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The argument against upgrading

I’ve always assumed upgrading hifi can be worthwhile provided there is some audible improvement in sound quality. Maybe, this assumption should be challenged.

Let’s suppose I make some change to my system. I make a meaningful comparison that proves it sounds better in some way.

Before making the change, I was already able to get into and enjoy certain recordings. Surely, I can’t get into these recordings any more than that. It’s an either or thing not a matter of degree.

So what does the upgrade actually do for me in practice? I fear that more often than not it may be absolutely nothing.

I am not arguing that there is no better. Just that incrementally better may not necessarily always translate into more musical enjoyment.

I suppose this all begs the question what I actually mean by better.

What’s your view on the benefits of upgrading? How can we reliably assess whether it is effective?

newton_john
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,052 posts
 

Anyone with even no budget but low cost one can nowadays enjoy great sound experience, if he learned how to do it...

We all  have different needs and budget but the available sum of knowledge is the same for all ...

Equating S.Q. with money or just high-end on an arbitrarily chosen scale is ignorance or snubish attitude...

My AKG K340 is high end well optimized from 1978 and i enjoy great S.Q. experience...To beat it it takes good gear in a dedicated acoustic room under total mechanical control and DSP ... Most dont have this conditions...smiley

 

High standards are useless without knowledge of acoustics basics...

jl35
4,462 posts
 

Too many upgrades are haphazard and unsuccessful...my experience is a well done upgrade can only help...love when after an upgrade I can hear things in a recording I had not heard before...I know there is a separate debate about whether some poor recordings can sound better on a lesser system...

inna
8,240 posts
 

In my experience, all the poor recordings that I have sound better when the system gets better.

The only real reason for me not to upgrade is the cost. You usually have to spend a lot to make it a meaningful step up, though sometimes $1k different cable or $500 pair of signal tubes make a lot of a difference.

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,613 posts
 

Oh well, dang if I didn’t just go there and did it again…a DAC “upgrade”!  

For real!  

Still soaking it in.  

newton_john's avatar
newton_john OP
571 posts
 

@deep_333  @mahgister 

By design, the original question makes no presumptions about the absolute quality of a system or the philosophy underpinning it.

Rather it concerns the effect of making an incremental improvement in sound quality to any system. It challenges the generally held assumption that this objective improvement must automatically translate into a better subjective listening experience.

Is this assumption valid? What can be said in support of it? How can success be assessed? Does success depend on the qualitative characteristics of the improvement? ie. noise and distortion reduction, imaging, dynamics, solving the problem of bass in real rooms, removing digital artefacts or overcoming listening position limitations.

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