@stuartk ,
You're right, I think the absurdity must be part of the attraction.
Let's face it, we're not like the other 99% of the population. Unlike the vast majority for whom the medium is little more than about conveying the message. We seem to be far more passionate about our interest in the entire field of audio playback.
It's not always about maximising absolute performance, some of us might also care about cosmetics, about brand/tribal loyalty, the relationship between ownership and self image, or perhaps about what someone else has said or written about a particular product, or what's domestically acceptable, and financially viable etc.
The main point of contention, perhaps the only point of contention, seems to be when strong disagreement erupts over the suggestion of better sound quality / performance.
This 'suggestion' (it's never more than that) can be conveyed by a multitude of channels. It might be coming from a reviewer, or perhaps some clever ad which tries to distract and bypass our critical faculty, or maybe even some enthusiastic poster on a forum like this.
Perhaps the last 60 years of audio and it's lapse into relativism (nothing is objective) is merely a symptomatic of a much larger malaise.
The world today seems more divided than ever, and trust in politicians, banks, global commerce must be at an all time low.
The only thing we can be sure of is that money remains the only global language. The rest is very unclear.
"And you know something is happening but you don't know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?…"
Suddenly we all seem to have become Dylan's Mr Jones. A quite absurd situation.
You're right, I think the absurdity must be part of the attraction.
Let's face it, we're not like the other 99% of the population. Unlike the vast majority for whom the medium is little more than about conveying the message. We seem to be far more passionate about our interest in the entire field of audio playback.
It's not always about maximising absolute performance, some of us might also care about cosmetics, about brand/tribal loyalty, the relationship between ownership and self image, or perhaps about what someone else has said or written about a particular product, or what's domestically acceptable, and financially viable etc.
The main point of contention, perhaps the only point of contention, seems to be when strong disagreement erupts over the suggestion of better sound quality / performance.
This 'suggestion' (it's never more than that) can be conveyed by a multitude of channels. It might be coming from a reviewer, or perhaps some clever ad which tries to distract and bypass our critical faculty, or maybe even some enthusiastic poster on a forum like this.
Perhaps the last 60 years of audio and it's lapse into relativism (nothing is objective) is merely a symptomatic of a much larger malaise.
The world today seems more divided than ever, and trust in politicians, banks, global commerce must be at an all time low.
The only thing we can be sure of is that money remains the only global language. The rest is very unclear.
"And you know something is happening but you don't know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?…"
Suddenly we all seem to have become Dylan's Mr Jones. A quite absurd situation.