2. misc-audio
  3. 171473-147045

Is advice from a constant upgrader to be avoided

For a while now I've been reading these forums and to be honest i was thinking of leaving. I felt a bit out of depth given that it seems so many others have had so much experience through owning what seems to be tens of speakers, amplifiers, DACs etc etc and reading people buying and selling piece after piece after piece on the search for some sound.... 

When someone asks advice about a certain item it seems like half the audience have owned it and moved on and have a comment to make. I then read about someone buying an extremely expensive amp and deciding quickly to sell it because it doesn't sound right. Then someone else is on their fourth DAC in a year. 

So all these people have advice to give. What I'm wondering now is, is advice from a person who's never content, constantly changing their system, never living with a system for long enough, and have more money than patience, really the right person to take advice from? .

There seems fewer (maybe they're less vocal) people who buy gear and spend the time to appreciate it, and have maybe only had a very few systems in their lifetime. I think I'd rate their advice higher on the gear they know than the constant flipper/upgrader.

Is the constant flipper/upgrader always going to say that the gear they used to own was no good and they've now got better? Maybe their constant searching is because their ear is no good or they're addicted to the rush of opening a new box. 

Just because person X has owned a lot of equipment doesn't mean their advice is to be sought after, it could mean the exact opposite.

mid-fi-crisis

Showing 1 response by decooney

decooney
2,314 posts
 

Agree with what @geof3 said.  

Some folks upgrade components more frequently to simply try different things and learn. Curiosity gets to us all at some point.  Keep in mind a few have been at this 40-50 years, changing less frequently over longer periods of time and reflecting back on experiences. Worth noting the newer folks who've only been at it say 2-5 years may change out gear more frequently in the early years of their journey.

The old days of going into a nice stereo shop to figure it out up front are winding down leaving many to guess reading internet forum posts, rolling the dice some.  

Sure seems about the time when digital "glare" and crappy digital tracks/recordings came along with a variety of different streaming services, this is when people really went nuts and started rotating all sorts of different gear in/out more frequently at every layer of their systems in an attempt to get rid of it. Good recordings help. :)      

 

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