@grislybutter   It's all about priorities. After hearing an 8K DAC (which I agree is quite expensive)  What are you willing to give up to obtain one.  If it's skipping Starbucks and making coffee at home then it makes sense.  If it's not taking your kid to the doctor when they're sick then it doesn't.

To answer your question does a 3k subwoofer sound better than a $300 one probably and to each they're own.  To some it sounds $2700 better to some not so much but I'm pretty sure most listeners would say "Oh yeah, it's better"

$10.00

Next guess.

$10.00

Whenever I read reviews of supercars, I never begrudge those who can afford them. Sure, It'd be nice but you won't see me going on a supercar forum decrying the costs of the cars. 

Instead, I just keep on reading the reviews and imagine myself, one day, getting the chance to finally own something approaching that kind of car. It's a nice form of escapism, what with all the videos they now have.

I remember reading some advice one reviewer said about posting the images of the gear you dream about and placing them on the wall above your speakers so you can conflate the two realities: the one you have and the one you don't, and be done with it all. The reviewer even went further saying you could always upgrade the component images as time goes by and your tastes change. 

Great advice. 

All the best,
Nonoise

Guess how much Elon Musk’s top of the line Sonus Faber surround sound system costs? At least the speaker part. You came to the right place to find out.

Guess how much Elon Musk’s Sonus Faber surround sound system costs?  At least the speaker part. 

I remember someone here who claimed extraordinary results with a $500 system because he had the acoustics figured out.

Ah yes, and he often got quite aggressive and defensive about his assertions.  

I remember someone here who claimed extraordinary results with a $500 system because he had the acoustics figured out. I also see many folks with 6 digit systems in non treated rooms who keep upgrading equipment to reach their sound nirvana. It takes all kinds to tame the beast. I don't have any problems with either. However the op must feel like he got a thousand pounds off his back after that lengthy confession. Sure it was therapeutic for him.

The beauty of this hobby is that you can assemble a really nice system for very reasonable money if you know what you are doing. Reasonable money will have a different meaning for each individual.

It sounds like you are resigned to buying what you can afford.

If you are asking for gear advice, that's unclear.

I lived in Maine from '83 to '92. Beautiful state but limited in terms of employment opportunities. 

@r_dunne71 I am with you. I totally get what you are saying. Any time someone posts: my budget is 8K for a DAC, I gasp. And then I move on. It’s just life. Some people on my street have 2 Teslas. I could scratch my head every time I walk by and wonder: why do they need 2*? How can they afford 2? Are they cooking meth? But life is too short and I have enough things to worry about and be happy about.

And what if - I didn’t have kids that cost an arm and leg, I didn’t have a sick mother who costs and an arm, if I was good at trading stocks, etc. My system would be/could be 10 times more expensive. Would it be 10 times more fun? Would it sound 10 times better? Do expansive cables make a difference? Is a 3K sub better than a $300?
This forum makes sense for people with a lot of money, but it’s not exclusive.. People with a lot of money and experience and knowledge and brains (or just pick 3) can be pretty helpful. And they always have been.

Short version: I click on posts that I can learn from. I am not on the market for 8K DACs so I won’t read, won’t comment.

*I am from a country that's famous for people's happiness determined by their neighbors' misery rather than their own wealth

The 80/20 rule applies.  You can get about 80% of the performance for about 20% of the cost if you're selective.  There are seriously diminishing returns to get that remaining 20%, but if someone has the funds and/or the drive to do it, more power to them.  

Audio is extremely subjective.  You can spend 10 to 100 times the cost, and not necessarily like the resulting sound.  There are also segments of the business who cater to the rich, and price their goods accordingly.  

everyone likes to talk about money here and how much the best equipment will be or how much they can afford or what's the best system for the budget. This and all that, but in reality the poorest people on this planet have nothing but dollarz.

It is all relative. When I jumped back into audio about ten years ago, I too marveled at the money spent on even modest systems. But once your system gets to a certain level, and you get a taste of what it can do for the music, it becomes a bit of an addiction that must be fed. In my case slowly as I could afford it, for others of greater means, they can go all out. I would venture that there are many lower cost systems that outperform the cost no object systems due to the thoughtful selection of components and room design by a dedicated audiophile. 

 

Oh my goodness!

---

Greetings, I have been into music and audio equipment since I was a kid. It started with a hand me down system from my uncle when he bought a new system. I was around 12 or 13 at the time. He gave me a stereo receiver, a pair of speakers, a turntable, and an equalizer. At the time all I had was a "boom box" and a Walkman. This was in the early 80s and I was listening to the endings of classic rock and hard rock and the beginnings of hair bands and glam rock with a little early rap in the mix. He also gave me a few records for the turntable. I don't remember what all the components he gave me were but from what I can recall it was a Realistic receiver and turntable, Pioneer equalizer, and Fisher speakers. It was well used but he took care of his stuff and he was an electronics wizard of sorts, always at Radio Shak buying resistors and capacitors and transistors, heat sinks, wire, etc... for his various projects which included repairing and upgrading stereo equipment so I'm positive that it wasn't stock but it certainly was plenty loud enough to get me on everyone that lived in the building's bad side immediately. I was doing just fine at that with my boom box, hence the need for the Walkman but once I got that stereo hooked up in my room and started blasting Black Sabbath and Ratt, all hell broke loose. But I was hooked so I ended up moving to my uncle's place where things were more tolerant of loud music.

I'm 52 now and have had many different systems over the years. But I've never made myself much money so I haven't had the greatest equipment. I've always been limited to what I could get commercially and locally for the most part with the exception of being able to buy things from the internet in more recent years. So i have been able to do a lot more as far as shopping goes by having access to equipment from pretty much anywhere. However still being limited for funds, i haven't been able to break into the super high end stuff. I've always known that there is a realm of equipment above what I've been limited to but I've never had the money to even be interested enough to explore any of the equipment.

I still don't and I don't expect to ever have that kind of money, however I decided to take a peek at what exists for the super wealthy portion of society and I am completely floored at the prices on some of the equipment I'm seeing. I just don't understand how people can spend the kind of money that this stuff is going for. Nor do I understand what kind of people are willing to spend it. I guess not being a part of that sector of society has a lot to do with this and if I were included in that sector I may feel differently about how preposterous it seems to me. However I'm not in that class and often thankful that I'm not. I've just always had a job and made do with what I get from that, which is not much. That's partially my fault for not having more motivation but also a lot of it has to do with circumstance. These circumstances include where I'm from, my family's background, and factors of society and how I have interacted in it. That's enough material to write a book about and doesn't really have any significance here. However in any case I'm just not one of those people and can't see myself being one. So with that mindset I can't consider how it must be, nor do I wish to.

I've always had to struggle to get what I do consider decent equipment to play my music on and thought that the few things that I had managed to scrape up enough for was pretty good but none of it was or is anywhere near as expensive as even some of the least expensive offerings that I see here and in a few other places that I've visited while checking this stuff out.

I'm also positive that I have damaged my hearing over the years blasting my tunes as well as with some other things I've exposed myself to but I still feel that my hearing is decent. I don't have trouble in conversation and I can hear many things that others around me can't. I do also have Tinnitus but it's only really noticeable when it's dead quiet. I try to avoid that kind of silence and I do this by listening to music when I'm not exposed to the noise of everyday life. I live in Denver Colorado now and it's usually pretty noisy most of the time so it's easier here than when I lived in Maine. I lived there all my life before moving here in Feb of 2014 so I had to have my tunes on much more often.

My boys are grown now and I'm divorced so the struggles of that part of my life are past me and I am doing somewhat better financially being in a city with a thriving economy so I have been slowly building my system. Piece by piece when I can afford a new component or upgrade one of the ones I have and I'm at the point where I'm pretty content with what I have for the time being so I got a little bored and decided to take a peek at the next level and I see that I'm going to have to explore other interests to cure my boredom because there isn't any way that I'm moving to the next level. And from the looks of things, I don't think I would want to even if I somehow did become financially able to. The way I see it, even with things that I'm passionate about, there comes a point where the gains in whatever is being sought after become simply not worth the expense of what it takes in order to achieve them. I find this to be true and consistent with whatever endeavor it is that I might be interested in pursuing. I feel that once a certain level of quality is achieved that going any further is a waste because the expense to do so far outweighs the minimal gains that are the result and this is very accurate with audio equipment.

My system is pretty damn impressive to me and those I choose to associate with and bring into my life to the point where they get to experience it. It's taken me over 5 years to get it to the point it is at and the total I have into it isn't enough to even put a down payment on many of the items for sale here and in other places aimed at the same target group. And I like to think that even if I had tons of disposable funds that I would still be happy with my current system and be sickened by the thought of having enough to buy what is included in the next level. There's definitely some things about society that just don't add up. At least not to me. But then again, who am I...

                                                               AND?

Was there a point in that rant other than to denigrate people who use their disposable income as they choose?

Well, that's 5 minutes of my life I won't get back. 

 and I am completely floored at the prices on some of the equipment I'm seeing. I just don't understand how people can spend the kind of money that this stuff is going for

I guess not being a part of that sector of society has a lot to do with this and if I were included in that sector I may feel differently about how preposterous it seems to me.

My system is pretty damn impressive to me and those I choose to associate with and bring into my life to the point where they get to experience it.

There's definitely some things about society that just don't add up. At least not to me.

I am sure that it is all relative.  You didn't list your current system, but I suppose there is probably a segment of the population who would find its cost to be outrageous and who also could not understand why someone would spend  as much as you have spent on it.

FTR:  my system is NOT one of the 'cost-is-no-object' systems.  I have some pieces that once upon a time I would have thought that I would have never laid out the kind of $ that they were going for, but there are plenty of members here who have more in their speakers than I have in the whole shebang. And I will also say that if were within my means, I would continue to upgrade;