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 Expectation Gap
So over the course of my life I have recognized the fact that in general, when I am looking to improve or upgrade audio components, there is a sense of my need to
acknowledge that if I get too hyped by own excitement, or by the salesman or
from reading “Audio Reviews”, there’s a fairly good chance that upon receiving
said piece of equipment, whether amplifier, disc player, speakers etc. Hooking it
up and during my initial listening session provides an enjoyable experience.
However, after a few days, weeks or maybe months, I feel compelled to grab the
piece I replaced and hook it up again and give it a listen. Not surprising that often
I recognize that the latest upgrade is not as significant improvement as I had
previously expected. This phenomenon was more apparent when there was a
significant price difference, where I had expected a more significant improvement over the previous older component which was much less expensive.
What I find absolutely fascinating is when I have zero expectations for a product and it’s considered an absolute bargain, and inserting it into my system and it blows me away! I Love it! Over the course of my 65 plus years of my life, this
is always a most welcome experience.
As a side note, I have had a similar experience with watching Movies that have been hyped up by friends or reviews, and upon viewing the films I just didn’t enjoy
the movies at all. Conversely, a Movie that I know nothing about, with actors I
have never heard of , and the movie is amazing.(happens fairly often)
So, I recognize that my having a traumatic brain injury, I probably don’t experience things like everyone else does, but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this “expectation gap” With regards to High End Audio?
Just curious…
So a couple pieces of gear that actually exceeded my expectations…
Audio Alchemy (The top loader transport, DTI Pro 32) Benchmark DAC1, PS Audio (my PCA-2 Preamplifier and HCPS combo) Velodyne FSR-18, F1500
Oppo (Swiss army knife for audio/video) and my modified Marantz SA-11S2 SACD player. A bunch of amplifiers that are no longer in my possession.
How do I fill the gap? Suffice to say it starts with having a grateful mindset.
Enjoy your Music Everyone! I hope this post doesn’t create a firestorm.
It’s all about recognizing some funny quirks that I noticed about myself.