Is it important to long demo or own HIGH END gear to have a fair accurate view about it?

To me, the main thing one needs to be in a good position to make useful judgements is experience listening.  Both to live music and to as many reference systems as possible.  That is the only way to really know what is possible and set a realistic goal.  Then its pretty much anything goes from there and more power to the winners.

@mapman I agree 110% with your post and for some the money spent is pure ego stroke.

@carlsbad2 Jerry there is so much misinformation out there and regulated on forum pages it is a hindrance for the under educated. 
 

That is a good question.

Listening skills are developed over decades. Values in sound quality change over time with your listening skills (learning about both good and bad attributes) … which in turn influence what you value in terms of sound quality. Also, when you hear a system it takes a lot of experience to figure out what is doing what to the sound… like is that the amp / preamp that is cold or the speakers? Etc.

So, I would say the less experience you have with high end audio the more time you need to appraise gear. Of course, if you have only had mid-fi stuff and you bring home a high end piece it can only take a second to get it. So, lots of caveats.
 

I remember a piece I brought home early on that I thought sounded great until I heard the “grain” in the treble. Wow, that was bad… I can hear grain in a couple seconds now.

The only piece of gear I have owned in teh last 20 years that was a absolute clear bottleneck on good sound was a Carver pre-amp. I had Carver amp and tuner (still do) and the tuner was/is quite good and teh amp actually not bad if used properly.

A fellow audiogoner whose advice I trusted told me flat out dump teh pre-amp. So I did and replaced it with a Audio Research model.

I have had many changes since then each of which introduced a change in sound, mostly for the better. I have been in a very good place in relation to live music I hear and teh best "reference" systems I hear around for a number of years. That’s not to say there is probably almost always something one can do to get even better. It may or may not cost more. It all depends on educated decision making. Nothing great ever comes easy. How much it costs is another story and can vary widely. My $130 Fosi amp does a top notch job in its role on my little nearfield desktop system. Some day I may try to ask more of it and see how it sounds when given a much tougher job.

Any serious audiophile understands the basics of room acoustics, has nothing to do with the level/cost of gear one purchases. Another outdated misnomer is HEA is just bling. Dan D’agostino is not the only HEA company, take a look at Convergent Audio Technology making some of the best tube electronics available. Finally HEA is not about million dollar systems its about effort/passion/learning/listening with an open mind and understanding a substantial financial investment is a prerequisite.