Every audiophile who's been at it long enough has war stories to tell. Here's one of mine:
In the late 70's or early 80's, I happened to wander into a local high-end audio shop. It was a gorgeous sunny day in the middle of the week. I had the day off and a couple hours to kill. So, I decided to amuse myself by investiageting what this shop had to offer. It was the middle of a workday and foot traffic was slow. I and, I assumed, the owner were the only people in the shop. Since I was only kicking tires with no intention to buy anything, I certainly didn't want to bother the owner. He seemed busy doing something and I was content to just have a quick look at the inventory and listen to the background music. After 5 or 10 minutes or so, the owner approached and asked if there was anything specific I was looking for. I explained that I had just dropped in to have a quick look around and had no intention of buying anything. Since he, evidently, had nothing better to do himself, we had a very pleasant chat about various pieces of equipment, music we enjoyed and all the stuff audiophiles would talk about in such circumstances. Just as I was about to leave and thank him for letting me look around, he asked if I had another couple minutes or so to listen, for fun, to what he said was the best two channel system in the shop. What audiophile would say "no" to that? I don't remember the specific components involved but the turntable was the best B&O had to offer in those days. The speakers were a pair of 5 or 6 foot tall electrostatic or ribbon speakers and I'm sure the amplification was the best in the shop. I remember the speakers, alone, cost more than I made in a year back then. We listened to some very nice music for about 5 minutes or so and, then, I thanked him for his time and explained I really should be on my way. The owner asked what I thought of the speakers. I responded by politely saying: "Nice." It was clear, from his somewhat surprised countenance, he expected a much more effusive or enthusiastic review. What I really had been privately thinking was: "Who the heck would pay that kind of money for these things? I've heard much better at less than half the cost!" However, realizing fidelity was in the ears of the beholder and wanting to be polite, I just said: "Nice". I tend to be honest that way. It's a curse! This launched a brief discussion about frequency response, bass articulation, detail and everything else one could imagine. You know... audiophilesplaining. This guy was so... well, "angry" wouldn't be fair but acrimoniously disappointed, verging on angry, would be about right.
