High Performance Audio - The End?

The fact of the matter is that the bulk of audiophiles’ systems are not that good. Contemporary music sounds bad on these systems because they simply cannot handle it, while superior systems can. It’s foolish to blame the genre of music when the system is poor. If you’re running a $5-10K rig, then do not expect such music to sound great.

First i apologize for being a little rude with you...

Reading your posts i think that you are in a perfect good faith about your sayings and experience...

Second, we misunderstood each other.... I never say that anyone can reach the same level of quality with a system like mine and for example mike lavigne system...

But i said and by my own experience and 2 years listening experiments, that a modest system rightfully embedded outpace itself completely, and can reach another level totally , near high-end, under it but not light years behind sorry, if rightfully embedded...

Words are very important because ,not being clear put people at the end of an illusory and costly process of upgrading before embedding their system, never mind the price....

AT ANY PRICE, even 100,000 dollars system will outpace themselves rightfully embedded, then a modest system cannot reach their level even rifghtfully embedded...But will not be so much far from it than most people think....That is my point....

Is it clear?

But when we listen music, with all S.Q. on all counts very good, even if we are not on the same level that top high -end, we can enjoy ANY files or cd rightfully played....

Name a cd a modest system would not be able to render in an acceptable way?

I want to try it....Please i will wait for your suggestion of a cd that is difficult to listen to on a modest system....Thanks in advance and gives me in a few words why it is difficult to listen to it on a modest system....





Remember that what i call embeddings is not a bunch of costly tweaks please....It is a method of listening experiments that make anybody able to identify the lacks in his system and remedy them by cleaning, and controlling mechanical, and electrical grid, and mainly the very important acoustical setting of a small room...

The impact is so powerful than any upgrade even of speakers upgrade, in most cases, will be less impactful, except if the first speakers are already totally mediocre for sure to begins with...Choice of good components is mandatory, even if not costly one....


Thank you for accepting my apology...

I am sometimes too passionate.... :)

Thanks and my best regards....

@douglas_schroeder 

No one is attacking you. Matter of fact, I had a lot of respect for you. That’s why I said that I didn’t expect that from you. You should have known better. What makes your comments incorrect is the generalization. Not all 40k systems sound better than all 5k ones. Decades ago, I had a 5k system that sounded great and I decided to upgrade it. I spent thousands of dollars and ended up with a much worse system. It took me a while to recapture the magic and finally surpassed it. So I learned my lesson. 
What you should have said is, everything else being equal, more money should give you better sound. We all know that. Unless you reach a limit, you can always get better hardware. Whether it’s Mahgister getting more stones or me doubling my interconnects, we all can use more dough, but knowledge and experience count for something. The best amp is not necessarily the costliest. And then you add the variables that are out of our control and things can get complicated. That’s what makes this hobby fascinating. It’s not a sport for rich guys only. 

On the question of “diminishing returns,” I do believe after a certain point, the improvements in a system become so minimal as to not justify tons of money being poured into it. (Unless money is no object to you.) I’m not speaking about a $5000 system compared to a $50,000 (or even a $25,000) system, but a $50,000 system compared to a $200,000+ system.
Assuming musicality is the object, how much more MUSICAL enjoyment is there? 
After a certain point, it becomes not musical but technical improvement.

more heat than light here in this latest tussle around doug schroeder’s words

a poor choice of words, no doubt, that has elicited negative responses, folks feeling talked down to - even if doug’s intent is hardly to have that effect

reality is more expensive systems, done right, money well spent, will sound better than more modest ones ... no doubt about it, better is better...

... but the dimensions of ’betterness’ comes are many -- fill a big room? image like a real performance? produce natural timbers of real instruments and voices? resolve microdynamics to the n-th degree? sound pure and full at low volumes?

it is all in the relative prioritization - hard to have it all in an affordable system for the ’average hifi nerd’ wanting real good sound

to me it is what this board is all about -- learning about yourself, your tastes, your priorities, learning about equipment, its advances, SQ available at various price points, how different pieces dance well together and what doesn’t -- then you find your ideal spot on the value curve and build your system

... but the dimensions of ’betterness’ comes are many -- fill a big room? image like a real performance? produce natural timbers of real instruments and voices? resolve microdynamics to the n-th degree? sound pure and full at low volumes?

my 500 dollars used audio system with well chosen branded known quality name give me that to a relatively high degree, the days i have finish to embed it rightfully....

BUT a costly system will beat it, if it is also rightfully embedded, no doubt but to what degree? Not world apart sorry.... It comes a time where music is there....Better yes, world apart no....

It is here that diminushing returns money reality enter the stage...

All my rant was about how to embed a system, before upgrading anything if it is not necessary..... Embedding is the way to audiophile experience NOT upgrading, and this is valid for ANY systeM at any price....