Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes

The toughest thing for non-DIY audiophiles is to leave superstitious pretentions to art behind & accept that many even high-priced commercial components are compromised & built to cost. The problem has been aggrevated by the trend toward industrial design in fit & finish of audio components, which adds materially to cost without improving performance. The discussion is not really about science vs. art: any good DIYer spends time listening to music. Unfortunately some DIYers don't have the cash or experience of well-healed audiophiles in evaluating high-end commercial pieces relative to home-grown efforts. Industry price inflation has led DIYers further into retreat from upscale consumer behavior and widened the gulf between audiophiles and the original DNA of the hobby in DIY. Doubtless there are DIYers with pale skins from too much obsessing over oscilloscopes in sunless basements-- and who rarely come up for air or music. But for every one of these, there are 10 suckers born every minute who eagerly pay a rediculous premium for nebulous improvement in some new audio component, or conduct an endless merry-go-round of transactions in audiophile nervosa on Audiogon.

My background is in art & DIY is a hobby.

"the key to remember is the value in use equals the value in exchange"

I'm not sure what you mean here, but if you mean that your valuation of equipment is based on what the market will bear on resale then you are obviously not a DIYer. Modded equipment is well off the gold standard of branded commercial components.

Mrtennis,

Expressed in terms of economic principles, the problem is that rapid price inflation at the high end has transformed audio into just another luxury goods market. A luxury goods market (e.g. yachts, exotic cars, art, and high-end real estate in NYC) is typically price inelastic. The higher the price the more sells. Valuation is set by intangible factors such as prestige associated with membership in an exclusive community. Luxury goods manufacturers maximize their profit margin at low volumes of production. So the more money chasing high end audio, the more the market fragments into niche suppliers. Currently it's starting to look like a mere reflection of the gilded age.

It's comforting to believe that valuation is a deeply personal matter, but the subjectivist notion of valuation carries the audio hobby further away from its moorings in performance and musical enjoyment as selection criteria. DIY helps to refocus the hobby on its original value proposition.

Components in the "bread basket" of the marketplace(say up to $10K) are good for modifiers, insofar as they can be well engineered while compromised in the parts bin. Sometimes fairly simple parts upgrades can take them to a much higher level.

This is not to say that components above $10K are not compromised. It's just that in the view of most owners, modifying them is tanamount to drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa.

Chris, I distinguish modifiers from general DIYers in this regard. A modifier has the opportunity to start with a stock component & control variables by making small incremental changes. After 10 or so such changes to a component the ear has received an education as a test instrument. The non-DIYer audiophile has only the opportunity to swap whole components. This brings in a wider range of variables between models & manufacturers to complicate comparisons. It is more difficult to evaluate component A relative to component B, than it is to evaluate component A relative to component A with mod B. The modifier is simply extending the R&D of the original designer, freed from the constraints of development cycles & costs.