The Law of Accelerating Returns

@asctim The author, Robert Harley, knows this. I know that because I once read something written by him that was both original and actually made sense.  He is not being honest.

However he also knows that his target audience either don’t know, don’t want to know, or don’t care, seeking some/any justification (however ridiculous) from an appeal to authority such as himself writing for the esteemed TAS.. See also what @8th-note says, above.

I’m highly skeptical that there’s any important signal information that is being mangled by the $400 DAC ... that would ruin the potential of the $10k integrated.

@widmerpool j

This guy really understand the Helmholtz method, it is a COMPLETE system if used correctly. Bravo.. About 1 in 10,000 really get it.. 

The ROOM, and then the room and after that, the room and when it's all said and done, THE ROOM!

mahgister get's it..

The rest are settling for "good enough for me". That is just fine also. Some want more, some want less. That is what makes the world go round..

I'm 100% sure 80% of the audiophilers out there have spent a lot more on their systems than me.. I commend you.. The time I spent learning about room acoustics has been the single greatest enhancement of ALL the changes through the years of listening.. It was also the least expensive..

Thank you mahgister, MC, OHM, and a few other...

Every system has a bottleneck, ie the thing that limits performance. It’s just a question of how much it matters.  Can be very hard to determine with hifi gear.  It takes a lot of work regression testing ie changing one thing at a time and comparing.  Even then it is a subjective comparison and not an objective one so results will vary FBOFW .   It can be a real exercise in futility in some cases to get it all truly optimized for best technical performance .   That’s what engineers are for!

New integrated amps and all in one units from reputable makers are a great way to avoid serious bottlenecks at a price point by letting the experts integrate things for you properly. Integrated amp technology has come a long way. There is probably one out there to satisfy most anyone. Except those who prefer to do it themselves of course.

The time I spent learning about room acoustics has been the single greatest enhancement of ALL the changes through the years of listening.. It was also the least expensive..

Same here...

All the rest is gear conditioned mass ignorance and selling technique...Not because all gear are equal, they are not, but matter way less than acoustic...

But even acoustic seller sell ignorance or easy to made passive costly material...

An acoustic tuning and control is too complex to be sold at low cost...

We must do it ourselves..

But it is not very popular to say to people that 20,000 bucks system or 100,000 busks one that did not matter the way they think...

Audio system are like woman, most dont want to take the time to learn them, plug and play, plug off... This is audio for most...

And their brand name is proof enough for them that it is good...They think that they know how to hear but hearing must be learned like any acoustician or musician know already...

The truth is not popular and science either is not... propaganda and publicity are more easy to swallow...

You know all that already ...

My deepest respect to you...