I’d like to know who here picks pretty over performance, at any point in amassing an audio system?.
speakers, far more than electronics must have both performance and esthetic appeal.
I found out quite by accident locating the electronics outside the listening area a very good idea. when or if possible. in such cases the esthetics of the electronics is a moot issue.
as for build quality generally speaking, and how much ‘bling’ it seems to inherently possess, Americans are notorious for buying with their eyes. food. cars. clothes. spouses.shoes. jewelry. phones. if its not attractive, asking a lot of money for it will not work out well.
when a thing has an enormous price tag, like an amp, DAC, rack, TT, etc., looking very nice, polished and shiny will go a long way to its cost being accepted. add in it weighs a ton and well now, this must be worth a lot of money, right?
Weight alone is not going to justify its cost with an experienced enthusiast. for these, it is ‘all about performance’. weight, build, technology in play, which add up to aid a thing’s justification, but it is performance we chase more than bling.
at the onset, or once we attain gear which has presumably lofty levels of presentation, we face the obstacle of extracting synergy from the accumulated mix.
it is that ‘synergy’ and obviously, budgetary constraints whichreemain as our ever present obstacles on the high end highway.
I guess pretty has its place when the lights are on, but who listens with the lights on anyhow?
