This issue is all about insecurity and lack of self confidence.If you go the right direction, it will go away. But it needs work, and trust in yourself.
I noticed that many audiophiles who are in the middle / early stages of their audio road try to use cost as a pointer to quality. When you are trying to figure out what you hear, and what makes a "better" sounding gear better... at this stage people have no CONFIDENCE in them yet, because they do not have enough experience to gauge the sound. All you can tell at this point is whether you like something or not. Maybe not even that!
And, frankly, most stereo has so may flaws, that we cannot call an upgrade as having better sound, because there are more weaknesses surfacing as well.
When you develop skills, you are comfortable navigating the waters of audio, it's when the habit to check for prices goes away. People don't realize that refined gear is just half of the story.
It's you who has to step up, develop hearing, and SELF CONFIDENCE.
Measuring equipment excel at analyzing SIMPLE signals (sine or square waves), and they absolutely FAIL to analyze complex signals (music). Brain works the other way around - we are generally clueless listening to pure sine waves (which never occur in nature), yet we can tell tiny variances in a complex music. Dedicate yourself to improve and develop. Trust in Yourself.Without that, audio is just a waste of money & time.
I noticed that many audiophiles who are in the middle / early stages of their audio road try to use cost as a pointer to quality. When you are trying to figure out what you hear, and what makes a "better" sounding gear better... at this stage people have no CONFIDENCE in them yet, because they do not have enough experience to gauge the sound. All you can tell at this point is whether you like something or not. Maybe not even that!
And, frankly, most stereo has so may flaws, that we cannot call an upgrade as having better sound, because there are more weaknesses surfacing as well.
When you develop skills, you are comfortable navigating the waters of audio, it's when the habit to check for prices goes away. People don't realize that refined gear is just half of the story.
It's you who has to step up, develop hearing, and SELF CONFIDENCE.
Measuring equipment excel at analyzing SIMPLE signals (sine or square waves), and they absolutely FAIL to analyze complex signals (music). Brain works the other way around - we are generally clueless listening to pure sine waves (which never occur in nature), yet we can tell tiny variances in a complex music. Dedicate yourself to improve and develop. Trust in Yourself.Without that, audio is just a waste of money & time.