Tech
High-End Hi-Fi: The World of Obsessive Audiophilia
Jonathan Margolis is an audiophile—that means he has to listen to music on an Astell & Kern portable player instead of an ordinary iPhone like the rest of us. His player costs “£2,200, plus £800 for the headphones and £159 for the custom ear inserts”. That’s quite a lot of money to listen to Adele’s new album (especially when you can just have your cat do it for you).
High-End audio equipment is often regarded as snake oil by critics and almost religiously defended by fans. We do think good speakers are essential to listen to music, but really amazing aurals will also sound great on a shit sound system. You can buy physical quality, but you can’t buy creativity.
Read the longform article about hi-fi obsession on The Guardian.
