Audio Journalism and the Vernacular

Letter from China (21-2) from doctorjohn: Corruption, Malignant Growth, Gimmicks and the Vernacular

Although I grew up in Hong Kong, I am a native Mandarin speaker who grew up, mainly in the sixties, in Mandarin and Shanghaiese speaking communities, then small (much bigger now) but influential minorities . School was the only place where I spoke Cantonese. In a way, it was when I expatriated to HK in the 90's that I started to really learn the local Cantonese ways and their colorful vernacular.

Audio Writing on Autopilot With few exceptions, audio writing, and the jargons used, are the most monochromatic. The more I read them, the less I want to read. Audio journalism basically originated in America, increasingly affluent and influential (and interventionist) after the War. After the basic template was invented, it was copied by every magazine, no matter the language. If you read a French (I can read a bit) or German magazine, the template and vocabulary are the same. Ditto Chinese and Japanese magazines. However, this is understandable and credit is due to many of the early writers who strived to describe what we hear and establish terms for journalism.

Stagnation and Corruption However, with time, the articles became progressively whitewashed, and the pioneering spirit was lost. The glossier the magazine, the more worthless it is (heading the list is Taiwan's worthless Audio Art). Writers and the many reviews they churn out become indistinguishable from each other. And many writers got increasingly bland and boring, and corrupted by industrial glitz in my opinion, as they became "elder statesmen" (like JV and RGH, I cannot bear to read their big reviews). Take TAS, the Editorial Pages are boring as hell. Stereophile is better. Jim Austin is actually a good writer and sounds sincere, but he as yet still can't think out of the box (I am waiting though).

Malignant Growth It is unfortunate that audio journalism, including many netzines and head-fi sites, has been really successful in "promoting" the hobby. Instead of giving guidance on sorting out the basic problems, we are relentlessly urged to "upgrade". "...Mk II is much better than Mk I...You must try these ground breaking cans and you will never go back to the others (no wonder so many headphone users have so many pairs)...If you can afford it, you must audition X...Is Y really expensive? Considering that it performs so many functions, it is actually a bargain..." Good salesmanship in a hobby that encourages constant tinkering rather than concentrating on music. For us here, who don't generally believe in audio progress (indeed often the opposite), that means the audiophile has been egged on by decades of lies, or at least placid journalism combined with increasingly inappropriately and publicly displayed wooing for a small circle of "trusted reporters".

Resurgence of Vintage? While there has always been a substantial market for vintage audio, even when there was no promotion at all, have you noticed that in recent years it has become fashionable for even trade magazines and webzines to occasionally feature some vintage articles? The Real Ones While the first half of HiFi News is like other audio magazines, with autopilot writers like Ken Kessler, its backpages have a fair amount of info on vintage stuff, particularly Tim Jarman's lengthy review (with measurement) of a select vintage gear in each issue. Aside from famous vintage stuff like Sony direct-drives and CD players, other lowly early solid state stuff, like Leak ss amps are reappraised and assigned a score just like modern gears. I love reading these. There is no market value to these, a labor of love, just for the fun of it, so salut! On this side of the Atlantic, in Stereophile we had AD, and still have HR, who writes about even a broader range of vintage stuff. Gimmicks Surely to entice older readers, many zines pay lip service to vintage gear. TAS has things like "The 10 most iconic..." and even netzines such as monoandstereo have an occasional blip (mostly useless words).

Audio Discussion in Hong Kong HK's audio journalism is the same, and I don't read the magazines. In fact, I don't browse the forums either (they are even more toxic than the zines). These days I only keep up with a small group of friends. With the advent of social media, there are of course innumerable small groups. Even I, who normally shun these apps, keep in contact with a few this way. The person I "talk to" the most often is icefox, who not only has an encyclopedic knowledge of unusual gear, but is a valuable source of newsfeed, particularly when it comes to Western Electric. Like my closer audiophile friends, we speak plain language, mixed with some Cantonese vernaculars. I'd like to introduce a few to you. The Cantonese Vernacular employs many archaic Chinese words that are diffcult to write, so it is common place to use a mixture of similar sounding words, English alphabets and even numerals.

兇險 = Highly Hazardous Unlikely to succeed; a mistake. This is the expression used by icefox. And quite often! Me too, after his example. As in: "...I cannot believe our friend X got this thing!..." Want examples? FM Acoustics is one, Burmester another. For more, see entry below...

WBT = Anglicized Short for Cantonese 揾笨柒 = Taking Someone for a Ride I believe icefox coined this term. Of course, this is also our opinion on everything over-priced and unworthy. You want examples? They are everywhere. Starts with its namesake WBT, and Shunmook, Most overpriced US, German and Swiss gear, Expensive Cables (like Siltech), Most Tweaks, TAOC, Finite Element, Boutique Tubes...the list goes on forever.

正經 = Proper Well behaved, well mannered, usually used to describe a person. This is what a system should achieve foremost (meaning balanced and musical) before one gets ambitious. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, most systems fail to be so when a simple and proven integrated (say MF A1, Nait, Cyrus) combined with a good and resonably easy-to-drive loudspeaker (say LS3/5A) will effortlessly pass. Like mrgoodsound said, keep something familiar and simple around for reality test (and be honest to yourself).

I coined a few too:

撩撩吓 = A Kind of Sinuous Action Compelling, but not overtly insistent nor forceful, light and purposeful manouvers for extraction or enticement. Perhaps the start of Salome's Dance? This is a high accolade, e.g., used to describe the ephemeral qualities of WE. For me, early Nait, good and simple NOS DAC (like Sparkler) and Gotham DGS-1 have a little of this.

(Victims of) German Gang = 德國幫 Used to describe a subgroup who are into modern German gear. Despite the fact that I am completely indifferent to the German hi-end (and by extension, Swiss stuff like FM Acoustics and Scandanavian stuff like Dynaudio), I used to know many of them, users of brands like Burmester, Audionet, Clearaudio, Acuustic Arts, ASR, MBL, Manger etc. The various gears are always overly expensive for the sound delivered. The Systems Approach The more "hi-end", the more a manufacturer makes whole systems (most prevalent in Germany), the more so, but this is not confined to these countries of course. As an example, I can just accept MBL's flagship loudspeakers, even though ribbon + dynamic woofers will always have their Archilles' Heels; however their electronics are totally overbuilt and overpriced. And the 6010 preamp is a scam. The whole system thing is dubious. A manufacturer originally manufactures one thing reasonably well. But why let other people profit from the rest of the chain? Just hire some other deisigners and make a complete system and make more money. Of course, these designers also work for other brands! In contrast to what other people think (like Shindo people, dealers and users), this kind of in-house design are just as much patch-up jobs. Who knows the weaknesses of the design better than the designer? There is nothing wrong with patch-up, but please don't claim the in-house effort is free from this and completely holistic (as Shindo dealers claim and Osawaldmills now emulate). I can agree one-brand systems can yield reasonable sound, but at unusually high cost, AND the best systems I have heard have been, with the exception of WE, mixture of things, including new and old, NEVER one-brand.

Three Noter = People who listen to snippets for A/B I am not kidding you. I used to know a bunch of vintage tube people whose passion is not listening to music, but to the tube. So they would have A/B shootouts for a bunch of tubes. A few notes and they would switch to the next one. In my experience, people who are too lopsidedly immersed in one aspect of hifi, say, obssesive tube rollers and cable fanatics, generally do not achieve good sound. HiFi hell. Also known as 是誰？= The first 2 words in one of these idiots' favorite cuts, a song I don't ever want to hear again.

Mid-Life Crisis = 中年危機 This is used to describe a sudden shift in audio perspective, e,g, a card-carrying tube person suddenly getting into solid state, or a person who suddenly buys a lot of toys. A friend of mine may sort of be going through this, whereas I have gone through countless years of this. Beware.

Here are some dramatic Cantonese terms used in daily conversation, including audio:

死梗 = Sure to Die (akin to icefox's 兇險); 即死 = Instant Death (say, in A/B, the loser); 死下死下 = hanging on by a thread, slowly dying, as in the lackluster sound when there is not enough driving power; 死唔去 = Somehow hanged on and survived; 死過返生 = Resurrected; 死咕咕 = Deadly immotile Little Sign of Life...See, audio is a life and death matter...

(印印)脚 = Light on the Feet Agile, good pace, rhythm and timing.

濕滯 = Humid and Slow Moving A Challenge, likely Doomed to Failure, as when you acquired something WBT or Improper.

騎呢 = Odd, Weird, or Hard to Predict Used to describe a person, not equipment. Many such characters in audio. Are you one?

天都光哂 = The Sun Came Out Of course, after considerable effort - like after you got on your knees for an hour, plugged and unplugged, changed gear after gear (and found you forgot to turn back on one of the components).

曬 = Sunbath Show Off.

攞去填海 = Dump in the Landfill What one should do with all those worthless, overbuilt and overpriced stuff out there. Come to think of it, better to be green, recycle that heavy aluminum block and take the innards to Best Buy.

你老友 = Your Old Friend Rather, often taken to mean the opposite, Your Enemy. This is a reflection on how often “friends” in audio turn into enemies. I'd rather make enemies than superficial friends (but I regret that my enemies, mostly in oblivion, have not proven to be worthwhile opponents).

Chinese Audiophiles are Thin Skinned and you better 畀面 = Give Face and not say anything critical (actually I think this is likely not confined to our ethnicity but universal). A Situation You Must Avoid is Having to Choose Sides = 勢不兩立; I myself always choose sides and say what I think, but that means I have instigated some such situations and put some of my friends in jeopardy. I am kind of proud of it, but don't you emulate me!

Audio Lore: In many Home Visits, any honest opinion can cause a rupture in relationship. I have suffered this myself. What is perhaps the most sensitive, the most untoucheable? Well, this incidence may cast a light: Years ago, a straightforward fellow living in New Jersey would return to HK every year. His nickname was 花旗判官 (American Judge) and he was welcome by quite a few "prominent" audiophiles. One year, he went to visit 大X, and he commented on the system's Lack of Bass (冇低音). Guess what? He was forever cast away!

Why so overwhelmingly negative? Because much of the interaction between audiophiles is foolery. And, most systems sound bad, certainly not proper. You have been warned.

I have talked to audiophiles in both Cantonese and English. The difference is very obvious. English speakers are much more analytical and sound like the official script (magazines). In contrast, in Chinese, at least with those whose preferences are closer to mine, the language is much more animated and vernacular. What is the significance? I think in Chinese I hear more the emotional reaction, which I think is a good thing. So, if your audio English tends to be the Queen's English, maybe it's time to loosen the upper lip and speak more cockney, perhaps Liverpool? And if you speak audio German, maybe shorten the sentences, make some grammatical mistakes and try your best to move forward the verb? We should speak like horns! Loosen Up!