Absolutely not. Looks don't concern me. I would buy an amp that the previous owner carved his name in if it sounded good. I also don't care about the look when brand new. If it happens to be great looking, thats a big bonus, but never a factor in my decision to buy. Are you saying price being equal, you would buy something pretty, that didn't sound as good? Really?
That depends on what you pay. I want both if I pay enough. Speakers may (or may not) be an exception. Ugly that still looks new, may be an indicator of how well the seller took care of the equipment.
My Kavent S33 preamp looks like a circa 1987 VCR with a lame "Kavent" font on the front, 2 knobs (no balance), a cheezy LED display, and and the remote says "remot"...but it's such an astonishingly great sounding preamp I could not care less about its looks. It must be love.
However, if two different units sound the same, I'll take the better looking one every time. That's why some audio mfgs offer custom finishes at a higher price for those audiophiles that want to look good too.
I remember when the Infinity Renaissance 90 speaker came out. The factory colors were black oak, blonde oak and golden oak. A piano black finish was available that doubled the price of the speaker. It was gorgeous. And of course they sold a few of the piano black model. .
Yes! In my case my stereo is in my living room and I like everything to look neat. I just replaced all of my equipment for a Rogue preamp, amp and phono preamp. I like the clean design and they sound great to. I get the best of both worlds in my opinion
It will look good if it sounds good. You'll find some rationale to make it work. If it sounds bad, the looks will fade. Kind of like all relationships.
Yes, they need to at least look good to me. My VAC preamp and my Cary amp are exceptional in my eye, the W4S not so much. It is a clean and honest design, just not real good looking. Current brands that don't do much for me style wise would be VTL, Atmasphere, and Soulution.
Back when I had all EAR equipment I used to just look at the rack, with the music off. It was that beautiful to me. Now they're gone. While EAR stuff sounds great, it's really overpriced, IMO. Oh well...
For me it matters only because I won't audition a piece of kit I don't like the looks of. As far as I'm concerned, my Harbeth's are the best looking speakers on the planet. I do not like fancy glossy gear. There's so much amazing gear out there that I have enough choices to avoid looks I don't like. Of course if everything looked like a Vivid B1 I'd had no choice but to make my house look like Tony Sopranos.
Beauty is in the ear of the beholder! FWIW I'm a budget aupiophool. My listening room is away from the rest of the house in the basement. Usually an "ugly" piece of gear can be got at a good price, but it MUST sound good. I could care less about the fine "look" of a piece of gear. I listen in the dark and everything looks the same with the lights out. :-)
- would I buy something that looks good and sounds good? Of course. This is the ideal. - would I buy something that looks bad but sound good? Yes. Sound matters more. - would I buy something that looks good and sounds bad? Of course not. Again, sound matters more. No one buys an amp to stare at it but never turn it on (unless you own a stereo museum or something).
If choosing between various components, I would choose the one that looks best if it was a tie in terms of sound. But at the end of the day, what you want more than anything is to sit down and listen and to really connect with the music. It's all too easy to assemble a system where this doesn't happen.
YES, looks are 100% important. I really like the industrial rack handle look and rack handles are very usefull too. I was really bummed when the designs went away from this trend and towards a more "living room friendly" look, and now allot of expensive gear is being sold in little more than a folded-up sheet metal box that looks like something from Square-D Electical!!
What is the best looking bad sounding amp? The worst good sounding amp? I nominate my Atma-sphere gear for the greatest gap between sound and looks (sounds good), I don't care what it looks like (some actually like the way they look, but....) Probably not much of a market for amps that both look bad and sound bad.
If the manufacturer can't design a product that at least looks interesting, then they probably can't design a product that sounds good. There are exceptions.
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