Hi Mcdh1; it seems to me that upgradeability is most important with components that have rapidly changing (improving) technology, and to me this means digital "stuff", especially DACs, CD players etc. I recently purchased an ML 360S DAC that had been upgraded from a 36S-- the 360S had been owned and upgraded by a high level Madrigal employee, and the unit was in perfect condition. This 360S DAC is now fully software upgradable, and I intend to keep it for years. I am not nearly as concerned about amp, pre-amp, or speaker upgradeability-- but digital technology changes so fast that upgradability is important, IMO. Cheers. Craig
Is Component "Upgradability" Important ?
I have always been concerned when buying a component that it can be upgraded by the manufacturer at a later date if a new version comes out but I am starting to wonder if this is really that important. I say this because manufacturers are hardly willing to give away upgrades just because you may have purchased an earlier version of their product. It seems as though you will end up spending the same amount of money whether you pay for the conversion to the new model or you sell your old component and put the money towards the cost of a completely new model. I am not sure what is the best way to go for the manufacturer but I am also not sure that having one model physically converted into another model is always the less costly way to go for the consumer.