Has anyone made the jump to $uper High end and were disappointed?

Another thing I want to bring up is there is typically a dissonance between system improvement and musical enjoyment.

And this has financial ramifications also.

Yes you can buy the best amp and you might have a better soundstage and imaging, but does it actually get you to listen to
more music longer and more frequently?  Or is it just another data point you are trying to reach in systematic improvements?

Sometimes I have to catch myself, wait, I'm spending 17k on an amp.... Am
i gonna be listening to that much more music?

@whatjd 

Please explain.

Ok Ill bite.

I don’t think my system is super high end, compared to others on Audio Aficionado, but I’ll give you insight into some of the pieces I have. Because this thread is asking about pricing, I will include prices as well.

Speakers: BW 802D3 ($22K, paid $18K)
Source: Emm Labs DAC2x ($15K, paid $5K) + Emm Labs TSDx Transport ($15K, paid $5K)
Preamp: Cary SLP-05 tube preamp ($7.5K, paid $3.75K)
Amp: Boulder 2060 stereo ($46K, paid $17K)
Speakerwires: Audioquest WEL 8ft single/biwire ($31K, paid $5K)
Power Cords: Audioquest NRG-WEL 3ft x2 ($4K each, paid $1K each)
XLR: Still need to upgrade
Power conditioner: PS Audio P5 Regenerator ($3.5K, paid $650)

I have a dedicated and treated room, just for stereo.  I have clouds hanging from the ceilings and treatments on all 4 walls.  I have dedicated circuits for the room as well. 

Based on my experience, there are certainly certain components that actually made a difference for me. Is my system perfect? I don’t think so. Some pieces are still in flux and will likely be changed as time goes on.

2 things that will probably not be changed? The Boulder amp and the Audioquest WEL units.

Is there diminishing returns? I believe so. But I am pretty happy with the performance I got from the units.

I thought the difference going from my old Cary 306 SACD to the Emm Lab units was excellent, more real, more analog, yadda yadda... IMO, it was worth the $8K delta that I paid. Would I pay $30K for the 2 units? No.

The difference going from my previous Classe M600 delta monoblocks and the Cary 211FE tube monoblocks to the Boulder 2060 was very significant. To me, it was a no brainer coming from those $8K (used, paid) units to the $17K Boulder... the difference was very significant and was worth the delta in price again.... would I pay $46K for the Boulders? No.

The difference going from my old wire regular 12g OFC and Satori units to the AQ WEL was very significant. Definitely worth the $5K I paid... would I pay the retail of $31K? No way.

So, yes, diminishing returns are in play here, but I feel like the units I have which can be considered to be pretty high end, do display improvement over lesser units in my room and to my ears, would I pay the exhorbitant and racket pricing? No way.

But to me, for what I paid, it was worth it.

But yes, someone said it earlier in the thread... you gotta be very careful with these upper end purchases, moving them or flipping them is not easy as the market is much thinner as you move up. Some people have so much money they would rather buy new and have dealer support than save some cash and pay used.

Just my 2 cents.

People who are really up in rarified air don't take the time to post on audiogon.  ON the other hand, we (here on audiogon) are a group made of individuals who place importance on value at their respective price points/budgets. 

Definitely, I believe, the higher the priced component, the higher the expectations. I believe it because I’ve been there.

That said, there is usually rationale to the pricing, usually ends up with better components and build... if the price difference is relatively large.

Say $1000 amp vs a $50000 amp, for sure the $1000 does not have the parts that even come close to the $50000 amp.  That said, I doubt the difference between something $20,000 and something $35,000 is not as vast as two amps $1,000 and $15,000. 

I called Boulder Amps once, I was inquiring about the history of my 2060 (which I was purchasing at that time) as they have logged down the history of most of their equipment (turns out that Alon Wolf owned my 2060 prior).... anyway, I alerted them that there was a Boulder 1060 amp for sale for $10,000 on audiogon (retail is $25,000).

The engineer said, "Wow, that’s less than the parts cost from the supplier."

I proceeded to ask him what is the part cost for an amp - he says typically around 33% of what they are asking retail. FWIW.

@boneman

thanks for the mention

i will say that you are right about the room, it is the most difficult piece to attain and perfect.  My room is nowhere close but it is dedicated and I have no waf to deal with.  Maybe I can perfect the dimensions and room construct with the next house if I am so lucky.

But yes, I have a symmetric 18x15x9 room with slanted ceilings and no odd cubbies or halls.  I have the absorption down pat and just need to work on diffusion.

The experience in my main room is far more of an "event" than any of my 2 lesser systems.  The Sonus Faber Olympica 3 system in my family room is a pale facsimile in comparison. 

@bar81 

Because if if it were only people who spent more than 50k per component, this thread would be a barren desolate place.

Even I don’t own a $50k component.

I think it’s all relative, we find joy in our respective systems and budgets.