WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HATE FOR THE HIGH END GEAR ON AUDIO GEAR?


It seems like when I see comments on high end gear there is a lot of negativity. I have been an audiophile for the last 20 years. Honestly, if you know how to choose gear and match gear a lot of the high end gear is just better. When it comes to price people can charge what they want for what they create. If you don’t want it. Don’t pay for it. Look if you are blessed to afford the best bear and you can get it. It can be very sonically pleasing. Then do it. Now if you are also smart and knowledgeable you can get high end sound at mid-fi prices then do it. It’s the beauty of our our hobby. To build a system that competes with the better more expensive sounding systems out there. THOUGHTS?

calvinj

@calvinj 

Yes, music can impact us in ways we may not fully understand.

Back in the days when life was chaotic (dumpster fire would have been an upgrade), I found that at the end of the day, music was 100% predictable.  Sit down in the listening chair, strap myself in and queue up something.  In the Beatle's Martha My Dear, those horns would always arrive at the right place, at the right time, EVERY time.  Gave me hope, and a little tranquility.  And, peace.  My investment was probably a "little above my pay grade."  But, worth every penny.

In my experience money and high end upgrades so superior they could be matter way less than acoustics with an (s)...

Even the definition of what is the source of the playback is confused with the choices of a dac or a turntable creating meaningless debates about the gear choices and by putting emphasis on gear fetichism , missing then the acoustics /psycho-acoustics problems which are conflated then , not even to mere room acoustic controls but this last conflated with few panels on a wall ...

The source is acoustics of the recording original room process , nevermind the digital or analog choices , the end result is not FROM the speakers but from the ears/brain/system-speakers/room parameters ..

Sound experience is a qualia , a wholeness we can control to some point with acoustics/psycho-acoustics ...But it is not a mere quantity, save for those who confuse the experience with some parameters, and those who conflate sound experience acoustics conditions with the gear experience...

Most audiophiles i observed if i read threads brag about their gear not about their acoustics knowledge and experience .... And anyway even the embeddings electrical and mechanical controls matter as much that the gear choices and prices in most cases ...

@bob70 

Welcome to the forum and please stick around. We need more of your common sense wrapped in a package of humor around here.

Welcome @bob70 

Man, I miss the days when I drove an American jalopy - stereo was a Pioneer in-dash with Jensen 6x9s under the package deck - some of the best days of my life!

@jacobsdad2000 hey yes is I am both. But I’m an audiophile first.  I ask the question as an audiophile. I been an audiophile longer than I been both. I’ve been blessed to do well in my career. I enjoy helping clients find their way as audiophiles too. I say this because I listen to my rig daily. Brings me a smile. Spent years getting to this point.  It’s not just an expensive system. It’s one that I took my time researching, tweaking and carefully choosing the gear in it. Based on the knowledge I learned for years.  I only became a dealer because I truly believe in the designer and the product.  If I didn’t I would just do what I been doing. Just being an audiophile.  Take care my friend.