Buying Equipment Based on Philosophy???

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.

To some degree - In evaluating turntables, I listened to low mass, high mass and suspension tables.