Specifications VS Sound Quality
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. |
Since there is no way you can audition equipment, you have to go by what you read. Presently, I'm making some important and expensive for me upgrades, and partially, I'm going by "history" of the name, and is it currently in production. "Herron Phono" is no longer in production, so that's been scratched off, but I have yet to find a replacement. If the specs of two different amps are the same, and your hearing is not as good as it once was, you probably couldn't tell the difference in a blind test. Even if a CJ amp and an ARC amp had the same specs, they would sound different, but not everyone can hear the difference. Before I spend any money, I'm going to an "audiologist"; one must begin at the beginning. |
mapman: Understood. In fact, I'm fairly obsessive when it comes to researching when I feel an upgrade cycle approaching. orpheus: Price is the first thing I look at, because I don't have huge amounts of cash to spend. This has the effect of dramatically shrinking the pool of potential purchases from the onset. Furthermore, as mentioned, I only purchase gear I can demo at home and return, if need be, minimizes options still further. Haven't found this to be a problem, though. millercarbon: You are light-years beyond me in knowledge and experience. I hope you'll indulge my naivete a little further... Earlier in the post, you state: "Technically, there is a level of analysis where the answer is yes. In terms of finding musically satisfying components however the answer is a big fat no. The problem is it can often times take a great deal of understanding technical specifications combined with real world experience to get to where you understand just how unimportant specs really are". So, how, exactly do you leverage your understanding when it comes to buying components? What does your buying process look like, if specs and listening are not involved? This seems quite mysterious to me. |
