Confessions of an Audiophile: Why Quality Sound Matters

I still remember the exact moment when audio made a difference in my life. I had always loved music, but I had never really taken the time to appreciate it on a nice stereo. After my buddies and I graduated high school and went off to college, my best friend Dan began selling stereos at the local Good Guys to help pay for his education.

He made great money, and one day he sold enough home audio to win an amazing pair of speakers made by Energy, the Veritas 1.8. He set them up in their own room, connected to a very strong amplifier and an HDCD player (there was no SACD back then) and he played me some cuts from Dire Straits. Those of you who have had this moment know how difficult it is to describe.

You hear air, sounds decay, fingers run down guitar strings and the vocalist’s inhale right before he sings a note. You feel connected to the artist and more emotion than ever before toward the art of music. I knew at that moment that I was on a mission to build a stereo system that could make me feel the way Dan’s did.