Are audiophiles still out of their minds?


I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1

JMc,


Who are you quoting?


Not me I think I don’t recall ever saying anyone specifically spent too much money. It’s completely up to them what they choose to buy obviously.

I am supporting the argument in general though that there may be less expensive alternatives to some more expensive products that may perform as well or better. That’s good news for those on a limited budget and for the audio industry that might like to have more potential customers. . For those who are not, price does not matter and I’m sure their wires sound great. I’ve heard some very good systems with some very expensive wires.

I did say God bless everyone who is happy with their music. What else can I say there?

Does this then make some people "out of their mind" as proposed? That’s strictly a judgement call that can’t be controlled, but it should not bother those who knowingly arrived wherever they are and are happy being there.

Trying to be rational about it.

Of course one could always turn to good quality pro audio wires and avoid the high end audio murk altogether, but that's another story....






facten561 posts06-13-2016 9:40pmdracule1 - too each his own, you spend your money on what you find works for you and let others spend theirs as suits their needs. 

folkfreak - really nice system!

facten,

You normally make very thoughtful posts but your logic in this case is lost on me. Under your approach, how would Drac work on his self-image?  There is little here about cables?  Nothing else explain this insanity.

mapman, I was not quoting you , if you look I prefaced the post dracule1 , they are his quotes.

I'll 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?
This thread is off the hook. Mapman was asking the other dude, JMc, not facten. JMc was not quoting Mapman in the body of his post. Hel-loo!  Who’s on first? :-)

cheers,