Is advice from a constant upgrader to be avoided

@surfcat

Ditto!!

If you have problems with the gear flippers, you can always go to the ignorant for advice. As we all know, lack of experience is a huge advantage.   ;) 

Don't think for a moment that holding a system for decades is advantageous, except fiscally. In terms of sound quality, it's gentrification. You assure the sound quality is slipping further from SOTA the longer you hold on to your system. If the goal is to not spend money, you have done well. If the goal is to advance your rig and listening experience, you have not done well. 

Now, watch, we'll have a diatribe or two from our "thrifty" members who will blab incessantly about how money is fairly disassociated with performance, etc. 

I am a System Builder, who loves working with different gear to hear the result, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is no worse than the person who does DIY equipment and pretends they have vetted it against manufactured products and claims their homemade stuff is superior. It's no worse than the Mediaphile who has a so-so rig, but spends inordinate amounts of money on media. 

There are all sorts of perspectives and approaches to this hobby. You don't like the gear flippers? Fine, find someone who anchors to their gear and take their advice. It's not life or death. 

mid-fi-crisis, you summarized, "

Is the constant flipper/upgrader always going to say that the gear they used to own was no good and they've now got better? Maybe their constant searching is because their ear is no good or they're addicted to the rush of opening a new box. "

You are overlooking another possiblity, one you may not like. The performance spectrum is much larger than you seem to realize. Show me a gear flipper who is habitually moving backwards in sound quality? You won't find many. They are advancing their systems, and why? Because the spectrum of performance is enormous and it goes quite a ways upward into SOTA. Nothing wrong with their ears at all. They just realize that there is a lot more out there to obtain than the average person realizes and they are committed to it. Most audiophiles want to pretend they are really pushing to get SOTA. No, they are not. They give lip service to it. They don't put in the money, time or energy into it. 

Being a reviewer has allowed me to explore parts of the performance spectrum I never would have visited otherwise. I change gear to go deeper into the performance spectrum. So, is there any inherent advantage to listen to someone with less expereince? No, as ignorance is not terribly helpful in this regard. YMMV

Again, we will have all sorts of inexperineced types or chintzy audiophiles arguing that this is all wrong. I do not care about their opinions and have no interest in debating my discussion. 

When I wish to learn, I pay less attention to what others say. I build systems, and imo so do those who are actually working to obtain superior sound. 

So, pick; get your advice from someone who is largely ignorant of the performance spectrum, or someone with much more expereince. You pick your authority, you get your results.  :) 

+1 surfcat

I was crafting my reply at about the same time as you and did not see it until I posted. We seem to be approaching the topic similarly. As a former chintziphile who displayed the arrogance that so often comes with ignorance, I don't have much patience for it any longer. 

Yes

I can only give anecdotal evidence of a couple local to me flippers. One guy has probably five to ten each of nearly all main pieces of equipment in house at any one time. No room treatments, careless equipment placement, no AC upgrades. Last time I went over to purchase a piece, listened to what was his main system at time, always has at least two systems up and running, main system nearly $100k just in pre, amps, speakers, this with rather mid fi dac. Anyway, very blah sound, lack of resolving power. Upstairs system mid fi all the way although not mid fi price.

I could have put together the best pieces he had in house at time, take some care in what some call tweaks, made a very nice sounding system. This guy obviously doesn't care about sound quality, in fact he wanted mostly to speak about his obsession with audio shows and hob nobbing with audio manufacturers, designers. I see his items up for sale quite often, so still in flipping business. I don't see him giving advice on the forums I visit.

Another local to me I only had phone conversations with, invited me over a number of times, always made excuses not to go. This guy had limitless funds to spend on audio, but far more into cars, he always went on and on about his latest purchases of both, could tell from phone conversations he wasn't into music, all he listened to was heavy rock, and purchases were only signals of status. Boring, smug wealthy nitwit. Don't know if this one giving advice on forums.

So, based on these two, yes, they are clueless and I'd never trust their opinions about much of anything. On the other hand I've been in communication with former flippers who seem to have great knowledge of gear, tweaks, music. These guys I would trust.

In the end, I'd only trust former flippers, those who've discovered what they DON'T like, finally found what they like. While I never considered myself a flipper as I built systems slowly over many years adding new pieces now and then, I too found that discovering what I DIDN'T like let me understand what I do like. IMO, it takes this contextual knowledge to offer advice only to those who know the direction of their system building. The one asking for advice needs to understand their destination point, and the build has to reflect that. Without that understanding, one is likely to become flipper themselves.