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
I've found that men like to joust about hobbies. It's usually good natured but they will run you through if you don't play the game correctly. To the fisherman that attacked your system you should have asked if the Orvis bamboo flyrod was any better than an old K-Mart graphite. To the motorhead you should have said that a camshaft is a camshaft or all tires rotate, etc. Golf? Ping vs. McGreggor. Guitars? Gibson/Fender/Martin, etc. vs. Alvalrez or such. Photography? Nikon vs. Pentax. When in a group of men around a campfire whoever is most glib wins. Still, I share your frustration that some people just don't get it.
Puts me in mind of Rick Shultz's "Speed of Light magentics" thread. Those of us in this hobby are fervent believers, those who aren't think we are all nuts. People like to justify their decision to buy from Best Buy and Circuit City, by NOT hearing a difference. "You paid HOW MUCH for those wires?".....
Well, Don't be...
It's realy easy to find a good CD-player among above 1k ones but very hard to find in low-hundreds range and even among carousels. Some of cheap Best Buy ones will sound like crap but some of them do deserve attention...