When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?


I've always been a little bit suspicious when gear costs more than $25,000 . At $25,000 all the components should be the finest, and allow room for designer Builder and the dealer to make some money.

I mean that seems fair, these boxes are not volume sellers no one's making a ton of money selling the stuff.

But if I'm listening to a $40,000 amplifier I imagine me Liking it a whole lot more just because it costs $40,000. How many people have actually experienced listening to a $40,000 amplifier.  It doesn't happen that often and usually when you do there's nothing else around to compare it to.  
 

I'm just saying expensive gear is absolutely ridiculous.  It's more of a head game I'm afraid. Some how if you have the money to spend, and a lot of people do, these individuals feel a lot better spending more money for something.  Now you own it, and while listening to it you will always be saying to yourself that thing cost $40,000 and somehow you'll enjoy it more.

 

jumia

Showing 1 response by hilde45

This question is kind of the Achilles' heel that Schiit (not exclusively but especially) is exploiting. Their approach is pretty simple -- they are saying, in effect,

"We know that you know that a certain amount of care has to go into construction and parts, and that much of the rest of quality depends on the brainpower behind design and testing. And the ability of those involved to listen and care about the results. Beyond that, fancy boxes and marketing techno-blather could just be hiding bad product or lack of care. We get that and we don't do that; we are smart and we care."

Youtube guys like OCD Mikey and Danny at GR research also call attention to the possible divorce between price and quality. It's pretty much a standard go-to for any reviewer, I suppose.

Then there are the quiet giants, such as Mike at Quicksilver or Fritz. Their stuff is nice enough looking and everything else comes back to customer experience. And their price points are never out of control. But their gear is not sufficiently bling-y for someone wanting to say to their friends, "I'm very rich."