What exactly is "audiophile" quality?

[Aussie0zborn]

...and how do you achieve it ?

The first time I heard of an "audiophile"
pressing plant" (outside of Japan) was when the Windham Hill record label was at its peak in the late 80s/early 90s.

Crystal clear recordings, mainly acoustic instruments, pressed on beautiful quiet records in the USA. Windham Hill's marketing material heralded the pressing plant as the world's foremost audiophile pressing plant and the records were simply beautiful.

So a couple of years ago I had the privilege of visiting that plant and asked them rather politely what qualifies them as an "audiophile plant". The answer. "We never said we were audiophile - that's just how the market perceives us". My vision was shattered.

So how is this possible and what do you see in that plant? People with years of technical experience pressing records properly. That's it. Dedication to the craft, technical knowledge and just knowing what they are doing.

In my book, pressing a fat record weighing 180g means you are pressing a fat record weighing 180g. I don't believe this record is "audiophile" simply by virtue of its weight and
collectors are starting to cotton on to this false claim or at least becoming very sceptical.

In the 80s we competed to press 12" records below 140g. Plants making 140-150g records were considered to be less skilled. Our lightest 12"
record was 120g but I didn't feel this was giving good value so we reverted to 130 and 140g. Customers never mentioned the weight and they didn't get to choose. CBS and EMI were pressing 120g and 130g respectively
and so the customer got what we gave 'em.

So what does the Brains Trust say -

How do you make a real audiophile record?

[piaptk]

What plant was it?

[jjgolden]

I believe that "Audiophile" is a recording / mixing / mastering aesthetic.. as well as song composition.
If that's not present in the recording, then the average public most likely will most likely not recognize it as an audiophile record.
So technically if a plant cares enough & has the persistence and skill to make consistently quiet pressings , then they are doing their part to compliment well recorded, mixed and mastered songs.
From this a reputation builds and makes them worthy of being called an "audiophile pressing plant."

JJG

[symatic]

yeah it's a pretty hard thing to actually quantify i guess...

"People with years of technical experience pressing records properly. That's it. Dedication to the craft, technical knowledge and just knowing what they are doing. " sounds pretty much accurate, but when it comes to definging what "is" and "isn't", or coming up with some universal legally recognised definition, its pretty vague.

I consider "audiophile" to sit somewhere between consumer level products/processes and professional/universally standardized products and processes. There's always an element of "belief" thats seems to come with audiophile stuff, as in you might do something based on certain schools of thought. But until a practical and measurable way of defining any of these processes can be laid out, maybe it stays in the realm of "audiophile" because it's not quite "proven" until it becomes a professional or industrial standard.

that's just my take on it though.

maybe the clue is in the name - "audiophile" breaks down into "audio lover" right? you can do something for the love of it and not be doing it proffessionally, or even (strictly) "correctly" but it can sound aesthetically pleasing so its all fine in the end. but if theres so much of a level of subjectivity, it can't ever be a standardized thing. Professional standards are there so people all over the world can refer back to them and know that they are all doing things in the same way, so when you troubleshoot you're all basing your findings on the same principals.

doing tihngs with an audiophile mentality might mean going above and beyond the standards most professionals use, to achieve even better results, but in a commercially less-practical way.
it could also mean doing completelly insant things for artistic/aesthetic reasons, even for misguided reasons, but if it sounds good you are free to do it as an audiophile, as a professional you'd be held responsible a bit more perhaps, because the expectation is that you DO know what you'r doing.

short answer: who knows?

[dubcutter89]

It's a sticker on the shrink wrap...

[Greg Reierson]

Audiophile is a state of mind. It's separate from sound quality. When how it's made approaches the importance of the sound coming out of the speakers then the tail is wagging the dog.

[gold]

Audiophile is a state of mind. It's separate from sound quality. When how it's made approaches the importance of the sound coming out of the speakers then the tail is wagging the dog.

That. The word generally garners a negative response among pro audio type people. The crowd over at DIY Audio consider themselves audiophiles but they build their own gear and want to know how things work and why. That's a good audiophile. The audiophiles who are the butt of jokes are the ones who buy shiny expensive things.

Audiophile music is more what Greg is referring to. I think of audiophile music as having the air of sophistication with an emphasis of technique over content. Smooth Jazz would be the most common genre fitting the bill.

[tragwag]

really digging this discussion. I find it interesting too there's many highly technical recordings that never get the "audiophile" label.
most pop music, dance or otherwise electronically produced music, and especially punk/metal I would vouch have folks who are heavily concerned with their sonic output, but many would scarcely consider audiophile.

[Fela Borbone]

On my embossed records, I stick the label "not suitable for audiophiles". If one plays this record by accident, he or she can die instantly... ☺

[Greg Reierson]

That's pretty damn funny!

[timinbovey]

The definition of "audiophile" is a person who is interested in high fidelity sound reproduction. You will find this definition in some form in every dictionary you happen to consult.

The term was first used in the first issue of "High Fidelity" magazine, published in the summer of 1951. Most issues are archived online and available to read as pdf files
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/High-Fidelity-Magazine.htm

The word audiophile has only been applied to recordings and products e.g. "audiophile quality 180 gram vinyl" as a marketing gimmick in recent years.

Warning: Delving into the archives of such magazines as "High Fidelity", especially starting in the early years, can suck you right into the computer screen and entire days, lo weeks, can be spent reading whilst more important things
like going to work, eating, and going to the bathroom fall by the wayside.

Tim in Bovey

[emorritt]

An audiophile is someone who gets arrested for fondling 180 gram pressings...

[KoreaSWeapon]

audiophile as for me related to the person, possessed with music (genre doesn't matter here), may be who listening to music everyday from 5-8h, extremely indifferent person related to music