What is a Hair Shirt Audiophile - the short answer

As I continue to wait for the brain trust at Google to figure out what to do with my site, I thought I'd take the time to read about what might cause them to even conceive of the idea of flagging my blog. I read about what 'they' are (I'm not going to use the word, for fear of that flagging it even more - but you know what I mean by 'they', right?). Here's one part that caught my attention:

'They' "can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site". At the time I was flagged, I had no links, but I thought "well, now - maybe the very title of my blog is considered irrelevant or nonsensical". So, even though I had planned a much more well thought out and lengthy discussion and definition, I think it might be appropriate for those who are viewing this site with cynicism as to it's validity, to explain what exactly this site it about and where the term comes from.

This site is dedicated to the enjoyment of hi-fidelity music playback, within the prescription of its namesake - that being the enjoyment of hi quality sound being reproduced by components that contain fewer FRILLS that one might normally expect from something of this sonic quality. In other words, getting the highest fidelity of sound with the simplest of playback equipment, and probably, though not always, at lower cost. The term hair shirt audiophile can be found, ironically, by simply googling it. Here you will find reviews and references to Spartan looking equipment that performs well beyond its price range. One reviewer of such equipment said, paraphrasing, that the unit was aimed clearly at the hairshirt (or hair-shirt or hair shirt - interchangeable words for the same thing) audiophile, having only four simple inputs on back and only two knobs in front - one for input selection and the other for volume control.

So, simply put, I am an audiophile (I'll let you look that one up) who spends his hours enjoying, reviewing and reading about components for playing back music that does so without pretence and, generally speaking, at prices that are well below what it is being compared to sonically. I could have called my blog "The Thrifty Audiophile", but where's the uniqueness in that?

For further reference, the term "Hair-shirt" itself goes back to the 13th or 14th century, and refers to the wearing of an uncomfortable garment made of animal hair, as a means of penance. Webster's Thesaurus says it means "self sacrificing or austere". I think it requires little brain power to make the leap to how the term can be applied to the person who enjoys listening to music being played back by simple, minimalist audio components. You can look all this up. I did.

Here are some links (NOT all the same, of course!!) to the use of this term today in the audio press.

http://www.croftacoustics.co.uk/reviews/25_rev.html
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/euphya/270.html
http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/898cj/

That's all for now. In future posts I'll begin to explore the concept in more detail as well as identify components that are known to fit this definition. More to come.


Thanks!

Daina