Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Audiophiles

Buying gifts for the audiophile in your life can be tough. By nature they’re known to be… (how to put it?) a tad particular, even bordering on persnickety. Audiophiles care so much about the little things — it’s kind of cute, right?

When it comes to gifts, like a golfer with specific taste in clubs, you don’t want to mess with the major gear. But, like a golfer unwrapping a shiny new rangefinder under the tree, you can make your audiophile beam with joy by paying attention to the accessory devices and gadgets that can be useful in any stereo system.

Vibration Dampening

One of the major tenets of the audiophile hobby is the understanding that every element interacts with other elements in the system — electrically and vibrationally. Audiophiles know they need to adequately dampen the vibrations of each component, including the speakers, but often this is one of the last things they want to spend money on.

High-tech vibration dampening and isolation can feel like a luxury item when the HiFi budget must already be split between electronics, speakers and cabling. Here is where you can come in as the hero, with a set or two of IsoAcoustics’ award-winning Orea isolation pucks in the stocking.

Whether you place three or four under each component is up for debate, but the overwhelming consensus among audiophiles is that the Orea pucks are a fit-all-cases solution.

They’re classed by weight, so take a look at your audiophile’s system. Most of the smaller boxes (up to 4” tall) will range from ten pounds to 50 pounds. If you’re unsure, find a time to sneak in a question about a specific device’s weight. In the lower area of that range, the Orea Bronze works best, and toward the 50-pound area, you’d want the Indigo model.

As always, our folks are great at answering questions about IsoAcoustics and how to choose the Orea pucks, so reach out if you need help.

Power Conditioning

Like vibration isolation, isolating a stereo from the problems of the power grid is a major focus for audiophiles. It can also get left off the budget, or earmarked for future investment, as it’s another one of those “periphery” concerns.

Power conditioning comes in many shapes and sizes, but for stocking-stuffer and small gift ideas, we love Nordost’s QV2 QVibe line harmonizers. These affect a stereo in a very different way than most power conditioning devices, and they look smart among plugs in a power strip out on the wall.

They’re truly system-agnostic, meaning they can improve any stereo no matter the setup, and their effect is enhanced by adding more of them. Is there a more perfect audiophile stocking stuffer?

Lift and Organization

Not every audiophile believes that lifting a system’s cables off the ground will improve its sound (some vehemently do), but no one can argue that a sensibly routed, well-organized bunch of audiophile cables — which are big to begin with — can turn a veritable rat’s nest into visual harmony. (Or something close to it, at least.)

Nordost’s spendy and very high-tech titanium Sort Lift system would light up the eyes of the more well-heeled audiophile, but anyone can appreciate the solid science and charming look of Audience’s Jewel cable lifters.

Acrylic is a well-known self-damping material, and the Jewels’ beveled edges bring a little sparkle, which, under typically dark and large audiophile cables, is a refreshing, subtle touch.

For the Vinyl Guys

Although a lot of focus in the vinyl audio maintenance category centers around methods for cleaning records, it can be easy to forget about the need to clean the stylus, or record needle. The thought of doing this can be a bit nerve-wracking to the audiophile, but DS Audio’s clever ST-50 stylus cleaner makes the job quick, easy and foolproof.

And, its stylish little tin case looks appropriate tucked under the record player, encouraging regular use for clean, clear sound.