The myth of "best" in audio needs to be addressed by all of us


After spending a year and half deeply immersed in audiophilia (with so much enjoyable benefit), I've identified my tendency (seemingly share by many) to chase the fantasy of "best" in this perfectionistic hobby/pursuit.  It leads to obsessiveness, second-guessing, acrimony between audio tribes, and personal insecurity when reading these forums and all the reviews.  

But, thinking about it, how could there ever be a "best" component, cable, or speaker for listening to music.  This is a subjective experience!!! 

From a purely measurement/engineering perspective -- "best" could mean a lot of things (but they don't automatically mean more enjoyable sonics). 

In listening and enjoying music, there is no "best" -- only "favorite".  And even "favorite" can change -- it certainly has for me.  I've gone back and forth multiple times on all sorts of gear preferences. You can like what you like, you don't have to defend it, and nobody should mess with it!

Anybody else want to fight the harmful myth of "best" in audio?
redwoodaudio

Showing 1 response by stevewharton

It's a journey not a destination, it's a pursuit of perfection that's never quite within our reach, the designers and manufacturers keep things in a constant state of evolution that continues to move the goal line - thank goodness

Cars, computers, etc best of breed today has a top of the line shelf life of 3-5 years

The evolution of product development will always have a smaller, more powerful or higher capacity, bigger bang for the buck model to excite and entice us

Contrary to popular belief, most of us on this forum have more brains than money and are genuinely concerned about long term price performance ROI than chasing the new shiny object that is described to us by world class word salad spin masters as sexy beyond what our mere mortal ears can comprehend

That said, we typically know our weakest link(s) and turn over every stone looking at all the options at our disposal to move to the next level

It's a lot less ready, fire, aim and we tend to operate more in a trust but verify fashion before investing in the next purchase

Enjoy the journey guys and happy listening