The Rational Audiophile series

[essrand]

Since picking up Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, a decade too late, I have been dumbstruck as to how many of the cognitive errors mentioned in the book I have committed while making decisions on buying/auditioning/judging audio gear.

Confirmation Bias, Halo Effect, Duration Neglect, Affect Heuristic, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Availability Heuristic, Substitution Heuristic etc etc etc -- Been there, Done that.

Anyways, decided to write a blog series analysing these goofups in my audiophile life, and here is the part one: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/the-rational-audiophile-series-intro

Hope you find it useful in your audio decision processes or at the very least find my goofups mildly entertaining to read. Cheers!

 

[arj]

Since picking up Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, a decade too late, I have been dumbstruck as to how many of the cognitive errors mentioned in the book I have committed while making decisions on buying/auditioning/judging audio gear.

Confirmation Bias, Halo Effect, Duration Neglect, Affect Heuristic, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Availability Heuristic, Substitution Heuristic etc etc etc -- Been there, Done that.

Anyways, decided to write a blog series analysing these goofups in my audiophile life, and here is the part one: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/the-rational-audiophile-series-intro

Hope you find it useful in your audio decision processes or at the very least find my goofups mildly entertaining to read. Cheers!

Taking it it the simplest level , i think most of use follow system 2 for the initial list and then its system 1 for the final decision..but after that all of us bring our own combination of bias..in some way this journey will have elements of each and every one of us .

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Since picking up Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, a decade too late, I have been dumbstruck as to how many of the cognitive errors mentioned in the book I have committed while making decisions on buying/auditioning/judging audio gear.

Confirmation Bias, Halo Effect, Duration Neglect, Affect Heuristic, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Availability Heuristic, Substitution Heuristic etc etc etc -- Been there, Done that.

Anyways, decided to write a blog series analysing these goofups in my audiophile life, and here is the part one: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/the-rational-audiophile-series-intro

Hope you find it useful in your audio decision processes or at the very least find my goofups mildly entertaining to read. Cheers!

Look forward to reading it as a fan of your writing. And keen to understand how you elucidate each error with your experience/observation of the audiophile decision making. Besides the joy of reading it, some useful reflection might ensue too.

One question though, for us all. Should a hobby be followed ‘objectively’? Is there an inherent element of ‘quirk’ in pursuit of any hobby?

 

[Analogous]

Since picking up Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, a decade too late, I have been dumbstruck as to how many of the cognitive errors mentioned in the book I have committed while making decisions on buying/auditioning/judging audio gear.

Confirmation Bias, Halo Effect, Duration Neglect, Affect Heuristic, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Availability Heuristic, Substitution Heuristic etc etc etc -- Been there, Done that.

Anyways, decided to write a blog series analysing these goofups in my audiophile life, and here is the part one: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/the-rational-audiophile-series-intro

Hope you find it useful in your audio decision processes or at the very least find my goofups mildly entertaining to read. Cheers!

Congratulations on Another insightful, introspective and very entertaining account @essrand
It certainly touches many chords in my own journey and am sure in many others who will read this.
Keep them coming!

 

[Hari Iyer]

For what have always worked in my DIY pursuit is very reasonable priced stuff, be it drivers, tubes, amplifiers, source, cables, interconnects etc. All more expensive components be it cables, capacitors, inductors or even a volume control all are gathering dust. Having said that I totally agree that you have to live through your journey to discover this yourself. No amount of reading others experience usually work as your experience is unique to you and would differ from others just for the simple reason that audio is so very subjective where one man's music is another man's noise.

 

[arj]

One question though, for us all. Should a hobby be followed ‘objectively’? Is there an inherent element of ‘quirk’ in pursuit of any hobby?

what a wonderful question !

Hobby by itself is quirky within the limits of reasonable practicality of time and money. all of which makes it such a personal journey that its incomparable to anyone else.

Hence my view is a resounding yes to quirky but limited by objectivity of economics and time !

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

but limited by objectivity of economics and time !

Which itself can get stretched to extreme limits by the extent of the quirk/passion. And then timeless movies are made on those stories - like Satyajit Ray’s ‘Jalsaghar’ or Ismail Merchant’s ‘In Custody (Muhafiz)’.

@essrand, the first part was a nice appetiser, in your signature witty style. Waiting for the next parts where you get into each cognitive error.

 

[Analogous]

For what have always worked in my DIY pursuit is very reasonable priced stuff, be it drivers, tubes, amplifiers, source, cables, interconnects etc. All more expensive components be it cables, capacitors, inductors or even a volume control all are gathering dust. Having said that I totally agree that you have to live through your journey to discover this yourself. No amount of reading others experience usually work as your experience is unique to you and would differ from others just for the simple reason that audio is so very subjective where one man's music is another man's noise.

While I have mostly relied on my own experiences, research and exploration to choose, select and put together components I have also periodically benefited from advice and suggestions from others. For this I am grateful to (in no particular order)
@shyamv, @prem, @bornfi, @arj, @KNRAMU, @Vinodtherattil, and several others who are not part of this forum. A BIG THANKs to all of you.

 

[Yogesh]

One question though, for us all. Should a hobby be followed ‘objectively’? Is there an inherent element of ‘quirk’ in pursuit of any hobby?

Hobby, Love etc involve intense emotions. And when emotions are involved, rationality is the first thing to go out of the window.

 

[essrand]

Not to give the plot away, but just to clarify, this blog series is not about Emotions Vs Rationality, there are enough TV shows about that (House, Big Bang Theory, Good Doctor etc etc etc). It is about something far more interesting....do stay tuned.

P.S: Probably my fault because I mentioned the TV show House