Finally you found a wealthy audiophile who seems like a regular guy, thinks clearly and spends a lot of money on gear. He seems to have a path in his journey and doesn't need to have 8 amplifiers 4 reel-to-real tape transports 3 turntables etc. at the same time. "A normal audiophile" with normal ideas. And a wife who seems to support his passion.

I lived in Sydney in the 70’s and all my friends had nice cars,I had top end audio and a VW , this interview brings back memories how I was . Enjoyable interview with a guy that has passion !

Lucidity, serenity, maturity, balance, elegance. It is comforting to listen to such a young man with so much sense, so much soul, among millions and millions of stupid kids of this generation who, as he so well describes, want a Tesla with access to social networks and will never understand the essence of a 911 from the 80s. Get rid of the unhealthy obsession with chasing specs, or worse, flaunting brands, and pursue excellence where it belongs, whether listening to music or driving a car. This is the true and pure expression of being an audiophile. Congratulations James for being completely human. Thanks again Steve. Greetings from Brazil.

Enjoyed this interview! In my 40 years as an audiophile, my advice is that it’s all about the sound. Try to ignore looks, technical theories etc. If it sounds great, you’ll be happy; if it doesn’t, you won’t.

This was an great conversation. I identify myself with many points here.

Awesome mom! Bonnie Raitt!!!!! And Dad gave you Forte 2s??? Lordy Lordy! The parents caused this addiction, clearly abuse. Very fun interview. Please note the wardrobe and interior decorating are Steve’s antimatter twin. And anyone who appreciates a 1980s 911, well yeah.

Level-headed guy until he didn't know Devo. What the? How could a guy his age not know about Devo? Always enjoy these interviews. And Steve, congrats on passing the 150K subscriber mark. You've worked very hard to provide LOADS of interesting content. Happy yo support you on Patreon.

What a great interview! Thank you James and Steve for sharing this journey and all the thoughts that went into it.

People complaining that James has never heard of Devo, are pretty much exactly what the discussion @ 21.35 is all about. Who gives a crap! James is a young guy, born well after Devo had their greatest years of fame. Yet some of you are like "well, he doesn't know about my favorite quirky 80s band, so he must be a musical illiterate." GET OVER IT!

I can relate to the “audiophile shaming” thing to a degree, as James put it, but that’s why I come to and love this and other HiFi related channels. I see and talk to many of you in the comments section of them, and have met some great people over the years, some of which I keep in touch with regularly. On that note, it was cool to hear you guys chat. Thanks very much, Steve and James.

Thank you. That was a great interview. My favorite point of the interview is the more you spend on audio doesn’t enhance your enjoyment.

Thanks Steve, I love these personal interviews. You have some wonderful friends.

"take a chill pill" best comment in the interview. I have slowly accepted to enjoy what i have, its fun to get new stuff, but it can get out of control in a hurry. My advice is to spend money in hiring a room set up professional and get your system dialed in to your room and get the best out of your system.

'I went from listening to albums, to listening to songs. That kind-of pissed me off.' ❤️

I have reached a stage where I just make myself comfortable with early Sansui and early Sony equipment.

I like this guy. Makes lots of sensible comments and I think we all can relate to his thoughts on audio gear!!!

Very cool format talking directly to audiophiles. One of many great insights was that being an audiophile is a solitary pursuit. So true.

Great video a true music lover who likes what he likes a fine story he delivered insightful thank you Steve like always the best to you.

These interviews are a great way to get exposed to “ real” journeys. No reviews ...live and learn

Thx for sharing your knowledge and experiences James! Great video Steve.

This is the right video if not the best audiophile journey I've watched so far. Lots of great take away and advice in this video. Thanks for the upload and thank you so much James for your insight. I hope to find a demo of James system in the near future if not yet uploaded. Thanks.

Great interview thanks Steve , James is at the highest level of the audiophile Sickness , buying the finest audio Equipment and still being unsatisfied ... 🤔

Great episode, hope to see more like this!

He gets it, its all about enjoyment..be has the exspensce to spend on high end equipment..but it all comes down to the pure enjoyment of listening music period!!!

Thank you for a great interview (chat). I think a large number of people can relate to alot of what was said. I know I can!

Great stuff, let’s have more of these interviews and hearing more feedback from audiophiles!

Terrific, terrific, terrific interview- James, “hits it out of the ballpark”! Nicely done dude- the ONLY thing that bothered me was, the wife....umm James, “those have to go”. No honey, “YOU have to go”.....I have the same problem.....

Sometimes slowing down to enjoy the purity of simpler times is the breath of clarity we all need.

Great interview about someone’s typical journey that is filled with enjoyment and feelings of moving forward with a goal, but falling down a few holes along the way. His story is relatable no matter much money you have/don’t have to spend. I think it’s harder to have more resources because that makes many more options available to you, but you still have to shoehorn it into your own living space.

Great to hear these experiences, its all about the joy , for music , for equipment like we love to drive and enjoy the looks and handling and feeling of the car....just enjoy without judging what is the standard , the purpose is to enjoy it all

This guy is spot on about this ridiculous hobby of ours!

Very nice episode! Agree with everything. Nice to know I am not the only one suffering this hobby!

Thanks for a great interview, Steve and James. Really enjoyed it. I am going to ask for a T shirt for Christmas with "I'm an audiophile, deal with it!" printed on it. 😄

Another great 1

These journeys are very valuable indeed, keep them coming :)! With the Corona/Covid-19 virus and people spending more time at home this hobby is reignited with lot's of people all over the world for sure. I think the best takeaway from this video is to just take a brake from tweaking so once and a while and start a new hobby.

Thanks Steve for bringing James to the table. His statement that our hobby/love is quite the solitary pursuit. My wants often compete with a need of the collective i.e. spouse lol. Wouldn't have it any other way. Greg

This was a great video man. I hope you bring back James every now and then to give us an update. He should also talk more about cameras.

I liked this interview, this guy is keeping it one hundred and legit

Yes to the foot tap, when I sold audio a million years ago it was the thing I looked for.

I am an audiophile in the true sense of the word: a lover of sound. I can enjoy music when played on a mono radio or on the television. What thrills me is the beauty of massed strings, hearing the body of the drum resonate after the stick hits the head, hearing the mechanical noise of the organ, or the hall reverberation from the wood block at the back of the orchestra. I have a little snippet that I have learned over my audiophile journey, one that started over 40 years ago. We tend to think of components as separate things. Usually true except for two parts of the system. A cartridge and arm are a symbiotic entity. I discovered this when I replaced the Basic arm on a Linn Axis with an Ittok. When I mounted my Koetsu on it, the Koetsu came alive like it had never done before. The same is true for amp and speakers. The speaker completes the amplifier circuit. Neither one can operate without the other. Assuming you choose speaker first, buying an amp designed for your type of speaker (In my case Mark Levinson ML-2s, designed on and for the Quad ESL mate beautifully with my electrostatics), will serve you well. I would not recommend the ML-2s for low sensitivity dynamic speakers.

I like this talk with James. He looks like the type of guys us audiofools with a similar disease could talk to for hours. It's interesting hearing all the expensive gear he has been through. He has been through a lot and when you start to play in this league of gear their is no bad sounding gear. It's just going to be different and if you can make it play well together. All about system synergy to get those toes tapping, and singing along with the music. Interesting to see he arrived a msb desrete dac, zanden 6000 amp, luxman I integrated, luxman headphone amp and turntable and Fleetwood speakers. Some expensive gear for sure but still not crazy. At some poi t you have to just sit back and enjoy what you have put together and quit chasing the next piece of gear or upgrade. Because like he said, at this level changing out one thing will mess up the system synergy leading you to change more than one component. Who h can get expensive and yes frustrating! Thank you Steve. Hope you interview James again!

Really enjoyed this interview. I think I’d have a great time hanging out with James. Cool dude.

My experience is that the degree of restlessness is inversely proportional to the balance of my bank account. I am not ashamed to call myself an audiophile but I am mostly about the music. One of my other hobbies is photography. The price or even the quality of the camera is not nearly as important as the eye and skill of the photographer. Along these same lines, the price of the audio gear often has little to do with how close it brings me to the music. I can think of many "budget" brands that I find much more musical than far more expensive stuff.

Nice interview. I recommend that people should discuss their interest in music and the level of stereo system they are planning to pursue BEFORE they get married. The same should hold true regarding their interest in having children. These are rather basic, no-brainer discussions, yet I sense MANY people fail to get around to these hot topics leading to inevitable friction or worse. I have been married for 29 years, we're going strong, we have no children, we travel, we hike, we kayak, and we mountain bike at every chance. We both love listening to music. We shopped together to assemble an entry level stereo right after we got married. We listened to it for quite a few years while we built some savings, and enjoyed our many other other outdoor interests that required equipment purchases. Recently, we shopped together for a high end stereo: our last planned system. Every demo outing at a store was a date night, thereafter. A day of equipment demos followed by a dinner out. After about six months of A/B demos, we made our final choices, and we purchased a nice stereo. The stereo plays a LOT while we're making dinner, while we're sitting on the back deck enjoying some down time, and when we are sitting in the living room with more focused listening. Music was a big piece when we dated. It has always been a shared interest, a shared pursuit, and a big part of our relationship.

Really good interview.

Easily one of the best interviews you have posted.

Steve and James - great video - some excellent points made...I doubt there would be that many people who don't want good sounding audio. Assuming they're not tone deaf. I am a budget audiophile but am still on that sound "journey" with low end affordable gear. The other day I picked up a vintage denon integrated amp PMA-500V, it's fantastic for stereo but has no digital inputs:) So that's me - vintage. Some vintage gear is amazing. I am going to a listening session at a hi fi shop for a valve amps (an amp listening test), so am not a snob of high end gear...it's really really amazing and expensive. If I could afford hi end equipment I would get my listening room setup for the best acoustics possible, no money spared before buying hi end gear...I have done that a bit in my "movie theatre projector room"...Anyway I ramble..Always the journey..the journey....:)

I love these types of videos

great video Steve ,thx

I feel that is a noble quest, perhaps the only one that really matters, to sense that the musicians are in the room with you. And your delivery system disappears from the picture. If you can get close to that experience, you have chosen wisely.

Really fun conversation to listen to 👍🏼👍🏼

Looking forwards to a Fleetwood sound speaker review..... I'm sure Jonathan will oblige :)

It’s like an interview with me.. :) Excellent !!

Speaker first and get your room right.👍

NEVER HEARD OF DEVO??? WHIP HIM WHIP HIM GOOD!!

This guy is pure cool Edit: Just got to the end where he's never heard of Devo. Slightly less cool.

Music matters and type of music u listen too goes with the type of system u have, they both go hand in hand.

I found your interview with James to be very interesting to me. Although not one of your best interviews some decent insights backed up by your years of experience. In the last 10 years or so since I've gotten back into the hobby I really haven't had the chance view and listen to as many systems as I would like. People like different types of sound your videos have kept me somewhat up-to-date on what's going on in the audio world. There's only so much you can get out of your meeting.

In my audiophile journey I had two stark choices settle with my gear have my spouse or upgrade my gear and loose her and went for the first. Lucky James has them both.

Great interview. I sometimes stress a little over the sound/music/gear issues too. Excellent discussion!

This dude is living the dream, high end kit in a Manhattan apartment, very nice!

Absolutely luv this guy! U should do more interviews w/him soon. I could have listened to th 2 of you banter about audio for another hour! I jus wished u would hav showed a wide, full shot of his system as a whole then zoomed in on each piece

This guy’s awesome!

indeed great video , and interesting.

James is the man.

Really cool conversation.

Ok - I went and listened to some DEVO over the past week - it is very 'of the times'. I had heard a lot of their music before on the radio as a little kid, but had no idea who the band was, now I do. I must say, it is not my taste. I love certain 80s music, but it tends to be more along the lines of Dire Straits, Phil Collins and The Police...

This was fun!

Very nice interview. He knows how to explain things with few words. Nice analogies. I always loved music and enjoyed it before I even became an audiophile. I think that's why people are not curious about HiFi. They're not exposed to it. There is no advertisement about HiFi in main stream media. If you're lucky you get exposed to it by a friend or most likely threw good headphones. People can say what they want about beats headphones but at least it introduced a lot of people into the idea of superior sound. Tidal too. After that I was on the path of becoming an audiophile.

audiophile visits are great steve, make more like these, better than reviews.

Steve! You known darn well that I Bought 10 beautiful Class A Lundahl Equipped Oil Cooled MonoTube amps from Audio Power Labs 2,5 years ago ! With my Wifes blessings! Our friend Nelson Pass told us all that we have got the most impressive Tube amp collection in the World! I like these Piegas as well,by the way!,Dr Solheim Norway!

Great review and very informative and interesting. I think, we audiophiles try to find on our journey our own personal taste of experiences in different gears to get the best reachable satisfying sound for enjoying the music we like and we think, that's it, that's the end game system that sounds best for me and let me be into the music 👍

I'm back to say that I think today's guest gets it right when he defines "audiophile" as a person who's into gear. I know Steve defines it as someone who can listen without distractions, someone who can listen critically. But I don't think that's the most accurate, most common definition for most English speakers, or for most humans regardless of what language they speak. For most people, "audiophile" means a person who is into audio gear. It may not be what's important to Steve, and I'm not trying to say Steve's priorities are not good. I think they are excellent. But the commonly held understanding of what makes a person an audiophile is that they like audio hardware and technology. I also really want to thank the guest for stating a major point in the advancement of audio technology. Starting at 11:04 he says that good sound is not new. We've had the ability to make really good sound, pretty close to what we have today, as far back as the early 1950s. What has changed since then it's that we can do it so much less expensively. Or perhaps more appropriately, cheap stuff sounds so much better than it used to, even if the pinnacle is still somewhat expensive.

James is fellow traveler in love of mechanical things. Motorcycles, cars, audio, cameras, and firearms. Quality things that feel nice to the touch, make interesting noises and make you happy playing with them.

Feeling a lot of what this dude says.

My hobby started as a 6 year old and my first 45 record player in 1968, that and my first 8mm movie projector for Xmas in 1972 but.... I like my Robalo 2019 r180 center console, and fishing. I enjoy playing guitar on my Ibanez artcore hollow body through my Messa Boogie 25 watt mini rectifier and slant cab. I enjoy my Dobsonian 10 inch telescope and observing the nighttime sky's. I enjoy my Lassie lookalike 1 year old sheltie Winston, and his 2 year old Blue Merle buddy Sapphire, they give me more happiness than all my hobbies! I enjoy my hometheatre featuring 4 Pure class A plinius amplifiers and Plinius M8 stereo pre-amp and Conrad Johnson met 1 6 channel pre-amp, Lovan racks, Adona amp stands, Epson 4000 4k projector and DNP Supernova core 2 ambient light rejection screen 120 inch, all Transparent Ultra interconnects and speaker cables, Kora Hermes tubed dac, Magnum Dynalab 102 t tuner, Pioneer elite receiver and Blu-ray, 3APC S Type 15 power conditioner, Technical SL 1200 mk3 turntable and Bellari 129 and Jolida jd9 phonostages. Mirage OM6 mains, Mirage OM 10 surrounds, Mirage mc2 center, Mirage BPS 400 .1sub and 2 18 inch stereo position Bag End infrasubs. 2nd dedicated stereo Klipsch Cornwall mk3 Dared VP 845, all nos tubes 1942 RCA 845, 1958 RCA 12ax7, and 1944 RCA 6sn7. 18 watts pure class A Cary CAD 300b sei with all nos tubes... 8 watts pure class A Lampizator lite 7 dac, Transparent reference XL rca out, Reference audio labs Silver rj845 cat, wirewolds platinum starlight USB cable. Innuos Zenith mk3 server/streamer White VPI prime superscout turntable, Herron mk2 phono, Transparent reference phono,. I have some variety and balance, objectively of course😁. I'm done! And other hobbies to enjoy as well.

Good interview Steve, I relate to much of the discussion re new gear... it’s been a journey, and it’s still going. No substitute for experience. Especially love ‘our’ perspective on gear (in this case speaking about the the Piega speakers) ... “ ya, they’re pretty compact right?’... well to be honest... Ha Cheers

I may not have his budget but I really appreciate he buys American and countries with solid national labor practices. Not always able to afford that but I like he cares

this channel is an absolute goldmine.

Great video. James is spot on ! Didn't really show his system ? Just like Steve, he hardly ever shows his.

I kept nodding my head to everything James said...and then he’s never heard of Devo??!!! Come on man!!!

Dude is really UNDERSELLING the Fleetwood Deville IT IS MIND BLOWING!!

Fantastic interview. I was a little perplexed that James has never heard of Devo. I think he needs to take a deep dive into new wave. He might find something he likes a lot. He may even become a spud boy.

Good interview. Very well articulated explanation of the draw of hi-fi that I can totally relate to. I'd like my wife to hear his explanation because it echo's mine. The gear is part of the enjoyment. The design and manufacturing is important. To me its a form of industrial art, which creates audio art. That's why to me, the appearance of the system is important. Not the most important, but it matters. I've also made the move in speakers to find myself regretting it or then having to change components to match, and I am getting a bit tired of it. I'm brining in a pair of Cube Nenuphar Mini's and hoping its the end of the merry go round for a long time -- so is my wife! Speaking of, it is funny how much better her hearing is than mine. She is a ruthless audiophile, and I hate to admit it but she's often correct and right on point. Thank you for this interview, and I Would love to listen to those Oswald Mills speakers.

I realize that I enjoy watching people drive themselves crazy with this stuff. Once upon a time I was like them. Then I realized that nobody would ever make anything I like so I invented and built my own. It was much more fun and I got what I wanted, not what someone else thought I should want.

The fortes are the kings for the money, ive owned roughly 100 sets of speakers, the fortes are my top favorite due to their natural timbre bass is very full and midrange is top notch, they get the win from me at the time.

Good talk !

You speak of solid wood, done with hand craftsmanship, Klipsch. Love my La Scalas and my Heresy II's...talk about time proven designs

I was intrigued by is Fleetwood speakers. I don't see many reviews on them. It would be fun to get a few specs about cross over and woofer output. It own horn speakers and the bottom porting was again interesting. The interview was nice. It was actually fun. Thank you for the diversity of your topics.

I want to hear this guy talk, almost as much as Steve! Have him on again...

"back in the days of Outkast" , okay bruh, you got my attention! :)

YES!!!... Audiophile brain damage! I have experienced that. Even though my wife has rubber stamped my idea of buying new big speakers, what's really holding me back is the TRAUMA of shopping, and changing, and then possibly not being happy. It's happened to me several times, and it takes YEARS to recover.

Man needs to get some Devo records.

Enjoyed the interview very much. Looks like a cool, light filled NYC apartment. I heard affirmation of...disease...merry-go-round.....brain damage......nuts.....chill pill...etc. I also sensed lots of money being wasted over the years chasing rainbows. However, like many, he does not heed his own advice, find the system that satisfies and just enjoy music for years on end. Nonetheless, if he's happy and can afford it, that's all that matters. Just different strokes......

Hifi is like many other hobbies ...a quest to find the best performance or solution for the money that we have available. Therefore naturally the more funds people have at their disposal the more options and choices are open and available to try... yet ironically the same uncertainty and confusion remains ...to some degree...and making mistakes is always annoying no matter what amount of money we spend. The problem is that we are also unstable emotional beings ...so sometime we really sync and connect to our hobbies, systems and music, and yet at other times we can completely disconnect ( but we then quickly blame the equipment and not ourselves ) which then drives us to look for a new upgrade or change or solution to reconnect us. Which is primarily what keeps the hifi hobby and industry healthy and alive. Although my interest in music is high, my funds are quite limited so I spend far more time researching and listening to stuff before buying. But I luckily know what sound signature I like. But the real fun for me is finding those inexpensive gems that offer surprisingly good sound quality and performance for the money. But agree the speakers are probably the most important thing to get right from the beginning if possible. Although admittedly I would probably go crazy and explore hi-end gear if I had the spare money. But I am happy, smile and tap my toes most days.

Very interesting and enjoyable interview. ... maybe because the experiences I made are similar to what has been described by this guy 🙄😂

I purchase a few weeks ago bic venturi dv84 and I enjoy them 😉👌

This guy has a lot of money to play with. I had to build my own to get good sound.

Those little horn speakers are high dollar. Nice

Lol “restless audiophile”...seriously though, this was a very informative interview. Thanks Steve!