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

If you're listening to the sound of the equipment then it's totally failing to do it's job regardless of price.

I've certainly had my fair of hearing expensive systems sounding bland and 'monochromatic' before. Then there were the Quad electrostatics which sounded weird on Pop, the Naim Ovators (early s6000s I think) which were only 'good'. We were expecting 'great' at that price from Naim Audio.

We're often advised to go and listen to live music to help establish a frame of reference but unfortunately a lot of venues seem to have bad (phasey?) acoustics. Perhaps I've been unlucky but I did manage to catch a beautiful piano recital in an old rickety theatre some while back. I was surprised at how loud a piano can get in a small venue, you really have to hear it for yourself.

On the other hand I can't help but notice that PA equipment seems to have come on leaps and bounds. The sonics at the last Richard Hawley concert were more than acceptable. I didn't once start wishing that it sounded like my system back home. In fact it would have blown my system right out of the water on sheer power alone. It wasn't just power though, there was plenty of texture and timbre thrown in too. 

There's a few shows coming up here in the next few months. Having not been to one for about a decade, (Manchester 2007/8?) with a but of luck I will be able get to one of them. Just got to remember to not get my expectations up too high.

"If you’re listening to the sound of the equipment then it’s totally failing to do it’s job regardless of price."

I cannot agree more, but some might disagree. I think if you are really focusing on getting the right sound, you have a hobby. Nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, many people enjoy the music, it truly moves them, regardless of the system it is playing on. There is nothing wrong with having even "better" equipment, but it will not make you enjoy the music more. At least it does not do it for me. You may find different things in the recording and babble about it whole day long and that is fair and true, but who has not enjoyed music on some boombox at age of fifteen?

I started growing up listening to records on Dual 1225 turntable. By any means, not anything to brag about these days. No fancy power cord, no unidirectional interconnects, nothing of that sort. Well, the thing was magic.

True if you are listening to the equipment. It isn’t high end. The music coming out of it should have all of your attention. As far as the high end shops being snooty and not showing gear I go through the same thing here in Dallas. Audio concepts ones this thing where they take your name down. Come in more than twice without buying and the music is cut off. They don’t show you anything or pay attention to you. I went in there for a 4th time before I bought my Gato speakers and they way they acted turned me off and I politely took my big speaker purchase to Audio Emotion in Scotland. The guy there Gary gave me advice for years and I hadn’t bought anything. He deserved my business so I bought from him. He told us about Gato and how it competed with speakers 2 or 3 times the price. We trusted him and we are glad we did. I think it’s also important to a great sales guy to work with who first enjoys the hobby then the sales some naturally. As far as reference points I,think it’s very important to hear the high end gear if only for a reference point. I think you learn more that way. The more you hear the better. The better you hear the better.