evaluating Avantone Planar (#1), a promising budget planar given their wide praises.

In terms of amplification ~ over the years I have been using a $AUD5 switcher (yes $5 ~ the picture above is another $5 replacement). Reason for this is that I needed a much more comfortable volume control range to get rid of channel imbalances, and the extremely-limited increments between very quiet vs very loud. However I have been evaluating a used Matrix M Stage (sadly prone to developing ground loop). That necessitated going the next step up balanced version (Quattro) from a very generous seller.

For DACs, I am rotating in-between the  $50AUD Sabre ES9281C Pro, $11AUD Conexant CX31993 based dongles and at some stage I look forward to replace the modified NOS DAC.

For power cords ~ I kept my first bought (custom made/independent) “Passion Audio” $400AUD silver power cord back since 2008/09. But I am finding Aliexpress <$50AUD silver power cords* comparable as I use them in-between sources, and power conditioners, albeit less resolving than the Passion Audio.

*Noteworthy trivia: there appears to be two (2) variants. I slightly prefer the one with Krell audio labelled on the plug, with a shorter length if possible; for noticeably better instrument/layered focus. But beware this may add a slightly more analytical character to overall soundscape. 

 Culture and demographics wise, the entire head-fi industry seem a lot more accommodating to younger audiences. Certainly a lot less (albeit still in various places) snobby and uptight.

However, just like any other industries, science included – there’s controversy.

Verum Audio, one-man business and startup led by Igor Krasnov (by alias @Garuspik), gained a little more than prolific acclaims of the wildly succesful Kickstarter campaign for the  debut Verum MK1. Priced at $350USD, it reportedly competes with the likes of 500 or even $1000USD range.

At one point I was absolutely convinced to make an order. But allegations (turned reality) of Igor’s behaviours were serious enough it made me hesitant. Sending death threats to one of his customers for instance, amongst other questionables bordering racism that I had no time reading, all led to his membership bans from multiple forums ~ head-fi, Audio Science Review, and Super Best Audio Friends included.

But shifting gears ~ thankfully there have been brighter news coming from the other side of the globe.

Small family based businesses, Geshelli Labs chiefly among others, are such important examples for adding that much needed “human” face, amidst otherwise sterile “brand” names associated with status, profit and “establishment”.

LSTN.co is a headphones manufacturer unlike a corporate or for profit brands. For every headphone sold, a portion gets donated to a hearing restoration foundation for developing countries.

There’s an open public event (by invite most likely) for any one to audition a million dollar (yes, one million dollar) audiophile “library” setup. A “Library” that I shall repeat run and maintained by volunteers.

Over 20,000 LPs, 15,000 CDs, or alternatively, music streaming via Qobuz or Tidal. Reviews suggest a one of kind experience.

Certainly interesting in terms of that “one-day” moment. But the fees of a return ticket to the other side of the globe, followed by just an hour or two in the auditioning room ~ might be a little too disproportional for me. Oh well, I may just park this for that yet another “one day” moment.

Conclusion

Improperly as far as sharing a glimpse of “About Me” goes ~ I have to end it here.

There are many things in life that cannot be explained simply through “numbers”. Sound is one of them.

From the outside I have “problems” people do not ably relate. “Idiopathic” as they might say from the outside. But I’d argue there lies so many things, biologically within we’re yet to understand. Auto-immunity for instance~  why cells “behave” or mounting an attack by inflammation response, often without rational explanation.

We are after all, individual(s) subjected to individual – experiences. To say that we are numbers, grossly implies we are all “constant(s)“.  With this in mind in nutritional science I find “case studies” much more compelling to read than “meta analysis” or “research reviews”.

How I hear is different than most people. I pay attention not just the content. But the wider context starting with their tonality.  

Would I actually have “time” to reclaim everything what I have lost? Given the worsening times, I’m not sure. I may instead prepare once again that I may lose everything. All over again.

Keeping our sense alive well and sound, is perhaps more valuable above all.

Thank you for reading these four part disclosure about me.

Live-It-Forward,

AW.