Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

geoffkait3,587 posts06-15-2016 12:00pmTo my knowledge no audiophile ever thought his sound was unacceptable. Even when it sounds like cats being tortured.

or acceptable for that matter.

geoffkait3,587 posts06-15-2016 4:26pm Thus the square of the imaginary number 3i is -9. 

True but still hard to imagine.

So to answer the original question - audiophiles are not quite out of their minds but sometimes their neuronal "cabling" needs recalibration. More difficult in some cases than the others.

wattsperchannel
102 posts
06-15-2016 8:29pm
geoffkait3,587 posts06-15-2016 12:00pmTo my knowledge no audiophile ever thought his sound was unacceptable. Even when it sounds like cats being tortured.

"or acceptable for that matter."

good catch.

Facten,

"ask dracule1 a question , what's the difference in making a decision to purchase an expensive (new or used) DAC like the Golden Gate when there are presumably good sounding less expensive DACs, and someone making a decision to purchase expensive vs inexpensive cables?"

Glad you asked, but let me rephrase you're question to be consistent with my original post.  Why spend tens of thousands of dollar on wire when other components in your system like acoustic room treatment, speakers, DACs, turntables, amps make more of a difference in sound and often cost less than wire?  For example, a 10' pair of Nordost Odin 2 speaker wire retails for $46k.  That's close to 3x the cost of the Golden Gate DAC.  And more than 12x  the cost of my acoutic room treatment.  Which do you honestly think makes more of an improvement in your system? IME, the audio wire loses embarrassingly. The GG DAC is hand built, contains components that require in-depth knowledge of engineering, is orders of magnitude more complex in parts and construction, etc. Acoustic room treatment makes the biggest improvement IME.  OTOH, there's no rocket science in audio wire construction (I know high priced cable manufacturers will argue otw. E.g. electrons in our wire travel at the speed of light. 😒) .  Audiophile wire can be made in miles by a machine unless you're boutique one man operation working out of your home.  Most of these high prices wire is copper, not gold or palladium or platinum.  There's nothing about audiophile wire that justifies some of the stratospheric prices asked by many of these cable manufacturers.  

Dracule1, unless you are a rocket scientist you cannot say if this kind of science is required or not to design or build a great cable. You simply are not qualified to judge it from this angle.
And another point. Some people have enough funds for everything including $70k cables, but I don't think that you do. Nor do I. Yes, wealth distribution in this country is far from fair. I don't like it but I can tolerate it unless it is totally out of control. Can you?