Erik, I understand what you are saying, however I do have a fairly decent ear. I don't like most products on the market for that reason. To many products are fatiguing when they reveal too much. Just not engineered properly for my money. The one thing I appreciate about the Ayre gear is that they are neither tube, nor SS. They are highly revealing to my ears, while not ragged or fatiguing on top. They work very hard to achieve this as we all know. They build in their own double stage filtering for the AC which allows the unit to have a much lower noise floor. I think you are using 'discriminating' as revealing, but am not totally sure. If so, I agree whole heartedly. All of audio is about tradeoffs. It has to be since there is no way to get 'live', without listening to live music.
I dislike so many of the top named speakers as well as electronics because they are 'always dynamic' or 'have huge soundstage' or .....you get the picture. I like to think that at all price points you can put together musical systems that let you listen for long periods of time and enjoy what yo are listening to. The more expensive the system, you should get more out of it up to the point of no return that you can handle financially. It's pretty basic, but I read the forums and I see how much used gear is out there and I'm in touch with so many who are always looking for what's 'next'. When I decided to do upgrades a couple of years ago, I set out to sell off all my older gear. I had a budget to start with and I went out to audition everything under the sun so that I had references for all gear. Then I started to make lists of gear I could never live with long term or not at all. they all got cut from my list. I noticed that there were some names on there that I have never liked, but there were a few that sounded totally different than they did yet 10 or more years ago. I knew what I could afford after selling my gear and I knew roughly how much I'd have to spend going forward, so I decided to chose gear that was well made, sounded good, could be sold later on without a huge loss and fit my room. I was very pleased and loved listening again. I even got into portable audio since I'm on the road so much. Just some amazing values out there to my ear and I'm so happy I've gone this route.
Now I'm close to getting where I want to be. I will have purchased and sold most of the gear I bought two years ago (or so), but that was the plan. I found a few dealers whom I knew years ago as well as new ones whom I trust. I audition systems as much as I do various products. Yes, there are certain lines that I found I love and I'm staying in those lines for the most part. I'm still open to all gear as I never thoughts I would leave tubes and I have and I never thought I'd like Vandersteen speakers and I love them. Yes, call me the fanboy, but only because of what they are to me and I appreciate it. There are only a few other speakers lines that I personally have enjoyed listening to and a couple only have speakers in the 30k plus range. That's never going to happen for me, but I'm happy for the folks who can and will afford them.
The QX5 Twenty is the first piece I have purchased without hearing, although I was able to cancel the purchase. I listened to a new piece and loved what I heard at the end of the day when it was warmed up and just starting to break in. I'm glad I made the move based solely on what I'm told by a few who are using it and have it broken in. I know one person's ears very well and I trust what they tell me when I hear them talk about it in the system that I will use it in (i.e., they set it up with all my gear, including my cable). they don't have the source I'll be using, but I'm trusting that won't be an issue at all.
I listen differently than I used to. I hear things differently. When you sit and listen with folks who do this for a living from dealer to manufacturer to engineer, you tend to pick up on things they do. I listen to ever more live music now than I ever did. I used to play drums (before the MS set in and put a halt to that), so I do like to think I have an understanding to how live music and vocals should and do sound. I know where I like to listen to when I can pick my seats. I'm mid to 2/3'rds back guy (center of course), so I am not into a system that puts the music forward of the front plane of the speakers. I like the room to pressurize when it should, but that's hard in my room because of the layout and openings. I get that. I have to listen near field for many reasons, so that also may have changed what I have and will purchase.
Just a background on where I'm coming from and why I post what I do. Hope that helps you understand my posts a bit more. I listen to everything from hard rock to soft rock to .......everything. Thanks
