Is there a ceiling limit on what you are willing to pay for an audio component?

I discovered that sound quality nowadays, in a mature audio industry, that sound quality minimal satisfying threshold had no direct relation to money cost at all..

We must LEARN how to pair the right components thats all...

my system is so good that my wife want divorce because i repeat each day that my music is so good that i dont believe it...

Upgrade is ALWAYS possible even passed the minimal satisfaction threshold where i am...

the cost of upgrading my 700 bucks system will be around 15,000 bucks... I am so well informed trust me i know that it will be a REAL upgrade...

but i am so pleased with what i have that i think about the upgrade as foolishness even if it will be really better this i am totally certain ...

What i have now is two piece of gear considered top high end of their era in 1978... one piece is not even upgradable , the headphone... it rival a Stax Omega headphone... 😊

Even with a billion dollars i will need nothing more than near 15,000 bucks... It is because i know exactly what i need and why...

😊

 

Interesting indeed...

 

We're not the only only ones of course. Folks like YouTube reviewer Andrew Robinson have openly admitted that after owning loudspeakers that cost well in excess of $20k (Revel, B&W etc) he has managed to find the same level of quality at much lower prices, and with far less disturbance to his mental health.

It's no surprise therefore that he considers himself a recovering audiophile.

I am not "poor" even in retirement...

But my wife control the supply money all my life because i dont have time or interest for money management and my only expanses were for books  and music...

When the day come to buy a 15,000 bucks dreamed system, she does not say no, but she does not say yes too...

i decided to go with an under 1000 bucks system vintage... I learned basic acoustic to fulffil my dreams , thanks to her management money skills, without her i would had as most people learn nothing and buy everything...

Now with my headphone system i even beat my speakers/acoustic room... Just in the bass department i go under 30 hertz... I am more than happy with my 600 bucks system...

For sure i dream about the ultimate upgrade  at 15,000 bucks who will give me not a system beating most audiophile average system but would be for the ratio S.Q./low price ( 15,000 bucks) one of the best in the world...because i know what i am doing now .... Thanks to my thrifty  wife...

 

 My very best to you...

 

When my wife's head hits the ceiling....that's my limit. ☹

 

😊

We think the same...Thanks for the post...

Audio for me is acoustic problems...It is an occasion to think in a new world of dancing waves and an occasion to see how  my brain compute space and how my unconscious brain live in a time zone of his own...

 

 

I have never felt like a fool with audio.
 

I have values… things that I value and things I do not. Until I was 50 I never bought a new car… had cheap used ones, would not pay a lot for tp, I would never buy drinks at a bar, but I had a new PC every two years and would put a very significant amount of my income into high end audio. Because a very small improvement in my audio system would bring me great pleasure. Like the really good bottle of Bordeaux that I would save up for and have once every month or two.

High end audio is not a fools game for people that understand themselves and their values, recognizing the pursuit is extremely complex, but can be amazingly rewarding. I love extremely ambiguous and complex problems…so Audiophilia is perfect.

The fact that i learned how to not be a fool  anymore by being an active player and no more a passive consumer dont implicate that i am alone in this state here...

Then saying that my description EXCLUDE all other people and claiming that what i say implicate that all others are fool save me, is an erroneous judgement about my post and character ...

I had been a fool all my life in audio matter ... But i learned that to be more than a passive consumers is the road to freedom and knowledge by acoustic basic  EXPERIMENTS and experimenting with  creative simple devices ( i never bought tweaks) ... This experiments i created for me  dont make me the one and only wise dude here...

😊

Then dont put in my mouth  , what you feel in you and only in you...Dont confuse your feeling with my intention...

 Trying to communicate with others what i know for sure as i did dont implicate that i am the only wise guy here... There is many others more wise than me and with more experience in audio here , do you want name ?  😊

 

I guess we’re all fools here....well, all but one of us.

You miss my point

First : there exist better audio system than mine...

Second : i know exactly how to upgrade and why ... I know even the cost...

Because i understand my experience listenings experiments what is A SOUNDFIELD :

(a) imaging differentiation

(b) a VARIABLE not a fixed soundstaging dimensions according to each recording

(c) an holographic volume (3-d) associated with each sound source with a balance ration with the factor of listwener envelopment ASW/LV

Observe that in my experience the soundfield had three aspects not two as in ALL audio reviews... Observe that if i could know that, it is because i can MODIFY at will the relation between "sound sources" and the" listener envelopment" ( which are precise acoustic concept )  IN MY DEDICATED ROOM...

Now with headphone i know which  headphone could give me this soundfield and how i will learn  to improve it with the headphone i picked and i did it after 6 months  for my COMPLETE SATISFACTION...Not only a subjective satisfaction but a satisfaction based on acoustic precise factors... : timbre, dynamic, transients, immersiveness, Bass and highs frequencies range  and ESPECIALLY the three soundfield dimensions above...

Three: Then i dont need to upgrade over this ceiling of  15,000 bucks because the two component i picked for the upgrade would be the best dac in the world created by a physicist Dr. Choueri, who revolutionized  "virtual room acoustic"... it is not a dac  who do as most dac do  on the market at all... But i cannot use two pages to explain to you what is the BACCH filters look on the internet to see what i talk about ...

The amplifier i will pick to upgrade my Sansui alpha which was already  top in the wolrd amplifier in 1990  with  a high S. Q. /low price ratio , is also a  NEW design created by a physicist, David Berning, who revolutionize tube amplification TOTALLY... His tube amplifier had nothing to do WITH ANY OTHER tube amplification in any brand ... It is a patented technology : ZOTL tech.  Read about him to understand...

My headphone are already top of the world in 1978 created by a physicist too, Dr, Gorike..­ The only successful hybrid headphone  technology on the market since 45 years... With an acoustic control of the shell with  a passive tuned grid of Helmholtz  resonators ( a unique soundfield )   and now with modifications and optimization , after 6 months of listening experiments with them, i made 6 major modifications, they  are today also top of the world at least in S.Q. /price ratio...Good luck to buy better at any price....

Then with these 3 components i will be in heaven....At 15,000 bucks... I am already in Heaven at 600 bucks and dont even need to upgrade with 15,000 bucks... But if i had the money i will do it because this will not be a marginal upgrade ... Especially because of the Dr. Choueri Dac..

It is always possible to buy an Orpheus Sennheiser system for example  , and who knows ! it may be an  upgrade a bit over my three components at 55,000 of cost...This i dont know but i doubt it a lot... because the Orpheus without Dr. Choueri 10, 000 bucks dac will not compete with my upgraded system...

But i am not a fool, i dont need any upgrade now;  i am already in heaven with a 600 bucks system and i smile because ignorant put speakers of 100,000 bucks in a living room instead of putting 25, 000 bucks one in a dedicated acoustic room... Most people had not the time ( i am retired) to learn basic acoustic for 2 years with listening experiments each day without  rest... I did it...

Sorry but i believe my ears and acoustic experiments... Nothing else...

Price tag are for passive consumers not for acoustician, even nor  for experienced amateur like me... i could be fooled 13 years ago and i was... No more after many years of acoustic experience...

I hope i was clear...

In a word my hobby was acoustic of small room and listening music... My hobby never was collecting gear upgrades... And it will never be even as billionaire..

The best audio system in the world yes is my goal  for the ratio S.Q./low price ratio ( 15,000 bucks is enough with my knowledge)

Fools, look for the best in the world at any price without even knowing what is a soundfield and how to create or modify it... I am no more one... I learned and studied a bit... 😊

 

 

Ok. You are completely calibrated for your income level. You completely understand the sound quality / price levels and understand the optimal point. Now, say, your income level and savings quadruples.

So, do you seriously mean to say you don’t change your buying behavior? No. BS. Absolutely not. You can pontificate as much as you want, give as much to charity as you want… but you are going to realize that the X sounds better and will only cost you .1% more of your income.

Sorry. But your income is one of the two key determinates of the sq/value equation. If you really love sound quality and your income goi]es up, so does your carefully calculated equation of sq/price. This is the way humans work.

I Want to pay 15,000 bucks max...

Even if i had a billion in my bank account..

Why ?

Because i know what i am doing and why i do it...

I know exactly which components will give me the best optimal S.Q. /low price ratio in the world right now for the least of money...

If you dont know where you must go and why, you then throw money at high price tag because with ignorance of basic acoustic concept and no experience and experiments with it, you dont know what to do first, save throwing money at costly components which had enough good reviews and are the costlier one...

I did not and will not do that... All my components will be chosen for specific acoustic reason first...not for esthetic or brand name but for their probable acoustic delivery in relation with the headphone or the speakers/room chosen...

But i am now with headphone ... I will pick the two other components for optimizing the specific headphone i own... I will not replace my 100 bucks headphone for any other at any price...Or perhaps i will upgrade with the orpheus Sennheise at 55,000 bucks to make people envious...But it is way over my 15,000 bucks dreamed and top of the world system... i am not even sure that the Orpheus will be better on ALL acoustic factors... At this price i will not upgrade to experience  an improvement on most acoustic factor except one or two... 😊