2. misc-audio
  3. 152119-137844

The 5 stages of making a bad audio purchase

This is tongue in cheek people, so let’s keep the replies light shall we?
The 5 Stages of Making a Bad Audio Purchase:

1. Denial: "My system, which before was of course totally awesome, is now totally awesomer! The sound stage isn’t just 3 dimensional any more, it is 4 dimensional. I can feel fingers sliding across guitar strings, drums are like my head is against the snare, and the bass goes 10hz lower ...."

2. Anger: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T BELIEVE MY SYSTEM WENT FROM AWESOME TO AWESOMER!!!. You obviously have a crap system, your ears are crap, you are just jealous."

3. Bargaining: "Hey, this gadget will make your already awesome system totally awesomer! 60% of MFR list is a great deal for it! That’s 40% off and you don’t even have to pay tax. I am only selling it because I am upgrading to the even awesomer version 2. My loss is your gain."

4. Depression: "I can’t believe I spent $5,000 on this thing ....."

5. Acceptance: "Sure, 75% off list is fair."
atdavid
mwoh419
54 posts
 
Step 13

After getting lost in the rabbit hole you find yourself thoroughly frustrated... sell everything... and start from scratch.

( not my experience )
mwoh419
54 posts
 
"Back to the topic.....Is it the Journey or the Destination that matters."

For me it's the destination... and everyone's destination may be different. 

Problem is you won't know you're "there"... until you have "arrived".
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
It’s actually a journey without a destination. One issue I see a lot is that many audiophiles don’t know where the sound of their system lies in the overall curve of sound quality. Maybe they think they’re 5% from Audio Perfection so they give up. Your mental image of HiFi perfection is only as good as the best system you’ve heard. 
atdavid OP
736 posts
 
I haven't heard any "best" system, but I have heard a lot of very good systems. They all had qualities I liked, but where one excelled in one area, others excelled in other areas.

When I am on my death bed, though, there is one thing I am absolutely certain of. When I look back on life, having an audio system better than 99.9% of the population will not even make it into the top 10 of things I was grateful for. Music perhaps, it certainly makes life worth living. Having shared musical events with people I care about, almost definitely. Having developed products that have helped people enjoy life through music, quite likely. But having a super awesome stereo ... I doubt it.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,251 posts
 
Being an audiophile you will make mistakes on our purchases, why it’s important to audition for free, Ive been an audiophile for maybe good 25 yrs, I usually makes mistakes, when I get too excited of what Iam hearing, at the end it’s only changed not improvement, I do well on my purchase when I am more patience, waiting for cables and components to settle and completely burn in, that’s what reviewers does, I listen listen listen to my system to really familiarize it.So I will know if indeed worth keeping any gear I Am auditioning, Doug Schroeder once mentioned, the most import part of the system is the audiophile, knowledgeable Audiophile knows what they want, and mostl of them they have good train ears.
More to discover