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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
phusis's avatar
phusis
1,130 posts
 

@atmasphere wrote:

The other advantage of easier to drive speakers is the amplifier, regardless of technology, will make less distortion. That will result in a smoother and more transparent presentation, since a lot of that added distortion will be higher ordered harmonics to which the ear is keenly sensitive, and otherwise distortion tends to obscure detail.

Absolutely, that's a very important aspect I failed to mention - thank you. And sadly very few speakers made today are 16-ohm load, which it seems is another means to lower amp distortion. Not least also having an amplifier only cover a limited frequency span actively, like freeing it from the lower midrange on down, is a liberating measure to lower distortion. 

ps
744 posts
 

The other evening I watched the wonderful special on the legendary Ron Carter, and noticed that his music collection is on CDs played through what looked to be a rather modest stereo system. :)

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larrykell
122 posts
 

Ron Carter fancies himself an audiophile:

 

Ron Carter in Stereophile

 

I guess he hasn’t seen how crazy things can get. 

ps
744 posts
 

@larrykell

Well, Mr. Carter appears to be quite an erudite audiophile! I'm actually not surprised. Thanks for the link.

rolox
180 posts
 

I’m at the extreme other end of the spectrum, with a great value Chinese DAC (Gustard), a fantastic 600$ active crossover (Sublime Acoustic), "gadget" priced low power Chinese class D amps (those cost the price of a meal in a decent restaurant), a great vintage preamp (with too much gain for my system and soon to be replaced with a DIY Pass B1), DIY fully horn loaded speakers (probably around 2000$ global investment as I bought the bass horns ready made second hand), AliExpress cables, Russian capacitors, second hand JMLab subwoofers...

BUT I’ve spent 20 years putting the system together and fine-tuning it.

Are those cheap components as good as high end components? No, of course they aren’t. It would be completely foolish to expect them to be.

Does it feel like I’m listening to a high end system when I sit in the sweet spot and play my favorite records? To my ears, yes, and I do have friends with proper high end stuff that I listen to regularly (and conversely, they listen to my system) and visit hi-fi shows as much as I can, and I don’t feel too frustrated. it’s not only how much you spend, it’s what you make of it, and I’m sure a poorly assembled system of very expensive elements could probably sound much worse than what I own.

While I do envy the ABILITY that some have to purchase the best electronics, I no longer barf in front of that forever unattainable gear.

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