The sound, of course. Call me contrarian, but drinking by the label never really appealed to me.
About 6 or so years ago I went with a friend to an audio store where he was auditioning a Conrad Johnson phono stage for his system. When I arrived a little late, he was listening to a phono stage of which neither he nor I had ever heard but which was one of those components that you knew right away on listening was something special, the Aesthetix IO. We clearly preferred it to the CJ, but both of us had the same qualms about it that Kinsekd mentions above. Ultimately, in part from my urging (it's easy to spend someone else's money!), and with a call to Jim White to convince himself the company would be around for a while, he bought the IO, which he is happily enjoying this day. I guess I fall that way too, as my speakers are not available to the market yet (to their designer's chagrin), as are my speaker cables and various isolation devices, and my Audio Logic DAC is one of the better kept secrets in audio. Really, at some point in this hobby I guess you realize what it is you're looking for, and when you find it you don't care what anyone else thinks about it. I think you've reached that point, and that's good, because it's then that you can get off the equipment merry-go-round and start concentrating on the music.
I'm surprised to read that you feel people are putting down your speakers, as I remember reading the highly favorable Stereophile review and being impressed as to how well-designed and made they were. I thought more people knew about them, but I guess not.
About 6 or so years ago I went with a friend to an audio store where he was auditioning a Conrad Johnson phono stage for his system. When I arrived a little late, he was listening to a phono stage of which neither he nor I had ever heard but which was one of those components that you knew right away on listening was something special, the Aesthetix IO. We clearly preferred it to the CJ, but both of us had the same qualms about it that Kinsekd mentions above. Ultimately, in part from my urging (it's easy to spend someone else's money!), and with a call to Jim White to convince himself the company would be around for a while, he bought the IO, which he is happily enjoying this day. I guess I fall that way too, as my speakers are not available to the market yet (to their designer's chagrin), as are my speaker cables and various isolation devices, and my Audio Logic DAC is one of the better kept secrets in audio. Really, at some point in this hobby I guess you realize what it is you're looking for, and when you find it you don't care what anyone else thinks about it. I think you've reached that point, and that's good, because it's then that you can get off the equipment merry-go-round and start concentrating on the music.
I'm surprised to read that you feel people are putting down your speakers, as I remember reading the highly favorable Stereophile review and being impressed as to how well-designed and made they were. I thought more people knew about them, but I guess not.