Friends hi-fi system not very good, what do you do or say?


So you're going over to someones home and they give you a tour and they have a hi-fi system in a room. And while visiting of course they turn it on for you not knowing that you have a very nice system in your home and you notice immediately it's just not very good.  But then you're used to the very in you're listening experiences. So what do you do when they ask you what you think?

Do you say sounds really good?

Do you make suggestions?

Do you feel a desperate need to tell them about your system?

Personally, I try not to mention any details about my system. If I'm driving around in a Lamborghini I would prefer to be invisible so I don't get stared at when I get out of my car. If they had a really nice system with interesting components I would probably mention a few of the things I have and then we could bond with our common interests.   Ideally, it would be cool to be in the presence of someone who knew a lot more than I did and a real learning opportunity.

Audio systems tend to be private affairs I guess.  I don't necessarily want to hang out with someone and listen to tunes. Those wonderful College days where it made a lot of sense are long gone.

emergingsoul

Sorry.  Listen to your gear better.  The voice of god?:  Planar headphones, and extra dynamic impact speakers for stadium concerts instead of extra loudness, for what you can't be getting at home events.  Also, studio recording is just trying to make everything reach an electric's pickup position anyhow, and it's also asking all musicians that use that format, to use it in their home systems for a home stereo recording playback piece snob award, except you'll only know your own instrument properly.  As studios increasingly dial in their mic'ing, to the point where everything is like the instrument's pickups, and are dialed right in position-wise, convert to a headphone listening presentation, unless of course there is someone else with you.

 

@deep_333 :

You're the only one thinking of such things, I can't even hear her properly if she shows up on my headphones first, yet!  Even worse, I'll have to keep the intense reality of headphone monitoring to my secret self, because who else wants her to find out about my DAC's headphone output chain?  Pure copper cables for the dynamic driver speaker chain, let her be as slow and warmed up as possible, at all times, compared to just me alone.  Well, maybe not, since that won't be as good.

@thecarpathian 

Fine, it sucks that you don't have anyone to find out what they listen on.  Actually, everyone else bought at least the next model up from all your stuff.  Sucker.  I bet you swear that's all it ever sounded like before, too.

....since I've no recent 'listening session' on anyone's' gear, I'll fall back on what I used to do:

Try to be diplomatic in relation to perceived sophistication of the person involved and IF they're asking for advice, commentary, or both.

Tread carefully, since pride and ego lurk...esp. if existing gear is of a substantial value that I'd have to dispatch said owner to own such....

Have a good week.

What I do not do is start a thread asking what I should do or say about a scenario that is either hypothetical or has already happened.

Epic trolling though.