Does hearing the best in high end audio make your opinions more valid?

Also I would like to clarify something.  When I say the best I mean what I actually mean those pieces that are supposed to be really great based on the reviewers and the industry guys that supposedly say they are. Now I know a lot of payola is going on in the high end but I like to hear the so called cream of the crop to see how much better it is than what I have assembled or if it’s even better at all. I try to hear as much as I can to try to compare things to other things. Not doing a/b comparisons but the overall listening experience. I have settled in with my system and I’m extremely happy with it even when I compare to the super high end stuff.  However, equipment, cabling and enviorment matching has been pivotal in my set up. 

Listening to lots of acoustic live music gives the best benchmark for building an audio system. 

Frank

Live acoustic music is a mixed bag at best. I would say a well put together, tweaked and tuned audio system is more reliable as a point of reference. A suffiently large high power all tube Class A System with regulated everything and isolated everything would be where I would start. Then tweak your brains out. 🧠

One Big Hurdle to good sound is the ugly fact that it’s difficult to find a CD that’s not overly compressed or in Reverse Polarity or BOTH. Most things sound SO bland.

especially gossips.

Conversely, hearing what reviewers claim is "the best" which costs a million dollars, and knowing your are happier with your system that was quite affordable can certainly make you an insufferably smug bastard. 

That's pretty much what happened to me. :) 

Best,

E