Wisnon, thanks for the clarification.
To recap: your friend is selling his Hugo because he believes it to be a little
lean (his opinion matters in his system) however he is going to purchase
the desktop version of the Hugo when it comes out because he, like you
with the portable Hugo apparently, can reasonably guess how it will sound?
I guess he is guessing it will sound pretty good? It probably will! Heck, he is
probably already thrilled in advance with how nicely the midrange is fleshed
out.
Next, is your assertion that many reviewers don't own every product out
there, of course, is true. They do, however, typically have a couple of
references from which they can compare the sound, as they perceive it, of
a given product in for review. I know of no CREDIBLE reviewer who
reviews a product without first hearing it. You are not the first though I'm
sure who has somehow developed this skill. I must say though that I
sincerely believe you to be an honorable person. Someone otherwise might
have taken their preconceived negative biases that were based on
assumption, not experience, and then demoed the equipment in question
after the fact to confirm their preconceived bias. At least you have shown
the character to not do that and to continue to hold those biases without
firsthand knowledge.
You live in Switzerland, which is very cool (thanks for keeping the Pope
safe) and due to the fact that you know some mega ultra equipment
designers (as you refer to them, not me) is also cool. You are correct in
your supposition that you can, through conversations with highly skilled
experts in a specific field, learn a great deal. I'll wager though that none of
those "mega ultra" friends of yours evaluate any audio product
without first listening.
