Watching YouTube videos

I have a confession to make. Even though it may ruin my credibility as an audiophile. Ruin my credibility even more than being an audiophile living in a less than audiophile ideal mobile home. My confession is...is...is...

I sometimes watch music videos of various sorts on YouTube.

Wait. There's a question in back. Yes?

Do you at least use a $2,000 DAC?

Ah, err...

We deserve to hear all the details.

Well...no. I just use the DAC built into my computer. My computer speakers are decent, but not great computer speakers.

Better be careful what you say! Or else your readers will go to the blog of Snooty Audiophile Review Magazine.

I suppose so.

And yes, I will admit that YouTube is not an audiophile's dream come true, even sticking with professionally done, official videos of some sort. And I definitely know my computer sound could be improved.

But this isn't about sound quality. Instead, it's about variety - there is seemingly everything imaginable on YouTube. And YouTube is also hugely convenient - it's always there and available on my computer. And it's available on other people's computers, too, so I can suggest videos to others.

YouTube has allowed me to make a few discoveries I might not have otherwise. And some of those discoveries have led to further interest, and me buying a used record that gets played on the good system. And I'm sure many others would have this same story to tell.

Of course, there are other resources (such as Spotify) that are arguably better in various ways. However, YouTube seems to work better for my particular situation. I've played with the free version of Spotify, and find the variety of their library impressive. That said, videos work better for my situation because they me something to watch while I listen. If I only listen, I become too conscious of the serious limitations of my computer sound system.

Perhaps one day I'll have a good DAC with my good audio system. At that point, Spotify might well become my preferred choice.

But until that "someday" arrives, I'm happy occasionally using YouTube as a source of discovery.