The Insane World of High End Audio! Is it All a Scam?

I’ll put my point more positively:

Sometimes we benefit from reviewers who translate their experience into tools, techniques, and vocabulary which can help someone who also plans to learn and then listen and experiment for themselves.

We are in agreement about that, I assume.

Well said i agree with your common sense yes...

But my point in this thread as a motive, is that all reviewers, of high end gear or low cost one, minimize or put acoustics knowledge under the rug...

They must sell first, then they must inform about a piece of gear.....They are not there to spoke about acoustics...

When they review gear they do it in the same room they own not in a dedicated room for a specific system...( ASR for example even review speakers borrowing often only one not a pair and they reduce acoustics to some digital measures, and Jay put all speakers in the same acoustic not so well controlled environment)

Then my point is : all reviewers do not help us to inform ourselves about our own basic ignorance...

Anyway most reviewers associated acoustics knowledge in audio to panels, end of story...

As an exemple: if i ask Jay or cheapaudioman

"how did i improve imaging and soundstage in my system with this dac, pre-amp,amp speakers?"

The probability they recommend me a new and better piece of gear is very high?

They probably ignore how to create a good ratio between ASW and LEV, if they even know what these acronyms means ?

 Thats my point...

 It is not that we are scammed by sellers in audio, we are all  scammed by our own ignorance...

Scapegoating someone because he sell low cost Chinese products or because he sell very high end costly product will not change truth and reality...

cheapaudio man is a savvy individual and not honest in my experience, he does what he thinks is best for his business to thrive. 

The more one pays the fancier, bigger, heavier, etc things become but that does not always mean better. Some gear is ugly, some artwork, and some really like the artwork which is fine as long as open minded enough to know what you are actually paying for.

Some just like to buy it to stroke their egos as well, pretty obvious on this forum and elsewhere. I have meet meany very wealthy people and the only ones I actually liked where down to earth and did not own exotic things to show off, including a multi billionaire I went to dinner with. He was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and probably $50 shoes.

But again, if one has the means and the desire, go for it, fine with me, I do not have the means nor desire even if I had the means. I like making things work on a DIY and tight budget then being better than most any system I have ever heard.

Rick

I like cheapaudioman and do not agree with everything he says, nor anybody else for that matter.

I just read in another thread a poster saying he know how to assemble a system without the need of reviewers opinion.

I had no problem with that but i suppose his method is not sniffing the gear but hearing a piece buying it and connecting it. Job done.

I am sorry but i called this consumers ignorance even if you had verified all measures done by an ASR "engineer" or Amir himself...Or reviewers ignorance...A piece of gear exist only playing in a specific system, in a specific room for specific ears/brain... Design techs numbers are there to validate good design process nothing else...

An audio system exist mechanically, electrically and acoustically in a room and psycho-acoustically for specific ears...Not in a showroom, in a showroom there is only piece of gear connected.

Why did Dr. Choueiri measures in a complex way the ears/head of his customers ?

he is an acoustician...

My AKG K340 why are they so good when properly optimized ?

They were designed by an acoustician physicist not a headphone tweaker, Dr. Gorike...

I forgot to say that i takes me many years to learn how to install a system to my convenience, among these 12 years of explorations and experiments, buying, toying reading reviewers and articles, but at the end i missed the target.

I succeeded only after 2 years during retirement reading about acoustics, doing experiments 7 day /7 all day... It was my past hobby : learning acoustics at home...

It is why i can measure my past ignorance when most cannot...

It is why i dont consider  that audio knowledge begin and end when  someone  tried about 400 amplifiers etc...

I doubt Dr. Choueiri or Dr Gorike had accumulated their knowledge by buying gear pieces... Thats my point...