Buying Equipment Based on Philosophy???

I certainly fell for the magazine fuelled Linn/Naim bullshit back in the 1980s.

This, despite my reservations of one certain Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn) he always sounded like a shifty individual.

Julian Vereker (Naim) on the other hand seemed rather more candid and straightforward, as did Roy Gandy (Rega). Julian even once said he'd have a Quad system if he couldn't have one of his own amps.

Eventually I woke up to the realisation there was more to audio playback than mere PRAT (pace, rhythm and timing). In fact, there’s an awful lot more, including tone, texture, imagery etc.

The problem with most of these ’philosophies’ is that they tend to only promote their own strengths and remain very quiet about the weaknesses.

So therefore perhaps they shouldn’t really be called philosophies, perhaps sales pitch would be a better description?

I pay respect to the design approach.   I like simple , point to point designs and wanted something DHT that only had one tube per channel , a true SET

This was never more true than when I commissioned an amp to be built.   After some phone discussions and texts I knew we were on the same page.   

It was scary buying something sight unseen  but he hit it out of the park and is building me a DHT preamp.   

I'm going to build an Amp Camp Amp solely because it comes from the mind of Nelson Pass.....

The only thing I trust is my ears !!!

I realized that I buy most of my HiFi equipment based on the designers/ manufacturers philosophy.....Example: Nelson Pass,Pass Labs "First Watt"....Jason at Schiit,......David Haffler with Dynaco......Richard Schram/John Curl, Parasound...Etc... These designers/owners/manufacturers have a deep philosophy about the direction of their designs and their products

Well, this certainly is intentional. Vendors all want you to feel a certain connection to the brand.  I mean, that's the entire purpose of branding.  To sell you an idea on a name or symbol which you want to associate yourself with due to ..... whatever.

It is akin to being part of a community or tribe.  Not quite a family.  That feeling you get when you show up to an antique store and there's 8 other cars just like yours outside.  Your tribe awaits you.

Nothing wrong with it, per se.  I get the need to believe in a brand or designer. 

It influences my decisions regarding DACs. I favor non-oversampling designs.