Specifications VS Sound Quality

@stuartk You can of course listen to hear other places before buying and you should listen to as much as you can both live and otherwise to train your ears. Listening is always the best evidence. But it’s the system making the music and in that room not any single part alone. You can hear what each piece is capable of but that does not tell you what things will sound like at home in your room. So either replicate the system exactly and hope it works as well at home or understand what makes each piece work and work well together including in the room you heard. That’s where specs help to achieve your goals faster and more cost effectively. Only then can you can possibly compare apples and apples correctly when making buying decisions.  

mapman:

Sorry-- I naively assumed no-one would buy gear they couldn't try out first in their room, either borrowed or bought with a return policy! ! !  

Limiting my choices to only those brands I can demo at home (and return if need be) does cut down on my options but I haven't found that a barrier to assembling a system I very much enjoy. 

Thanks for your very patient response. 

Sure well you still have to decide what to try so same  story of course.  Specs help. 

I use many reviews to analyse for some older design that help way more than specs if someone cannot listen to the gear before buying...

I dont regret any of my choices....

"Real"  specs are useful to create standards not so much  for picking  the gear we will love....

Sorry-- I naively assumed no-one would buy gear they couldn't try out first in their room, either borrowed or bought with a return policy! ! !  

Please see: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367#89829
First off, every single item was bought sight unheard. Been so long since I did a home audition I don't even remember any more. 16-20 years I bet.

Subs, amp, conditioner, cartridge, arm, turntable, crossovers, whole bunch of stuff bought with no return. Phono stage, whole bunch of other stuff I never asked or even considered asking. If I even thought of sending something back that's not buying, that's trying. Don't confuse the two.

I am currently in the process of ordering a Raven Reflection MkIII. These are made to order. There are no returns. This concerns me not even in the least.

As you can probably figure out there was a time 16-20 years ago when I thought home auditioning was important, even essential. Probably still is, at least within a certain range of buyer skill and equipment performance. Above that level though, whole different ballgame. In that case then yes, you are naive to assume.