Has anyone made the jump to $uper High end and were disappointed?

@bar81 

Because if if it were only people who spent more than 50k per component, this thread would be a barren desolate place.

Even I don’t own a $50k component.

@joey_v 

Fair enough.  But then again I'm sure the OP knew what he was getting into by asking a question with such a limited scope.

analogluvr,  Would you tell us what components would make up that killer $5k system?  That's not a hostile question, just curious.

"The Jeff is Jeffrey Fritz Editor-in-Chief of SoundStage. After several years he’s looking to downgrade from a seriously expensive system. . . .  The fact that he’s concluded that the ultra expensive system isn’t worth it, sure makes me think!"

This is a false characterization.  

http://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/739-jeffs-getting-a-new-stereo-s...

Jeff did not conclude this at all. He made clear that he was downsizing his system  for family obligation reasons, and that that gave him an excuse to focus on a higher value for money point on the cost curve -- to see what fraction of the sound quality of his big system he could achieve for a small fraction of the price of that big system.

PS: I give Jeff a lot of credit for rejecting the long term equipment "loan" regime in which many reviewers indulge.

And they are right, most digiheads will think it sounds good on their devices. I did hear an opinion that $1k Purist Audio USB cable is really something.

IIRC, USB cables need to have a characteristic impedance of 110 ohms to prevent reflections in the cable that can cause errors. Jim Aud (of Purist Audio) was telling me recently at RMAF that he had to use some really pricey test equipment to make sure his cables met that spec. This was in the context of hearing about a cable that was preventing the DAC from getting a lock (which was happening because it was not the right characteristic impedance).

Most recording studios are wired to keep out noise more so than audiophile quality. Thus, most studios are wired with Beldon/ Canare level wiring. Plus, using general data cables and hard drives ( although Glymph caters to the audio/ video industry, i would not consider them audiophile since same drives are used as in any orher system)

The thing you want to keep in mind here is that in the studio, most of the equipment operates balanced and supports the balanced standard. The raison d'etre of balanced line is to eliminate cable artifacts and allow long lengths as a result. So they are very much audiophile, in fact sort of uber-audiphile, since most high buck single-ended cables have far more artifact.

In a nutshell there really isn't much of a standard for single-ended cables, and the direct result of that is the way they are built can affect their sound. Over the years audiophiles have grown used to that fact and the need to audition the cables in their system. With it has come the hubris that the engineers in studios are clueless about cables. While that is sometimes true, its a bit of apples and oranges.