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Garbage In, Garbage Out! What's An Audiophile Quality Listening Experience?

  • Writer: dbstechtalk
    dbstechtalk
  • Oct 30, 2023
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jan 10

🎧 Garbage In, Garbage Out: What Makes an Audiophile‑Quality Listening Experience



“Garbage in, garbage out” was a common phrase in my household growing up. It usually wasn’t about music — it was about life choices and how the quality of what you put in determines the quality of what comes out. But the same principle applies directly to audio. If the source is compromised, everything downstream will be compromised too.

Before going any further, a quick note.I’m not a professional sound engineer, producer, musician, or vocalist. I haven’t done scientific measurements or lab‑grade testing. What I share comes from years of listening, comparing, researching, and hands‑on experience — including time spent as an amateur sound‑booth technician in various churches since my teenage years. These are my honest audiophile thoughts and reasoning. Audio is subjective, so take this with an open mind, even if your perspective differs.



One person’s flaming pile of garbage is another person’s prized possession.

Audio is full of both — and sometimes the “garbage” isn’t garbage at all, and the “prize” isn’t much of a prize. We all hear differently, and we all value different things.



What follows is my attempt to explain what matters most in developing audiophile‑quality listening skills and how to uncover the elusive synergy that makes a listening experience truly special.


🧱 A Solid Foundation: Quality In, Quality Out



A solid foundation is essential for building anything, and audio is no different. There are countless variables in this hobby, but two matter more than anything else:

  • Quality recordings

  • Neutral, natural, accurate sources

🎼 Quality Recordings


The recording, mixing, and mastering process determines how resolving, dynamic, and lifelike a track can sound. A poorly mixed or mastered track will sound poor on any playback gear — and brutally poor on good reference gear. A well‑crafted recording will sound good on anything and amazing on accurate, revealing equipment.

Finding excellent recordings is one of the most important steps in developing audiophile‑quality listening skills. They become your reference points — your anchors.


🔊 Accurate Playback: Bit‑Perfect, Clean, and Honest



To evaluate gear honestly, you need playback that is as true to the recording as possible. That’s why I use Audirvana Studio set to bit‑perfect playback, with all enhancements disabled. Bit‑perfect means the digital audio stream reaches the DAC unchanged — no resampling, no DSP, no hidden processing.


🎚️ Bit‑Depth and Bit‑Rates

  • 24‑bit PCM is more than enough for playback

  • 32‑bit files don’t contain more audible information

  • Limiting output to 24‑bit doesn’t break DSD or MQA


In other words: 24‑bit bit‑perfect playback is the cleanest, most reliable baseline for honest listening.


🎧 Reference Gear: Neutral, Natural, Accurate



To evaluate gear, you need gear that doesn’t get in the way. My reference chain is built around neutrality and accuracy:


DAC: Mytek Liberty DAC II

Amp: Mytek Liberty THX HPA

Headphones: LCD‑5, Ether C, HD660S2, Hi‑X60

IEMs: Da Vinci X, Mach 60, RSV Mk2, Oracle Mk3

Speakers: Wharfedale D310


These aren’t chosen for flavor — they’re chosen for truth.


🎻 Understanding Natural Sound



To judge whether gear is accurate, you must know how instruments and voices sound in real life. Orchestral, jazz, and acoustic recordings are the best tools for this because they present:

  • Natural tone

  • Realistic timbre

  • Accurate staging

  • Imaging and placement

  • Micro‑details and resolution


If gear can accurately portray a tonally correct acoustic recording, it can portray anything accurately.


🎧 Casual vs. Critical Listening



Casual listening is effortless — music in the background.

Critical listening is intentional — analyzing tone, timbre, dynamics, staging, and flaws.


Becoming a good critical listener takes:

  • Familiarity with natural sound

  • Understanding of audio terminology

  • Exposure to a wide range of recordings

  • A clean, consistent playback chain

  • Daily practice


🎵 The Only Things You Should Depend On



At the end of the day, the only things that matter are:

  • Your ears

  • Your gear

  • Your experience


Everything else — reviewers, graphs, hype — is secondary.


🗑️ Garbage In, Garbage Out


No playback chain can fix a bad recording. No amount of DSP can restore what isn’t there. No amount of money can replace listening skill.

Start with quality. Build your chain honestly. Trust your ears. And enjoy the music — critically or casually.


I am Dave the Honest Audiophile. Thanks for reading, and I will catch you in the next one. Don't forget to enjoy the music and that honesty is the BEST policy!


If you want more honest, no-hype audiophile videos every week, head over to YouTube, hit that Subscribe button and ring the notification bell so you don't miss the next video.

Also, hit the thumbs up if you enjoyed this or thumbs down if you didn’t.


I am not a professional sound engineer, producer, musician, or vocalist, etc. I have not done any scientific research, measurements, or in-depth testing of any kind; just my own listening, comparing and internet reading/research.  I have limited, real-life experience with recording, mixing and mastering gear.  I have been involved since my teenage years with various churches as an amateur sound booth technician.

Please take these thoughts, opinions and reasonings as just that, my honest audiophile thoughts, opinions and reasonings.


Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkDbs @TalkDbs


About Me:

Reference Music:

Ranking Tier List: 


Recommended Gear:

Audeze LCD 2 Closed: LCD-2 Closed Back (audeze.com)


If you like the content of this channel and want to see more like this in the future, please consider donating. All funds donated to the channel will be used to purchase headphones and audio gear for  the channel.

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If you would like to contact the channel please send an email to: dbstechtalk@gmail.com


Affiliate links:

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