My wife doesn't care what I spend on sound equipment at least partly because she benefits as much as I do from any improvements made. In this respect I could not have chosen a better person to share my life...she is a keeper.
A principle guiding the wise audiophile life
There is one law, or best said a principle, guiding the wise audiophile life :
What matter is not the gear pieces price or his design, it is up to our budget limit to pick the right stuff for ourselves and our needs.
What matter is the way we installed together the mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions of any chosen system/room...
As a consequence of this principle this is his corollary:
The mechanical electrical and acoustical controls,devices,tweaks, parameters, cannot be replaced by one another if we want to reach an optimal result in sound quality.
Vibrations/resonance controls cannot replace or be replaced by acoustics parameters controls or EMI shielding and grounding for example.
The greatest error we can do is buying and just "plug and play". Then upgrading a piece part by frustration or dissatisfaction, without learning how the whole system may,must,can behave in a specific room for our specific ears (psycho-acoustics).
The other error will be to cure one problem with a gear upgrade before trying to understand what is the problem.
This must be meditated by any beginners before "upgrading" and after "upgrading"...
There is no relation between a piece of gear or a system/room before and after his optimal mechanical,electrical and acoustical installation. None.
It is the reason why reviews do not tell all the truth there is to be tell ...
This resume what i have learned.
What have you learned yourself ?
Showing 3 responses by livinon2wheels
@newton_john - we have a similar problem about the music...her tastes are much more encompassing of what I as a certified music snob look down my nose at, however there is a good bit that we share and we do...she prefers to do her listening while driving. While I prefer to drive in silence and concentrate on staying alive while every other car on the road seems hell-bent on taking me out either on purpose or through inattention. So I listen a lot at home at relatively low levels and she listens in the car...we do however enjoy movies and the home theater equipment gives us common ground to share equally. It works. Our tastes in program material for movies overlap enough there is seldom any battle. |
@p05129 I agree with a lot you say, but I have also found that some of these premium brands are just premium because they include the audiophile tax...Which is all to liberally applied via the marketing department of the companies guilty of such egregious acts and willingly paid by those who because they cannot discern being taken for a ride willingly chip in and become that company's most recent mark. I stubbornly take the position that if its not an audible difference then it is not a difference that matters unless it has to do with ease of use or basic functionality. I make the argument, that for me at least, discerning the difference between a 500 dollar DAC and a 50k dollar DAC is not something I can perceive with all my senses on high alert. Is this more a reflection of admitting my advancing age and subsequent inability to hear what some 30-something can hear? Well maybe it is...and if so that is to my advantage to be able get to that sweet spot with my system by spending a heck of lot less money. I'll happily make that trade. Money doesnt grow on trees where I live so being sensible and pragmatic is necessary. This is the same argument that my best friend makes about drinking scotch. He's happy with $30 scotch and thankful his palate doesnt demand the pricier stuff. I submit that this illustrates what the argument is...Everyone draws a line in the sand based on their ears, and their income for what level they must have to feel some sense of satisfaction. Everybody draws that line in a different place. As I replace the pieces in my house that were lost to the fire, I will buy what I think is the best I can get to meet the need and want within the budget allotted. Especially in the area of speakers chosen. This will be my end game system...simply because of where I am in my life. Will it be the best I have ever had? Who knows? I'm starting from scratch so there are going to be mistakes made, in fact there already have been. I'm trying very hard not to make more. |