How competitive are you with your system?

Through having developed a Social Aspect to my Audio Interests many many years ago, I have been able to listen to many many systems and introduce others to my own system.

Additionally I have been able to share lessons learned and been instrumental to others decisions being made for their systems futures through doing demonstrations of Audio Devices learned about and adopted through my meeting with others and being very influenced by what has been encountered.

I am not possessive of owned Audio Devices, I am quite Happy to loan items from CD's to Amp's for Short Term or Long Term to do the Rounds.

My most recent Commission Produced Design/Build for a SP10 MkII being a Kaneta Design, housed in a Panzerholz Chassis / Plinth is out on loan for quite a few months, it is with a SP10 MkII owner using a Traditional Chassis Mounted on a Panzerholz as the Plinth.    

In general most of my Listening Experiences are on a range of Systems from SS to Valve with Digital and Analogue Sources, with Off the Shelf and Bespoke Built Designs in use.

Systems Values regularly been listened to are from £200Kish descending to £20K+ish.

It could also be stated if certain systems were created using the most current versions of the Audio Devices available, system Values could easily double in the lower costing areas. 

I have come to learn System Value, means very very little where End Sound is concerned. What does stand out, is Synergy being created in a System.

There have been times during a Social Get Together where a swap out of a device for an alternate device has been jaw droppingly good and immediate arrangements have been made to continue the marriage of devices.

Would I aspire to the 200K system - No, I have heard as impressive for substantially less monies. Would I aspire to a Lesser Costing System - No, my own experiences of end sounds that can be produced in my own system is more than enough for my needs.

As a Group of Interested Individuals who enjoy Audio Equipment and listening to replays of Recorded Music, there is enough available to help each system owner gauge where their own choices for their own Audio Systems has been wise choices and maybe not as wise as one would like. Fortunately with regular meetings, the not so wise choices are pretty much no longer an issue, the changes that have proved very valuable are resident in systems.   

Stopping being a Listener Locked Away in their own Private Space and becoming a Social Listener where Open Door to Others is the Intention, Transformed every thing about my interest in Audio Systems and Listening to recorded music for the much much better.        

" Comparison is the Thief of Joy "

I have shared this numerous times on this forum over the past few years.

One can spend oodles of hours fretting over what they have not got, the trudge to discover where one needs to go next is a heavy residual at ones feet and is not going to yield any worthwhile results if other factors are not addressed.

Our Hobby is about Entertainment, Enjoyment, as a result of Musical Encounters.

Musical Encounter is the End Sound, everything Upstream of Produced End Sound is not Sound it is electrical energy being managed.

End Sound is the conversion of the electrical energy, where the energy manifests as a unconstrained release of the energy into a Space which forms Sound. 

The Space the Released Energy is Interfacing with, has a substantial influence and does a lot for shaping the Audible Experience of being exposed to the Audio Systems produced End Sound.

There is not an Upstream Device that is going to have any influence on the Space the Energy is released into, Up Stream Devices do not Remodel Space.

How does comparing Audio Devices in a particular Space have any real influence on the End Sound produced in that Space. 

Remodeling the Space the End Sound is being heard in, will do more for changing ones perception of the Quality of the Sound, than any Audio Device change ever will.

Only then might one be able to really give accurate assessments to changes made within a system.    

Being a Person who had many a occasion in the Company of Individuals Known, Not so Known and never met, with the Objective of being in the room to experience a audio system and then an audio system with different Sources added or other Devices attached in place of a resident device.

I have heard broad ranges of brief comments, I have heard many good quality descriptions and fair assessment where some are quite different from your own perception of what was being created as a End Sound.

I have come to learn individuals are unique when it comes to listening and the impact of a aesthetic. Some are Lower Frequency Sensitive, Some are Upper Frequency Sensitive and in general each has their own preference for the cohesiveness of the blend of the range of frequencies. Some are genuinely anticipating something special as a result of visually observing and not hearing, I have seen an item selected as potentially the star of the say, as a result of Polished Metal being the design.

What I am not seeing from individuals is Competitiveness as a common meaning - "the quality of being as good as or better than others of a comparable nature ", this does not show for the audio equipment loaned to the system in use either.

Conviviality, Jovial behaviour in conjunction with Musical Encounters and a Little Learning is key and the fundamental. 

Selections are not marked as a Judging, selections made are based on where it is unmistaken something valuable occurred and the device capable, might prove well introduced to other systems.

I have encountered Speakers that are not too difficult to transport used on system in a unique Space and been very very impressed. The same Speakers in a different Space and with a different system has not been as an impressive a End Sound.

Is the System change not creating a synergy with the Speakers, not letting them sing as they had on anther encounter?

Is the Room the Speakers are being used in not modelled in a way that allows the Speakers produced Energies to be tamed and not be contaminated with colouration from the room interfaces?

Was I as a Listener / Assessor not in the Spirits I was on a previous occasion and was not able to discover the mood that was generated on an alternate musical encounter?

I don't see Competitiveness at the area of the audio interest where produced End Sound is being an encounter.        

In the Link there is another's 'Take' or a 'Take' that is agreed between a group that is to be Published for another group to see and read.

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-critical-listeners-lexicon-tas-207-1/

Using the Guidance on the Link for experiencing End Sound being Produced and then extending  the same Guidance to be used in a situation like I have already referred to,  " Being a Person who had many a occasion in the Company of Individuals Known, Not so Known and never met, with the Objective of being in the room to experience a audio system and then an audio system with different Sources added or other Devices attached in place of a resident device.

I have heard broad ranges of brief comments, I have heard many good quality descriptions and fair assessment where some are quite different from your own perception of what was being created as a End Sound. "

With the Guidance in the Link, Strongly Advising for the Assessor to be solely Subjective in making a evaluation. The more individuals in the space and having different positions in the Room in relation to how they are symmetrical to the Speakers. There are to be numerous versions of the description applied to the assessment as a Critical Listen.

If a Listeners Symmetry to the Speakers as a result of their listening position is Pertinent to being able to comment on the End Sound being experienced.

Is not most comments raised as an assessment when a Group is the assessing panel, askew with supplied info, even flawed as a Info.

I strongly recommend one decides for themselves only, but limited only to how they sense they have been impressed.

If one has been exposed to an experience of an End Sound that made a good impression, then for this individual the end result is fine, it is worth sharing, as the info is healthy to pass on.

If one as been exposed to an experience of an End Sound that made an extremely good impression, being one they want to further investigate for being maintained, then for this individual the outcome is more than fine, it is an experience more than worthy of sharing, as the info is healthy to pass on. 

Is there really a chance another, who reads good reports, is going make arrangements to have a very similar experience, where the impression made is creating a similar impact on them? 

@thebrokenrecord  My most recent experiences of being Social are within what I refer to as my Local HiFi Group. 

The Local HiFi Group come about as a result of my having travelled 200 miles north from my home attend a Forum Annual Show and demonstrate my system.

Individual who come forward to ask to add their own device into my system introduced themselves, and the result of one introduction was that two individuals were living 40 miles east of my home and were part of a local audio group. Contact Numbers were swapped and the rest is history, this is nearly 10 years ago.

Prior to this In the Old Old Days I would communicate with Individuals at events and suggest a meet was worthwhile at another time, to demonstrate certain devices that were of interest, this evolved on the 00's into meeting others at Public Invite Forum Events and Private Invite Forum Events. Friends are made and then Private Invites become more of the norm.

Today recent friends made in the Local Audio Club, travel with me on occasion to meet with friends made at earlier times.

Much of my listening is done to day as a Social Get Together, this is how I started out with my enthusiasm for music, meeting friends and heading off to see a live performance in a small venue, this is maintained but with a difference being recorded music is the interest. I still do do live music on occasion, I even put the Home System Powered On for the Grandchildren to get in front of an have supervised dance, and that is very very joyful to be taking part in, especially seeing the Video of the Grandad Moves.     

Is it not " How System Curious Are You? " in place of 

" How competitive are you with your system? "

I stand by the notion it is curiosity that has been the underlying character trait that has led me to discover and experience a large range of audio systems and as a result at certain time have made extremely influential experiences.

I after numerous Years of expressing a Keen Interest in Audio related matters and not really feeling exposed to an inherent competitiveness from those met, unless in the Corridors of a Industry Trade Show running the gauntlet of Hawkers loitering for their next to be ensnared.

Plenty of Competitive attitudes revealing their presence within those environments.

I have been looking at a Thread that has a undertone that strongly suggests Competitiveness is at large, make ones own mind up, The Jury is Out.

 https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/whatsbestforum-what-s-going-on?page=3