The Best Compliment You've Gotten On Your Rig?

Great thread. I too love the guy satisfyingly putting his finger on it claiming it as a Samsung and then his zinger of an exit line. It was too good to be offended by.

Mine a friend listening to an obc which we had listened to since we were kids and saying of the long gone Dorothy Collins 'She's live!'

Another a well respected and known in my area audiophile comes over to help me fine tune my system and after puts on his demo record. After a minute or two his head starts bopping and his foot starts tapping and he lets out with a quiet 'Wonderful.'

This is a GREAT thread. Thank you OP. 

I get mixed responses. 

One funny one was a guy who said, "Does this sound better than my Sonos?"  Knowing him, I knew he was be sarcastic. 

My wife's parents really admired how the kick drum on Neil Young's "Out on the Weekend" sounded so realistic and palpable.  I'll never forget that day. 

My wife's cousin, a young (upper 20s) music lover spent 3+ hours solo in my listening room.  I'd check in at times. I let him do his thing and play his music, streaming to my tube DAC.  He made numerous comments. one I remember was, "This sounds so different than what I'm used to.  I'm totally sucked in."  Well, he's a music lover so it makes sense. 

One of our friends (the wife of the couple) strayed into my room during a party.  Her husband spent $50k+ on a whole house custom install.  It sounds pretty good to me and it's super slick.  She immediately began streaming her favorites from all over the Pop/Rock musical map.  Folks started dropping in the room with their drinks.  The party just gravitated to the music room.  That, not an outward oral compliment, was a compliment of behavior. 

My father came to visit during the polar vortex.  He would escape every night to the music room, listen and surf.  He rarely listens to tunes anymore.  He asked for all sorts of artists from Nat King Cole to Sam Cooke to the Doobie Brothers and many more.  He kept saying, "I can really hear the instruments" or "Nat King Cole's voice sounds just like it should...God was he a talent." 

Many folks come up to the music room and laugh at the whole thing or make jokes like, "Do you have a special insurance rider for all this stuff?"  

I agree with folks here who say it's a solo endeavor.  I do, however, try to get people to bite and get the bug because high fidelity music is my religion. 

I had the musicians over to our house after a string-quartet concert, some pieces also with piano and/or winds. They gravitated to the audio room, and we were up until 2:00 a.m. listening to music.

“Even when it’s off, it looks like a science experiment!”

I treasure this compliment to this day.

(Tubed DAC, preamp and amp - 21  tubes in all)

I don’t really care about the compliments, I get those every time somebody listens to my rig, but when somebody calls and asks for my help to put together a system because I inspired them that really makes me happy.