How competitive are you with your system?

I could more think more deeply about my competitive nature and how it relates to audio, but I am not one to duel others by recording system playback to phones and uploading those recordings to YouTube. 

In those sort of crazy car stereo competitions, there was a criteria and a fixed goal--how loud can you get your system to play.  But, unless you have that same criteria for your home audio, I don't see it as a competition is there is no way to establish a "winner."  The only bragging rights would be for "how much was spent" which is at least objective, but does not say much else about the sound.  I am definitely NOT into even that sort of competition--few people have seen my system and I certainly DON'T want anyone to know how much it costs; most people would think it mad.  

Not sure if "competitive" is the correct term here.

I think a better question would be "how do you brag about your system and, if so, to who and how often..?"

Hard to be 'competitive' when the vast majority of hobbyist 'alumni' interactions are virtual and not in person. Yes, virtually you can share photos, video, audio - but (obviously) the quality of something audiophile-caliber shared online is no where near the in-person experience.

But you can certainly brag about your gear without anyone having to actually be in the same listening room with you... 

Do you try to rank your system with others’?    NO
Or are you content with enjoying your rig for what it is? YES

I like my system.

No interest in comparisons.

Always room to improve

no pun intended @asvjerry 

OP - Interesting topic. Once a year after I come home from a HiFi show I turn on my system and smile. That’s as close as I get to competitive.

I think it’s stupid to compare or worse rank my system with anyone else. Sounds like teenager stuff. Just enjoy the music without stupid games that make one look like they are 12 years old.

Op nice thread. I only like to listen to other system to see what is out there and learn . At axpona I heard an amazing system that made me feel and think Iam on the venue listening on live concert . The system is Wilson speakers and Dan Agostinos gear.set up by Quintessence. My question is can I achieved that performance in a very small way? I did try , only when I got my x1 Borensen speakers I felt I am feeling the experienced in a small way . That’s good enough for me.My friends long time ago when we listen they always say in my system it sounds like this and so on? They drove me crazy.not good to compare and compete in this hobby.

0% for me.

Mine is not competitive at all.  It just sits there unmotivated until I turn it on.  I suspect that it is putting in minimum effort to please me.  it is like owning a cat.  Still, I do like it a lot.

What would my system be competing for anyway, even if it were motivated.  Is there a goal, a standard of excellence, a competitive mark to hit?  Given that there is no consensus standard by which a system can be compared to, I think it is sensible that my system has chosen to just sit there and do its least.

Being competitive with an audio system would be even worse than keeping score at golf - not only would it suck the fun out of listening to music but there would be no universal metric to score the results.  Just dumb.

I enjoy what I have.  Love leads to contentment.  Comparing leads to jealousy and misery.  

I've tried to whip some competitive interest from my gear, but I'd done it in jest and it was interpreted as a challenge to mess with my mind and patience....
Ground faults, 100db feedbacks, 24/7 test tone sweeps with the volume on mute....(speakers are all passives, so no reason to involve them.....like nuk'ng Switzerland for going 'Huh?'.....).....dialing down the ac from 110.....105....104.5...

Nope.
'Bout as competitive as roadkill....

I'm fine with the current stasis locally....Always room to improve, but that's not the 'end all be all' of it by my means or desires at this time.

Yes, there's the basic 'enjoyment', but 'serious' gets applied in contrast to my diy's in some respect or qualities....and one can only guess at what I'm up to...🤷‍♂️😏

Hard to frame it in those terms. Many variables. 

I enjoy music. Always have. Blessed to be able to indulge myself in some good stuff in my retirement. Wow! What fun! I have some upgrades in mind, but the end point is very close and I’m really not interested in impressing anyone else except myself. 
Cheers to all. Unfortunately we are a dying breed. 

@goodlistening64  Thanks for the nudge.  I’m not sure I’ve got the same passion for golfing anymore, but maybe I’ll give it another shot.  I’d have to dust off the clubs and see if my swing still works!

I've had the Lintons set up that way in my living room for a while. In my case, the missing piece was the right DAC—something I hadn’t been able to find until I finally settled on the Topping D90 III Discrete and the Harmony micro DAC.  It’s great to know you’ve also endorsed a similar setup. 

We have a saying in our house- “comparison is the thief of joy”. So I don’t compare and my kids don’t compare to other kids and their families. It works very well. 

My system challenges me to a fight every time i turn it on.

My system was down all day and I asked "what’s wrong?"

"I am the worst,  even a soundbar can beat me" it said. "I wish we were more competitive" 

Matt, are you hearing voices in your head? Was your system turned on at the time?

Matthew,

Have you tried Parcheesi?

Not yet, but my system is so competitive that this afternoon it challenged me to a bench-press contest.

Certainly comparison doesn't have to be competitive in the sense one is ranking their system against others, but I'd have never developed a reference for how I wanted my system to sound if I hadn't heard 'reference' systems. From this I desired to achieve this 'reference' sound in my own system. Question then becomes, can desire be completely devoid of competitiveness? I could also use the work ambition in place of desire. I find it odd so many resistant to the idea of competitiveness in audio, since when did ambition become a negative with no redeeming qualities?

@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.     

It’s a fascinating pursuit- music is magical and putting together a system to get the best out of the resources I’m able and willing to spend is challenge enough. 
 

I note, however, that for a decidedly uncompetitive group we frequently engage in heated, sometimes vicious discussions concerning tubes vs transistors, the effect of cables, switches, fuses, crystals, vinyl vs. streaming, the meaning of measurements, cheap vs expensive, and so on.

cognitive dissonance.

@bjesien 

Great satire...sounded like the orange one, on any subject 😄

My system is the best system ever. We’re talking tone like you wouldn’t believe. Texture is off the charts.  Soundstage? So wide it makes your living room feel like Madison Square Garden. I’ve had audiophiles — big-time people, very serious ears — come over and they’re trembling. Tears in their eyes. One guy said it was better than his wedding day. Everyone says it.

1) Nope.

2) Yup.

Everything I do with my love of music is for me. The guy who was the best man at my wedding happily still uses the receiver and speakers that we bought when we were in college.  My brother happily listens to his tunes through his phones speakers. I have another friend who has a system that probably costs $400,000-$600,000 and he probably listens to it a hour a month.  If they are happy, I am happy.  Absolutely no need for competition here.

Oh and my dog isn’t better cause he eats Kennel Ration either. ( do they even still make that stuff?)

"competitive" isn't the the same as being able to compare.

That's a losing proposition and not healthy. Be happy with what you have and if you want to "upgrade", don't do it out of envy of someone else's stuff. 

How my system compares to others could not be more irrelevant. I've been in the live music biz forever (or at least since the 60s), and an audio geek for as long, so I know how to get my system sounding to my tastes...everybody does that, possibly to varying degrees of success. I don't schlep other systems into my listening space like a reviewer, and neither do most others. There are cult like adherents to room conditioning, floating cables, magic fuses, etc., none of whom make much sense to me, and I'm perfectly happy with that. Since most of my friends aren't audio geeks their attention span when I try to show them some new item often peaks in 3 seconds. This is a solitary hobby for me, my wife likes the way things sound, and I change things in my system when I feel like it. 

@thebrokenrecord 

“I actually think it’s a good idea”

l am flabbergasted. My flabber has never been so ghasted. A tournament is not such a crazy idea? Look at Woodstock, or Glastonbury that were just someone’s idea.

Your tournament💡moment is maybe not so illogically impossible. There are DJ and gaming tournaments so why not?

l think @mihorn is a candidate having actively and professionally promoted his modified gear, and has confidently self-praised his own projects. 
 

Of course the USA is a big country to get everyone interested together.

Such a competition would be logistically not easy unless you demo REALLY LOUD!

My take is that I think it’s almost impossible not to wonder how your system compares to others’.  I believe it’s human nature. 

Same here. I want to help people.

So many people struggles with audio sounds for their lives. Life time upgrade, merry-go-round, without a promise of better sound and numerous disappointments should be changed by now after 150 audio history.

The world is filled with bad sounds which we must deal with every days such as bad sound radio stations, cell phone spkr, etc. Consider why many non-a’philes, spouses, and hi-fi haters don’t like this hobby. I believe I’m a frontier for the true meaningfully better sound. And you won’t lose any thing with my discovery/journey.  Alex/Wavetouch audio

bigkidz   Not competitive but always willing to help and even learn.  As a manufacturer and repair service we get to hear so many components. ~~~ It is always nice to meet new people.  Most are very genuine. Happy Listening.

Not competitive at all. I grow from other's experiences and systems.

My system is my system for my ears and my preferences and lastly to suit my room.

Started in 1976 and finished in 1998 with the exception of carts and CD players.

In chronological order of purchase date....

Marantz 2325 (1976)

OHM Walsh 4 (1986)

Heybrook TT2 & LVX (1998)

Nakamichi PA-7A MKII and CA-7A (1998)

Currently use an AT33PTG/II cart and a Yamaha CD-C600 CD player.

@bjesien 

"My system is the best system ever."

You sound like a good candidate for my system competition idea! Do you live in the SF Bay area?

@mylogic 

"There is only one logical solution for all those who obsess and need to compare. Enter your equipment/system love child into a tournament with other self-minded show offs."

Of course I know you're joking here, but I actually think it's a good idea. We ought to have a competition (a friendly one of course ) to see what systems really are superior.

I feel we all default to "everyone's ears are different / good sound is subjective" much too quickly. I happen to think that if we took the same 3-5 people and had them listen to the same 10 systems playing the same 2-3 records (I'm an all analog guy) there would in fact be consensus as to which systems reproduce those records the best.

Anybody game? I live in the SF Bay area.

@ronboco 

"I’ll bet  most everyone always  thinks their  own system sounds better whether it does or not."

That is so true. I almost never like anybody else's system, and they probably don't like mine either! lol.

Great thread!

I am by nature a competitive person. Always have been. However, in my primary hobbies I am more into being the best I can be. This goes for writing, woodworking, and my sound systems. 

There are some really expensive set ups that I just do not enjoy. I lucked onto a pair of used Acoustat 1+1 speakers over thirty years ago. Love the sound. Maintain them well. My system is built around them. 

I am very happy with my system.

@pindac

"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."

I love this idea, but how to manifest it? Engaging other audiophiles to spend time together listening to each other's systems has been, for me, hard to realize. Everyone's busy and very few seem to have the level of interest and inclination it takes to do what you've done.

But kudos to you for getting there!

I just really like music and if it sounds great all the better. Being thankful to be where I am and live a comfortable existence leaves no room for petty competitions. Phallic or otherwise.

I’ll posit competitveness drives all of us at some point along the road

I disagree. I have never for a second wanted something audio related to have what others had, to have more, better than what X had. Never played a role. It would be insane if that drove me as it has zero to do with good sound quality - which is why we are in this hobby. .

my motivation to work on the system and improve it is to have it deliver the musical experience

for years i was in an improvement mind set, driven by what might be possible, not what others are doing

yes, fully agree. And this is from the member here who invested 100 times (probably more zeros) more time, money and energy into building a "winning" system than me for example

Not competitive but always willing to help and even learn.  As a manufacturer and repair service we get to hear so many components.  SO we are always learning.  We enjoy when people come to hear their repaired product and ask to hear theirs versus ours.  We offer upgrades so they can get better sound for their ears.

It is always nice to meet new people.  Most are very genuine.

Happy Listening.

Very happy with system(s)...though often think about possible upgrades or changes...

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? 

My system is always in competition with my budget. That being said, I like my current system fine even knowing that it cost less than what most AG members paid for their speaker cables. 

I recall having great envy when hearing or reading about systems far better than mine in early days. I dreamed that some day I could have a system that could compete with those, this was the single greatest motivating factor in building audio system. 

I'll posit competitveness drives all of us at some point along the road, we likely all have references for the sound quality/qualities we'd like to attain. We compare our systems to those and we strive to equal or better that system. I very much recall going to this local audio show many years, and thinking for the first time my system  had superior sound quality vs every system there, this was one of those peak experience days when I finally felt as though I had reached the heights. And then you hear better systems and the journey continues.

Comparing our own systems to some reference is in fact a competition. It may be all about equipment for some, for others it may be mostly or entirely about reaching some reference for sound quality. The fact reaching for some reference for sound quality may be considered a noble goal is fine, but don't fool yourself this is not competitive in some sense.

@goodlistening64 Great points.

the satisfaction of my system is in what it does, not where it ranks. human nature does have a vote so the thoughts about how it compares to other systems is real, but i view that more about learning and sharing ideas, than the need to be better than this or that system. the rank part can get in the way of being open to other ideas.

not sure ’content’ would be how i would describe my perspective on my system state over the last 30 years. it takes a hunger for better to keep pushing. and for years i had that hunger.

my motivation to work on the system and improve it is to have it deliver the musical experience. within that idea is my desire to have the music media at it’s best sounding too. which then pushes me to find the optimal sources and physical media.

for years i was in an improvement mind set, driven by what might be possible, not what others are doing. but these days i’m done and just enjoying.  it fun to see others keep pushing, and i’m fine on the sidelines in my happy place. if rank was what drove me this part would hard. but it’s the best.

being retired i bought a motorhome and jeep to tow and my wife and i are now adventuring. we might downsize our home and so my room would be likely downsized considerably. life goes on and we will see how that all works out. in the meantime i’m just enjoying the music every day.