Image credit – Yukio Yushihara / The Wall Street Journal
Audiophiles take their equipment seriously. For example there are certain headphones that only audiophiles might be able to appreciate (and justify its price tag). They also prefer certain music formats like FLAC due to it being lossless. There are even some portable media players that are apparently favored by the audiophile community, since not all portable media players were made equal.
Basically they are serious about their hardware. In fact over in Japan, some are taking it to the next level. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, it seems that there are a handful of audiophiles who are getting personal utility poles installed. The idea is that by installing their own utility poles, it would result in “purer” electricity.
One audiophile by the name of Takeo Morita, an 82-year old lawyer, said, “Electricity is like blood. If it is tainted, the whole body will get sick. No matter how expensive the audio equipment is, it will be no good if the blood is bad.” Now it might sound extreme, but basically the logic is that interference by other electrical appliances could have an impact on the sound quality.
According to Mark Bocko, director of the audio and music engineering program at the University of Rochester, “Electromagnetic interference from appliances being used by neighbors could propagate through a shared transformer and have an audible effect. That’s not an unreasonable thing.” It has been estimated that these installations will set customers back $10,000. Yikes!