Rick Nelson

MP3 bests high-end audio
December 17, 2007

Will MP3 players supplant high-end audio equipment? They might as well, according to drama critic Terry Teachout writing in the Wall Street Journal: “I'm well aware that the MP3 is, musically speaking, something of a blunt instrument. Yet I find it hard to get bent out of shape over its burgeoning ubiquity. Indeed, I spend a great deal of time listening to digital audio files on my iPod or through a pair of compact desktop speakers connected to my MacBook.”

In part, he says, that’s because of the convenience the MP3 format offers. It’s also in part because, he says, “I'm experiencing one of the more predictable consequences of growing older, which is that I now suffer from a mild but noticeable case of presbycusis,” which makes it more difficult for him to appreciate the benefits that high-end audio offers.

He goes on to say that “…one of the unintended consequences of presbycusis is that it liberates you from the snare and delusion of audiophilia. When I was younger, I longed for bigger, better, ever more expensive sound systems…. But somewhere along the way I forgot that every dollar I spent on speakers was a dollar I could no longer spend on records—not to mention tickets to live performances. Like so many sound-crazy audiophiles, I had not only put the cart before the horse, but I'd come close to cutting the reins.”

If old people are leaving the ranks of the audiophiles, perhaps young people with excellent hearing can replace them. I expect, though, that for the youth demographic the fashion appeal of the iPod more than compensates for reduced audio fidelity. I suspect that this group is more likely to spend money on expensive stylish iPod accessories than on high-end audio gear. And any aspiring audiophiles in this group are likely to be the deluded sorts that buy $700 tube amplifiers for their MP3 players. (As one wag puts it, “Audiophiles don’t buy tube amps for the sound. Audiophiles buy tube amps because the tubes glow a warm amber color faintly mimicking the glow from a fireplace.”)

But surely, musicians of any age recognize the benefits of high-end equipment that accurately reproduces the music they play. Not so, according to Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times. Musicians tend not to be audiophiles, he writes, and they’re happy with their MP3s and iPods. “The sound is acceptable, but convenience is the selling point. [Musicians] typically spend lots of time listening to recordings for professional purposes. To get this listening accomplished while exercising on a treadmill or walking to a rehearsal is an efficient use of time.”

Fred Kaplan in Slate mounts a defense of audiophiles in Slate, but I don’t think his references to “the woodiness of a bass, the golden brass of a trumpet, the fleshy skin of a bongo” will convince many skeptics.

Meanwhile, I’m taking my iPod to the gym, where I’ll make efficient use of time by reviewing highly compressed versions of Martin Rowe’s latest test-engineering songs.

Posted by Rick Nelson on December 17, 2007 | Comments (0)