If I wanted restaurant recommendations, I'd want to hear from folks who dine out a lot. Sure, some are flippers or their unrelenting gear changes are driven by some sort of audio ADD (obviously shorthand and not intended as a comment on genuine disorders). But there are so many flavors of ice cream, and the most direct way to sample them is to try them, not read about them. In that vein, some here are just really trying to nail a certain recipe of speakers, components, cables, room treatment, and source media. And they've owned a fair amount of gear in that pursuit. I absolutely want to hear their balanced, candid, cogent observations. I do not, however, want to hear opinions that are based only on a review, or specs, or some outdated mythology around a certain piece ("Wilson speakers are all too bright", etc). As with so many things, it's case by case, but +1 to the notion of avoiding jackasses.
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.