Is advice from a constant upgrader to be avoided

I can only give anecdotal evidence of a couple local to me flippers. One guy has probably five to ten each of nearly all main pieces of equipment in house at any one time. No room treatments, careless equipment placement, no AC upgrades. Last time I went over to purchase a piece, listened to what was his main system at time, always has at least two systems up and running, main system nearly $100k just in pre, amps, speakers, this with rather mid fi dac. Anyway, very blah sound, lack of resolving power. Upstairs system mid fi all the way although not mid fi price.

I could have put together the best pieces he had in house at time, take some care in what some call tweaks, made a very nice sounding system. This guy obviously doesn't care about sound quality, in fact he wanted mostly to speak about his obsession with audio shows and hob nobbing with audio manufacturers, designers. I see his items up for sale quite often, so still in flipping business. I don't see him giving advice on the forums I visit.

Another local to me I only had phone conversations with, invited me over a number of times, always made excuses not to go. This guy had limitless funds to spend on audio, but far more into cars, he always went on and on about his latest purchases of both, could tell from phone conversations he wasn't into music, all he listened to was heavy rock, and purchases were only signals of status. Boring, smug wealthy nitwit. Don't know if this one giving advice on forums.

So, based on these two, yes, they are clueless and I'd never trust their opinions about much of anything. On the other hand I've been in communication with former flippers who seem to have great knowledge of gear, tweaks, music. These guys I would trust.

In the end, I'd only trust former flippers, those who've discovered what they DON'T like, finally found what they like. While I never considered myself a flipper as I built systems slowly over many years adding new pieces now and then, I too found that discovering what I DIDN'T like let me understand what I do like. IMO, it takes this contextual knowledge to offer advice only to those who know the direction of their system building. The one asking for advice needs to understand their destination point, and the build has to reflect that. Without that understanding, one is likely to become flipper themselves.

@surfcat  Wow, what reactionary comments to my post, can't even discern my agreement that experienced may in fact be trusted advisors. I simply pointed out two local flippers I wouldn't trust giving me advice. Are you making the argument that all flippers are trusted advisors?

Now as to why its important to  understand what you don't like before you can determine your preferences for sound quality. I'd like to think that most of us have a destination in mind  when we took up this hobby/obsession. I assume this destination is to have a wonderful at home music listening experience. Certainly most have to experience much equipment to reach this goal, equipment comes, equipment goes, the equipment that goes is what you DIDN'T like. You may also end up at a destination you discover doesn't satisfy in the long run, that may be a system that's excessively analytical or romantic, at this point you've discovered you DON"T like that particular overall sound quality.

And so, you say we don't need to learn what we dislike,  so the question becomes, is there anything you dislike? Why did you change out equipment if you did in fact like what you just got rid of? For no reason? You either found that piece of equipment lacking in some manner or you're just churning equipment. The churner has no destination I can discern, or at least the same destination that I and many others have.

Also, I can't trust the churner's opinion about any piece of equipment they're selling  or reviewing since they can't say they DIDN'T like it, remember not liking equipment or particular sound qualities is of no consequence in discovering what you do like. This is an attitude that permeates professional reviews, virtually nothing is bad here, have to read between the lines in order to discern the barrest minimum of contextual perceptions.

When  purchasing used equipment one of my first questions is, why are you selling this piece?  Churners never tell me anything of consequence, they'll just tell you they're moving on, the honest person will tell you what they didn't like about how piece fit in their system. I certainly have no issue with churners telling me nothing, with so many constantly changing variables (the constant churn) what else could they say. I've had churners buy equipment from me as well, saw the piece I just sold them up for sale a day or two later. Not flipping to make profit, I guess they determined after one or two listening sessions piece not good. Seems to me they could have done some due diligence and researched sound qualities of this particular piece prior to purchase and the churn. In this case I suspect addiction to the churn. This type of churner has nothing of consequence to say in reason for sale,  just as they don't in giving advice.

On the other hand, the former churner has reached their destination, that destination being the enjoyment of music played on that particular collection of equipment. Certainly, they may over the long run continue to change out a piece here and there, but that doesn't mean their unhappy with the present destination, rather its like visiting a formerly unknown place of interest within lived in town.

After nearly thirty years at this I'm so happy I've reached my destination, yes, there are some unknown places of interest in my town, but I sure love my town.

In conclusion, I have no problem with churners with a destination in mind, at least this person can tell you specific issues they had with equipment, they gave it a fair shake. The other kind of churner simply changes out equipment because they're moving on, what does this tell me, nothing of consequence, without a fair shake they'll tell you whatever you want to hear, or criticism that may have no merit. I also think its fair to question the credentials of those whith very limited experience with variety of equipment, they lack the contextual knowledge.