It way back in 2015, that Aakshey Talwar (founder of GaiaQ aka Weaving Thoughts) founded a WhatsApp group called audiophilia as a part-time hobby. A hobby he thought he might need to list on his resume, should his business fail and he was forced to go abroad for an MBA.
With the grace of God, both GaiaQ and Weaving Thoughts founded by Aakshey are doing splendidly well. So that card was never played. However, audiophilia was to become a forum for who’s who of audiophiles in India, and that’s exactly what happened.
Who’s an audiophile?
Audiophiles are lovers of Hi-Fi (aka High Fidelity) audio equipment in the form of speakers, headphones and associated accessories. So equipment that can reveal detail that regular consumer-grade stuff can’t. Equipment that’s closer to the source or original recording.
Advertisement
Most audiophiles would shrug away anything with the label of Bose or Beats. Aakshey is no exception, just like others at audiophilia.
What’s Audiophilia?
Audiophilia is a private WhatsApp group that welcomes members from all across the world (but most members are Indian) to discuss audiophile-grade hardware primarily. Their focus is mostly on headphones from brands like Sennheiser, Hifiman, Focal, etc. and similarly amplifiers and DACs to go along with them.
Audiophilia has over 150 members, including many well-known persons from Indian audiophile circles, including:
Kartikay Mohan Sharma AKA KMS - One of Aakshey’s oldest friends and mentors in his audiophile journey. He has been a strong pillar for him and responsible for much of the stuff he has bought over the years. KMS arranged Aakshey’s Sennheiser HD 600 through (now a) mutual friend Koth Ganesh. KMS is a celebrity DIYer who builds and sells the Sapphire headphone amplifier in India.
Advertisement
Raghav Somani - Owner of HeadphoneZone.in
Ravi aka Gurubhai - Again, a very well known DIYer that every Indian audiophile has heard of. And again, a dear friend to Aakshey who has helped him through his journey.
Sahil (ex Member) - Head of Marketing, Sennheiser India
Abhinav - Official Representative for Sennheiser India
Sudhin - Owner of ProMusicals.in
Ashish (ex Member) - Owner of an audio dealership called Lakhozy
Denny - Owner of another audio dealership called Bass ‘n’ Treble
Amit - Owner of Indiq Audio
Nitin - Owner of Anode Acoustics
Special Mentions:
Late Abhijeet Dey - Aakshey bought his vintage Sennheiser HD 580 from him. Unfortunately, Abhijeet is no more. He was a sweet soul and a friend of Aakshey’s. May his soul rest in peace.
Soumyajit, aka Chaos - A legendary member from a forum called Techenclave.com. He’s arguably the most active member of audiophilia and its offshoots.
Offshoots of audiophilia:
Audiophilia became too active for its good. So collectively, it was decided that a separate group be formed for technology discussions called Technophilia. And another one for “random” stuff not falling in either of the first two groups; this was named “random thoughts”.
Both these groups are much smaller than audiophilia but fairly active as well.
Audiophilia also has a Telegram group moderated mainly by KMS, but that group didn’t take off like the WhatsApp group…
Advertisement
Want to join audiophilia?
Feel free to drop a text to Aakshey directly at +91-9910623813, and he’d be more than happy to add you in…
Who is Aakshey Talwar?
Aakshey is the least fitness-friendly dog lover and ex-world’s worst PC gamer who is now entirely engrossed in the Apple ecosystem. When he’s not listening to music or catching up on Apple news, you can find him working on his companies GaiaQ and Weaving Thoughts, both of which are basically different trade names for the same digital marketing agency he founded in 2008.
Over the years, Aakshey went on to do business with brands like Policy Bazaar, Hyatt, JLL, OYO Rooms, Monster, Info Edge, MobiKwik, Housing, Zivame and some 2000-odd clients.
