Getting into the world of hi-fi audio can be a daunting task. There are so many possibilities and variations that it might feel overwhelming if you are just getting into the audiophile hobby. Thankfully, it’s completely manageable, and as someone who has been active in this hobby for years now, I have some tips that should ease you into the hobby, saving you time, headache, and money. Here are 7 things I wish I knew before starting my journey into the world of audiophile audio.
1. Start Small
What do I mean by starting small? Look at budget audio gear instead of the most expensive ones. Just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s the best. On top of that, you want to start with budget gear so that you can learn and grow your understanding of the basics of audio, and how all of the different pieces of gear work together.
As well, if you immediately splurge on the most expensive things, you will be robbing yourself of understanding the value of what good audio gear is, and what constitutes an upgrade. One of the key aspects of this hobby is figuring out what good audio means to YOU, and how YOU will get the most out of it. Once you start understanding the relationship you have with audio, you can see where to invest your hard-earned money instead of relying on lists and suggestions on the internet.
2. Source Quality Matters
As important as it is to have good audio gear, having good source material can enhance or harm your audiophile journey. The best headphones in the world won’t magically make a low-quality MP3 sound good.
Understand the different audio format types, and what the pros and cons of each are. As well, if you are trying to grow your music library, make sure you are getting FLAC or WAV files instead of MP3 or AAC. You want to make sure that your source audio is a lossless file to get the best audio experience possible. Lossless audio allows you to hear more detail and nuance in music than lossy file formats.
If you are streaming music from a streaming service, check and see if they offer lossless audio quality for songs, and make sure you select the highest quality streaming setting possible.
3. Learn the Basics
This might be the most important piece of wisdom I can impart to anyone getting into this hobby. When I first started buying audio gear I had almost no grasp of the fundamental concepts such as sound signature types, EQ, or file bit rates. The lack of knowledge caused me to make some bad decisions and spend way more money than needed, in the wrong places too. In the end, it never resulted in an improved audio experience.
That is why I would highly recommend taking some time and learning basic concepts such as what EQ is and how it works, and what the different types of sound signatures are. Here at Hifi Oasis, I have a dedicated Guides section just for this purpose and will be adding even more to it as time goes on.
4. Don’t Give Into the Hype
We live in an age where new products are released at a very rapid pace. They are all heavily marketed and have slogans attached to them such as “best in class”, “most advanced yet”, and “endgame product”. It’s natural to want to run and immediately pre-order or purchase these products due to the hype surrounding them (usually through social media or communities such as Reddit and forums). You must resist this urge though, and keep a calm and objective head.
Waiting for independent reviews (such as here at HiFi Oasis) or sticking to long-standing, thoroughly tested products has always helped me steer clear of duds and momentary sensations.
One last piece of advice for this section. Never purchase a product based on a feature that is promised to come in the future. Only purchase it based on what it can do now (you’ll see why in the next section).
5. Listen to Audio Gear Beforehand
If you have the opportunity to listen to or test an audio product in person before purchasing, it will save you a world of buyer’s remorse in the end, I promise you. From my personal experience, I gave into the hype of a product (which we just discussed about why you shouldn’t) and quickly ordered it based on the marketing material and hype. Once it arrived I was gravely disappointed not only in the performance but also because most of what the company promised it would do would be enabled later through a firmware update (surprise, it was not!).
If you have any stores near you that allow you to test and experience the product in person before buying it, you will be able to make sure it fits your needs and that the marketing material is not deceiving.
6. Trust Your Ears and Your Knowledge
When researching a product, such as a headphone that I want to purchase, I would always search social media sites and forums to get other’s opinions on what it sounded like and the best use cases. More often than not I would find myself getting swayed by different opinions and would be in a state of perpetual analysis by paralysis, unable to make up my mind. What helped me was two things:
- Going into a store and listening to the headphones myself, applying my own judgment to them.
- My understanding of the basic concepts of audio technologies, so that I would know what exactly I am looking for.
Trusting your own ears and knowledge is crucial as everyone perceives sound differently, and has different use cases. Don’t be afraid if your opinion doesn’t line up with others, what matters is how things sound to YOU.
7. Enjoy Your Audio (which is the whole point!)
A lot of times us audiophiles get so caught up in measurements, upgrades, and looking for imperfections in our audio setup that we forget what all of this is about, just enjoying the damn music! (or movie, or game, or whatever it is you are listening to). This hobby is meant to be enriching, not detrimental to your mind and wallet. So I have learned to consciously remind myself to take a step back and just listen to the audio and enjoy it.
Bonus: Troubleshooting Advice
One last piece of advice that I’d like to leave is how to effectively troubleshoot a problem. One thing you have to remember is called the”audio chain”. This is the path where your audio starts (the source) and where it ends (the endpoint). Often we forget that between those two points is usually one or more pieces of equipment or software. So if you are ever facing a problem and are stuck, just remind yourself to first look at the whole chain, and then take a top-down approach to troubleshooting the issue step by step.
