"Some people want to see where the state of the art is, and it is amazing how quiet and distortion free they can make equipment even at very moderate prices these days.
If anyone can show new measurements that reveal how the expensive equipment is really outperforming the moderately priced stuff I'm very open to it."
You put the finger on the problem with Hi-Fi: Big claims. Big Expectations. Uncertain Results. High costs. What are you even trying to accomplish throwing dollar dollar bills around? Sting isn't going to personally travel to your house and perform while you're eating your nightly bowl of spaghetti.
As long as you have that mindset of "pursuing the best", you'll always be looking at the flaws first and spinning that hamster wheel continuously earning money and spending that on gear you don't need.
With the ASR mindset, everything is put on a test bench. If that item doesn't score highly on the test bench, it is trash. Buy the top-rated product, then buy the next top-rated product the month after.
I'm all for calling out BS whenever a manufacturer makes big claims, charges high prices and fails to deliver.
But at the same time everything is becoming a contest and hype is inevitable.
So I'm utterly confused. Because ASR makes sense at the low end where most products are bad and some stand out. But then there's the obligatory hype of "this speaker punches way above its weight". So you buy that, and it sounds just like a cheap speaker. And you had this fancy pair of speakers in the living room this whole time.
So my conclusion is: Perfection is the enemy of good (and your wallet). You could just invite your buddy over to smash some beers and listen to tunes. They don't give a flying care if "The treble is a little tinny on that specific track" or "The vocals are a bit nasal with THAT amp".
