Throwing 2 High End brands together will not automatically equal success. Thoughts?

@audiotroy 

Good comment.

Now I can’t prove this. But I have a theory about 2).... offsetting components is not quite as effective as 1). 

First, I completely agree that 2) can be done, and should be. I have heard it... you know Benchmark DAC with PS Audio preamp ... cold detailed / warmer and more forgiving. Like that. However my feeling is this can be a sub-optimal solution compared to 1).

So, let’s just consider a trebly detailed front end and a warm next component and a trebly next component... etc. It seems each is subtractive and at the end you have a well balanced less.

So, finding the perfect house sound to your liking is best and using all the same components. I found as I slowly assembled my system, which is now all ARC that each piece seemed to be more synergistic. I think because they were all reinforcive. The same sound qualities from one to the next. Of course all companies do not have exactly the same sound across all components. But many good ones do. 

As I say, I can’t prove it. I’m really not sure how you could... but working in high end audio sales you might be exposed to evidence. 

@ghdprentice I have all Infigo Components and cabling.  It made things way easier for me. I have a system that was made to work with each other.  

Putting components together randomly, whether high end or not, is certainly not calculated to get the best results. Beyond that, hearing is so subjective it’s hard to say more. As you said, you don’t like the Sonos Macintosh match but obviously a lot of people think they are perfect together.

likewise, I’ve been advised that Boulder amps don’t match well with Sonus. On the other hand, I’ve heard from people who have that very set up and claim its the best. I think you can only know what works for you, it’s a mistake to assume it will sound best to someone else. Good advice can help steer people to try certain combinations, but beyond that it gets to be very personal.

My thought is:

"Most of the time, Hi-end audio is not so hi-end after all."

And that is sad for everyone. For example give Quad ESL63 to an ATC guy and see who is happy, In hi-end audio, preferences are more important than SQ?

I wouldn’t say that I ’threw’ different brands together.  Since my budget is limited, I did a lot of homework before purchasing.  The components are made by various manufacturers - some mainstream, some boutique.  Each component is quite capable of contributing highly resolving SQ.   

I attend T.H.E. Show every year.   In comparison to some of the higher-end systems, my modest rig has nothing to be embarrassed about.   It punches far above its weight.   There’s a reason.

It is the cabling that brought everything together in a very organic way.  Synergistic Research - Atmosphere series - upper tiers.  The tuning modules and ground leads offer the capability to tweak the SQ.   It’s fascinating how these modules work - for analog & digital.   Tuning is exactly what they do.    After 20+ years of cable-swapping, these finally allowed my system to reproduce a piano as it should sound.  Well, pretty close to it.*

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* This is in conjunction with much attention to clean AC power.   

I live nearby Steinway and Yamaha piano stores that I visit often.