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??? Which Would You Buy ???

 So your in the market for a new component,amp,speakers,DAC,doesn't matter what it is...You have a budget of say $7500.00...You aren't made of $ & this amount represents a significant investment in time spent working & saving & will likely be the only upgrade you can make for the next several years...The rest of your system is good,what is considered mid level gear..
 After extensive research,time & money spent seeking out & demo'ing many choices you narrow your shortlist down to 3 different choices..2 of these choices are from well established manufacturers, have good reviews,sound very good in the demo environment & have excellent build quality but will max out your budget..
The third choice is 1/3 the price of the other 2,is a fairly new product & has limited but positive feedback on sound quality,comes from an established manufacturer that many high end manufacturers have sourced to build their products,has  very good build quality but not quite up to the level of the others & offers about 85% the sound quality of the others...
 Choosing item #3 saves you about $5000.00,meaning you could also upgrade another component or bank the savings...Which do you buy???
 

freediver
freediver OP
1,400 posts
 

Jesus people..There is no specific gear in consideration..I thought the premise was pretty straight forward, @mitch2 ​​@rar1 seem to understand the question...
@rar1’s second reply nailed the premise of my post..You have 2 expensive pieces & 1 that is about 1/3 the cost of the other 2,yet it provides roughly 85% of the performance of the other 2..Do you blow the budget on one of the top choices or settle for a bit less performance & bank the change or put it towards another component upgrade...

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,980 posts
 

Then it’s a common scenario.  Spend more and play it safe or spend less and accept some risk. 
 

FWIW With  my current amp, I took some risk and went with a less expensive and lesser known option and it worked out perfectly. 

mrdecibel
3,175 posts
 

It’s impossible to answer! No one can answer the question! Why can no one answer?..... It is a trick question!......... Enjoy! MrD.

rar1's avatar
rar1
1,828 posts
 

@freediver -

Hi.  Musings for a Sunday night.  What influences my decisions somewhat these days, is my age (68).  My listening habits have changed (spend less time listening, as opposed to more).  If I were to drop major cash, I doubt I would get the most out of my purchase (s).  I also am convinced that if I were to pass before I whittled my stuff down, my wife would either be filling up a dumpster with equipment, CDs, records, and shirts & ties or paying the super's nephew to drag the stuff away.  

In all candor, I would have thought 25 years ago that I would be owning a Mac or a Luxman or an Accuphase or etc in my old age, but not to be; life got in the way.  I have become content with mid-level gear.  So, if I had $7k to spend, I would most likely buy a few things, as opposed to just one.

 

Rich 

rar1's avatar
rar1
1,828 posts
 

And I here I thought an example of a trick question was ... have you stopped cheating on your wife?  wink

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