Gender of Audiophiles

[av_phile]

Just curious. I know my mom hated my audiophile hobby. At least not my classical music. The wife of a colleague left him becuase she couldn't stand his music.

Most forums I've been to talk about WAF. But why is there no HAF?

Is it correct to say that 95% of audiophiles are males? What's in the male ear or brain that gives the hobby near addictive dimensions for many men? What's in the female ear or brain that makes them indifferent if not apathetic to audiophilic pursuits? Or is this just my observation? How may females are in this forum? Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Man, it's hard to imagine someone shallow enough to leave their spouse over their music!

Unless, of course, they were fans of hiphop or country!

I'd wager 95%+ of all audiophools are male.

 

[ruadmaa]

Very Few Female Audiophiles

I think you may be right. I have never, in my lifetime, met a female audiophile. I have noticed that when I got to record/jukebox conventions that it is about 99% male attended. Most females there are wifes of males interested in buying music. You may have also noticed the extreme lack of female maestros. I have no idea of why this is so since one would think that music should be universally loved by both male and female.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

I personally know a couple where the roles are reversed: she's the audiophool (alas, all too susceptible to snake oil -- she has a tube Jolida CDP for pity's sake and the usual expensive magic cables throughout). He is happy with speakers if "they don't make crackling sounds" as she puts it.

I think the paucity of female conductors is due to the hidebound nature of the classical music world. Give it time.

 

[Mudcat]

woman & Audio Pursuits

My wife is a cello player, trained at Julliard, Oberlin, CIM, and Johns Hopkins.
She has the golden ear a lot of people think they have. I can put in a CD of test tones and she'll tell me what notes they are (I have to use a chart to convert high A sharp to whatever frequency). But she has no concept of quality audio.

Conversely, I once dated an electrical engineer, who once got something audio related into her brain had to have it. She spent thousands in her pursuit of audio nirvana. She was every mans dream of looks, brains, auto mechanic, and a great pair of ......speakers. We eventually broke up for religious reasons. I did not treat her like God.

 

[Dan Banquer]

Musicians and Audio

From what I have observed most musicians do not take audio seriously. They consider it a light form of entertainment, unless it's really offensive. If they have perfect pitch; which I suspect your wife does, than realize that just about everything coming through your audio system to her sounds out of tune.
d.b.

 

[gene]

Its funny that this hobby seems to be dominated by males, especially since women generally have better hearing. I suppose they are not as fanatical about audio as we are, they concern themselves with more important matters

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

While it's not an original observation, I think it's the "tinker factor". Even technically inclined women just don't get into gadgets like we do. And I guess if you subscribe to the Myers-Briggs personality inventory view, women would tend (I emphasise "tend") to be more centered on people and emotions and men more on things and processes (not sure of the correct M-B terminology). Consider the differences between what men and women generally discuss among themselves!

On womens' hearing: I've heard that one good test of a music system is whether your female friends can listen to it for more than a few minutes and actually enjoy it!

BTW, the politically correct, "gender neutral" version of WAF is SAF (Spouse...)

 

[Rob Babcock]

I have chatted with two female audio forum members in the years I've been online- that's not a lot. There probably is something to the statement that women may love music but aren't as much into the electronics/gear as males. And certainly in the "gadgets for gadgets sake" way.

My love of good sound has rubbed off on my sister over the years. She now has several thousand dollars wrapped up in her stereo/HT system, and it sounds superb. But even so, she has almost no interest in upgrading anything, as she's happy with it. I think if she won the powerball she'd step up to Denon's best receiver & maybe some top of the line speakers by the same brand she has now, but she's never read an audio mag nor ever visited a stereo website. To her, the audio gear is just a tool, like a hammer, something that does a specific job- she lacks my love of the gear as it's own end.

That's probably a good thing!

 

[Dan]

I have to agree that the gear we like is a male thing. I'm also sure the marketing types have figured that out and are aiming the designs at us with Y chromosomes. That said, I worked at a good college radio station ages ago and many of the best DJs were women at least equal in number to the men. The women certainly enjoyed as wide a range of tastes and an equivalent depth of expertise. This was not a typical college station but a freeform and speciality format where playing alternative music was expected and commercial stuff was essentially off limits. To have a good show you really had to know your stuff and a lot of it.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

It's is most defiantly a male dominated hobby, my friends wife used to just shake her head roll her eyes when he and I were in the garage putting another pair of speakers together. My wife now could care less, except when it is one her movies then it's TURN IT UP HONEY. Funny how I always catch her watching Moulin Rouge on my system and she has chosen the DTS track, instead of watching it on the mono tv in bedroom

 

[av_phile]

I guess that confirms my observations on this male-dominated hobby. Every audiophile should have a wife who can reign in some control and semblance of sanity in this hobby, right?

 

[Audioholics]

I fell in love all over again when I announced to my wife that Stewart was sending me a reference StudioTek 130 screen for our reference room... She looked at it and said "It should look good there on the wall."

 

[O'Shag]

Conversely, I once dated an electrical engineer, who once got something audio related into her brain had to have it. She spent thousands in her pursuit of audio nirvana. She was every mans dream of looks, brains, auto mechanic, and a great pair of ......speakers. We eventually broke up for religious reasons. I did not treat her like God.

Now that one made me laugh!

 

[O'Shag]

Its funny that this hobby seems to be dominated by males, especially since women generally have better hearing. I suppose they are not as fanatical about audio as we are, they concern themselves with more important matters

Such as what to nag about next....

 

[Unregistered]

This thread made me recall the audio systems of the women that I have dated. Typically some beat up portable boom-box with a bent antenna. As they aged their systems were upgraded to mini-shelf systems. Comically, the speakers are always sandwiched up against the unit. I guess they have no idea about separation or speaker placement in general.

A woman's ideal system would probably be either a Wave Radio or Bose Cubes.

I have met a couple of women with decent music selections.

Allen

 

[Gatorchong]

My girl thinks I have a disorder. I've taken to lying to her about how much these things cost. I have been upgrading a lot though. The only thing she notices is the speakers so I can sneak in a new component without her noticing and me having to explain what it does or why I needed it. I just don't get it, she loves to listen to music probably as much as I do, she buys just as many cd's, but when it comes to listening she doesn't care what the music sounds like. I swear that woman gets the same emotional response from her $50 "weather resistant" boombox as I get from all of my audio equipment. I don't know if that makes her the smart one or me.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Celine Dion does not require hi fidelity.

 

[Polkfan]

Maybe us men can appreciate what good equipment is capable of, better than the women. I don't know, but I really like the smell of brand new electronic equipment for some reason. My wife just doesn't understand. She will pick the boom box over the hi-fi system any day. It is a little complicated for her, and she actually has a Masters degree in science. I like gadgets, that's for sure, so that certainly seems to have something to do with it. Electronics were made by men for men.

 

[Unregistered]

The Elusive Female Audiophile

Hi,
I'm not at all surprised by what I'm reading here. You fellas are right. I've never in my 20 odd years of being in this crazy hobby ever met a female audiophile. I don't think they exist. They all seem to like some type of music, but when it comes to setting up a decent system, they have neither the inclination or intelligence. Why is that? You know what fellas? I can't answer that question. I can only tell you that one such person does exist, and that person is me. I'm one in a million, or would that be billion? I guess there was a last minute screw up in the womb or something, because I absolutely live for my music and my sound quality. I was always this way from a very early age. Music is my life, and my stereo is everything to me. EVERYTHING. I guess you could go as far as saying I am married to my stereo, because I have cultivated such a rich and long-lasting relationship with it, and one that has been so rewarding and satisfying. I live for my music, my record-collecting and my vacuum tubes. Without music, life just ain't worth livin', and without a decent system, the music ain't worth listening to!
SO YES GENTLEMEN, THE FEMALE AUDIOPHILE DOES EXIST!!!!!