The Expectation Gap

i had the same experiences as you.

Some biases for some gear piece marketing makes me race in a buying wheel.

But after few years of dissatisfaction with my system (headphones and speakers), i decided to learn acoustics in my room...

The magic comes from there (roughly 4 years of experiments, two of which were intense 7 / 7 days because i am retired )

I am very happy now and cured from upgraditis...

@bjpd57a1 

I recently auditioned an over 8K DAC that I’d convinced myself would be my end-game source, based upon reviews and discussions here and yes-- the price tag. 

It proved to be a huge disappointment.  I greatly preferred the sound of my Hegel integrated’s onboard DAC. Just goes to show that it really is true that price does not guarantee listening pleasure in this hobby. 

So... you are not alone! 

We are all different. What you describe does not happen to me. I always swap back in the old after some time goes by.  Just one of the ways I try to verify my assessments Almost always it confirms my initial appraisal... usually it is more pronounced than the swap in of the new piece. 

I have been lucky enough to be friends with a dealer, who has from time to time brought over different high end components to see if he wanted to carry them, and a couple friends thinking of buying equipment who brought it by. So, I have been able to assess a bunch of great equipment with my known system. 

This is fun. With another experienced person I have often formed my opinion and let the other person form theirs. Then one of us will give a summary. The number of times they are nearly word for word... or at least concept by concept exactly the same is amazing, Great way to help hone your skills. 

Over time I've leaned to mitigate initial expectations, hard for reality to live up to the dream world of high expectations. In any case long term satisfaction is the goal, knowing that in advance inherently leads to mitigated initial expectation.

The OP seems to be describing ’confirmation bias’.   

Yet, there are many variables.   If a more expensive component is considerably more resolving than the one it is replacing, it’s quite possible that it is revealing ’weaknesses’ elsewhere in the audio system.   Or it could simply have bad synergy with other components - or cabling.

Audio Enthusiasts have different hearing, different rooms, different speakers, different everything.   When they make suggestions, it’s all very subjective.   There’s no silver bullet solution.   Trial & error.  This is why many manufacturers and dealers offer trial periods.   To deternine if the product works well in your system before committing to it.

how is it confirmation bias?

When that poetic advertiser claims an ethernet cable change was a " night and day" difference, "made his dead petrified soul finally come alive", etc, the audiophile may have gotten giddy like a middleschooler, let his imagination run wild and raised his expectations to high heaven.

It was not his fault, it was the advertiser’s poetry. Hopefully, he had a return window with a full refund everytime the poetry got him bamboozled.

Everything is a "night & day" difference to the poet.

Expectation has a very strong correlation to confirmation bias. Controlling your expectations means less chance for confirmation bias. From my younger days I recall great excitement and expectations with new purchases, my system wasn't where I wanted it to be, and always this hope the new component would put me over the top. I made many mistaken short term qualitative judgements, mere difference may be moves in regressive, lateral or progressive direction over the longer term. Wisdom finally comes from repeated experience, no longer much emotional attachment to new audio purchases and/or short term or initial listening qualitative judgements. I presume this also a function of having achieved sound quality I always dreamed of, new purchases just icing on the cake at this point.

I have had a few instances that the product was better then  advertises by smaller companies that just put results before advertising results in Digital, Preamp, Amplifier . And price value winners , 1 Swiss made, , the other 2 U.S made.

i purposely didnot issue the brand and all are under $10k each, 

@bjpd57a1 

The Expectation Gap

l agree with your Oppo “Swiss Army knife” audio vision link.

I bought the UK badged Oppo…Cambridge Audio 752BD. It exceeded in every way what l was interested in it achieving. Superior Blu-ray reproduction and with upscale to 4K resolution it has remained in service. I have not had to consider going down the more expensive 4K discs path as yet. It is also an impressive SACD player and always more than competant respect for CD playback. Onboard DAC is exemplary too. So it was 4 devices in one box for me. Streaming is not my first choice so the sparse options on offer that let down this piece of equipment is not a minus for me.

The film link you mention and the unexpected films that have surprised you reminds me of flipping TV channels late at night. I have often started watching some quite obscure gem that has kept me awake far too late in the morning than l had planned. “Flashbacks of a Fool” was the film showing the last time this happened.

@bjpd57a1 ...it's the "non-traumatic brain injuries" that I've subjected self to over these years that have added odd depths to my misconceptions of surmise to this, that, and the others...  I hit pause awhile ago in the pursuit of SOTA and relaxed into a stroll of semi-sota that need only please the resident of the squirrel cage of consciousness.... *L*  

....nothing like 'cheap seats' that work well enough...
If it sounds good to moi' and hits the bulk of expectation, even a properly shot rubber band can elicit surprise to the target....;)

'System synergy' is one of those concepts with conditions that can drive one beyond mere drink...  One can relate it to one's computer, esp. if driven to updates and additions to one of those silicone sandboxes...
When the blue screen makes one scream, it tends to launch one into a similar state of expectations....given the wide variety of motherboards, cpu ( "With or without water-cooling?" ), DDR#9...#9...#9..., SSD, HDD, LMNOP....exotic lights that inform nothing but the flicker of the current form of caveside fires....

...and hoping it all blends and bends today's infographic of market meteors....

Bridged By A Lightwave....  keeping the fibre's wound into my mix.... *s*