I'm frustrated with people who don't ...


Sorry for a long post...
Recently I was at a 3-day meeting out of town for work. For an evening activity we had a cook out at a colleague's house. While there, we gathered around his deck and a small fire in the back yard. I found myself in a group of 6 guys discussing hobbies. I mentioned my love for audio and began to describe my system and music library. Almost instantly, I was "pounced" for believing that any "hi end" component is worth the money compared to anything else one can buy from Best Buy. "Digital is digital" one guy stated, "an $89 player is as good as anything else out there". I attempted to defend my position but in no way was I able to convince anyone. I told them the next time they're in town, I'd have them over to my place and let them hear the difference, but I know most will not acknowledge the quality of sound. Footnote: I've known these guys for 3-5 years and they are professional level headed guys, I wasn't bragging, I made no grand statements that my system is better than anything else, I just talked about my interest and brought it up when they asked me. The icing on the cake was their disbelief that my system can only play one CD at a time... "you don't have a carousel on your CDP?" Man, I was frustrated.
mijknarf

Showing 3 responses by ellery911

Even with myself being on the low end of the food chain here I get a little ribbing from a good friend on how much I spent as he is listening to 20 year old mass market stuff with mismatched speakers. I just tell him that compared to people on Audiogon...my stuff is just a molecule in the drop in the bucket...Then he tells me my stereo sounds good and that he doesn't understand why anybody would need to spend more...guess I did a good job of passing the buck.
hmmmmm...interesting post Sean...at first I agreed completely...but then after thinking...this is my take.

Some high end gear...well...to me...lots of it is very beautiful to look at. I'm sure that any person that walked into someones house and saw a full blown JRDG setup would be impressed and inquisitive before even hearing it.

With regards to touch...the first time I turned the volume knob on a piece of high end gear, there was a tactile sensation that had been unmatched by the previous mass market gear that I had been accustomed to.

With regards to smell...I hear ya

With regards to taste...I guess we'll just have to hunt down one of those people with that rare disorder that causes them to eat just about anything...grind up a few different components...feed them to them...and then get their feedback afterwards. This would of course have to be a blind test as you wouldn't want them to assume that the prettier gear will taste better than the uglier gear. (just kidding...children, please do not try this at home)

ok...so I'm in a wierd mood today.