For me it’s metal music. I never grew out of the (admittedly stupid) feeling that my tastes in metal are better/more obscure than the next guys. I’ve been this way since I was an early teen and, since I never grew out of metal, I never grew out of that mentality. I can’t explain WHY being one of 3 dudes listening to some group is “elite” because, frankly, it’s not, but as soon as a band really takes off I start to move on to the next thing. It’s dumb and there’s no reason for it other than “I’m too cool”. Dunno. By 34 you’d think I’d be over that.
For me, it is coffee. I pretty much refuse to drink what I refer to as “crap coffee”. For me it is all about shade grown, fair-trade, whole bean coffee. I try to only visit local coffee shops that consistently serve a well-crafted cup of coffee. They get bonus points for latte art, because that implies to me that they care. Don’t even get me started on Starbucks…
For me it is anime (Japanese animation). I got into it about 15 years ago, when it was really hard to get your hands on (specially if you were poor college kids). One of the earliest controversies was dub vs. sub. Should you listen to the English dub, because it’s more accessible, or hold out for the original Japanese voices with English subtitles? Then, as now, I prefer subtitles.
But now, it’s a little silly. There are a decent amount of titles out right now with not just acceptable, but good dubs. So, why the elitism? It’s just silly at this point
I also want to hear what the loved-by-the-masses, hated-by-the-true-fans groups are. Specifically, would you judge me for being a huge fan of both Metallica and In Flames?
I came into the music business through being an audiophile listener.
For you audio folks out there, my current system is
Project turntable with Benz Silver cartridge
Rotel CD player
Rotel pre-amp
Bryston power amp
Magnapan speakers
I have been a performer, recording engineer and producer for over 30 years.
Recording audio with high-resolution digital can sound very good, though not the same as analog tape.
Throwing away 90% of the data to make it an mp3. file is a BIG step backwards to me.
mp3 sound makes my teeth itch, lower quality sound than AM radio.
A lot of people have never heard how good recorded sound can be.
Do yourselves a favor. Take a CD that you know and love. Bring to your nearest high-end audio store, and listen to it on a high quality sound system.
JUST LISTEN! Don’t do anything else at the same time. Focus on the music. You might be surprised at how much you really can hear.
Listening has become something many people do along with other things.
Sure, I listen in the car, and while I’m reading or working. But when I take the time to just listen, it can be magic.
Okay, I’m no big fan of mp3’s, but twenty years ago listening to a CD was absolutely unacceptable according to you people. It was vinyl or nothing, and every complaint you have now about mp3s is a complaint you had then about CDs. So I’ll keep buying CDs because I like having something to hold in my hand, but you’ll have to excuse the average listener who doesn’t care about your superior hearing.
Every time I find myself edging towards educational elitism, I meet somebody eye-wateringly brilliant with a degree from buttfuck university, middle of nowhere USA. Keeps you humble.
I’m elitist about the Times crosswords. I can tell a Maleska from a Shortz without blinking. LA Times or Washington Post? Amateurs
I don’t consider myself an audiophile, but MP3’s bother me too. On a good system, they don’t have near the highs or lows of a CD and there’s some kind of swirling sound in the background. I’ve never listened to anything on vinyl though, so I can’t get into that argument against CD’s. I can tell when the loudness on a CD has been turned up way too much though and it has no range.
Also video games. It’s mainly the people that don’t want to learn the game they are playing, and do really stupid shit that I wouldn’t have even done the first time I picked it up. I don’t fault someone for being bad at a game, but I fault them when they’re bad and don’t seem to have any drive to improve their gameplay. Maybe you have “fun” running around getting killed like a jackass, but I play to win because for me, winning is fun. So it fucks up my own game experience when someone on my team is playing like a willing noob and we’re losing because of it.
mp3s at 320kbps and v0 VBR are nearly indistinguishable from lossless audio, so either you guys are listening to 128kbps garbage or you’re fooling yourselves.
I refuse to drink anything made by Anheuser-Busch. And it’s not just because I think their beers taste like crap. Even if AB made a decent beer, I still would not drink it. It probably has something to do with fact that AB is such a huge company, and I would prefer to support smaller brewers.
So I am quite snobby when it comes to beer. I love microbrews. The more obscure the brewery, the better.
