Everyone has that one friend who takes the music listening experience a little too seriously. This person may have a set of high-end headphones, a dedicated music listening room optimized with acoustic foam, and a variety of noise isolating hardware for their computer. You might have poked fun at this friend at some point, but they are probably experiencing music on another level than you are.
The truth is that audiophile equipment can enhance your enjoyment of music greatly. Being able to hear extra details in your favorite songs or albums can be a real treat and it’s not uncommon for people to relisten to their favorite bands the second they get their hands on high-end audio equipment.
If you too are ready to join the audiophile world, check out our list of essential audio equipment below.
1. High-End Headphones
You probably remember the craze surrounding “bass-heavy” headphones in the early 2010s. Headphones from brands like Skullcandy and Beats offered listeners a hard-hitting listening experience with boosted bass, but they didn’t reproduce music accurately.
If you’re looking for a set of audiophile-friendly headphones, it’s better to go with ones that provide a more neutral sound. Offerings from brands like Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, and Koss are great for this purpose. High-end headphones from these brands don’t exaggerate any of the frequencies in the audio played through them, thereby giving you an accurate representation of what audio engineers intended each song to sound like.
2. Studio Speakers
Speakers aren’t as popular as they were in the 1970s and 1980s due to the rise of headphones. However, a set of good quality studio speakers can provide a great listening experience that headphones can’t recreate. This includes offering the type of immersion you would get only from seeing a band or artist perform live.
Now you could purchase any set of bookshelf speakers and use them to listen to music. However, audiophiles usually get studio-grade speakers for this purpose. Such speakers have been optimized to provide a balanced sound that recreates different audio frequencies accurately.
Brands like Yamaha, KRK, and Focal create great studio-grade speakers, so consider looking into these options when you set out and make your purchase.
3. Sound Optimizing Equipment
You generally don’t need a lot of things to get the audiophile-listening experience. However, there are always ways to enhance your listening experience even further. For example, you can purchase a portable headphone amp to power your high-end headphones when you are listening to music on your phone.
You can also set up acoustic foam in the room where you have kept your speakers. These will dampen certain audio frequencies and prevent them from bouncing against the walls of the room and impacting the listening experience.
Similarly, you can invest in noise isolating hardware or special grounding plugs to reduce unwanted noise or hum when you are listening to music on your computer.
Getting the Best Audio Listening Experience
You haven’t really experienced music until you’ve heard it on an audiophile setup. So consider investing in some of the hardware mentioned above and take your music listening experience to the next level.
Eric Dalius is The Executive Chairman of MuzicSwipe, a music and content discovery platform designed to maximize artist discovery and optimize fan relationships.Along with his work at MuzicSwipe, he also conducts in-depth interviews with prominent entrepreneurs on his weekly podcast “FULLSPEED.” Eric also dedicates himself to educational initiatives through the “Eric Dalius Foundation,” which provides four scholarships to US-based students. Keep track of Eric’s endeavors on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,YouTube, Instagram, and Entrepreneur.com.