Yeah Wizard I hear you, I know what your getting at and I kinda Agree... Except for one thing, ignorance, hype, smoke and Mirrors. It's not magic, it's Voodoo... At least sometimes...yep.. ..all of ya correct..
..only argument is this: picture yourselves when you are drooling over a $100.000 full-carbon bike, w/marchesini wheels, exotic brakes, cams, etc.. ..is this bike REALLY $93.000 faster-better than yours?..
..exaggeration is a crucial element in the art of progress.. ..you never can tell WHERE to draw the line when you hit for "perfection".. ..and no one can tell you, of course..
..audio is more or less my business.. ..I can sit down with 20 different people, listen to the same song, and get 20 different "views", "opinions", "whatever-you-wanna-call-it".. ..does this proves anything? well, one thing it does; that objectivity goes out of the window when it comes to humans.. ..you like Chianti? good for you! your best friend is entitled to hate it - no reason why, and I reccon you would still be friends, right?
..now, a $350K amp.. ..to get this thing in your house, you have to have a "proper" setup - with speakers & sources well over that amount, and yes, there ARE folks who have those in HUMBLE houses, and they are AVERAGE financially (only they can't afford/allow the luxury of any other hobby/activity in their lives..).. ..you also have to be able to APPRECIATE (= understand..) the difference between "this and that", and be h@rny enough to want "that from this"..
..there are also plenty of rich "afficionados" that want to impress chicks/friends/or simply pump their ego.. ..or, they are so stinking rich that NO OTHER AMP WILL DO, THAN THE MOST EXPENSIVE ONE!.. ..they are ruining it also for the rest of us, because manufacturers would think TWICE before they put price tags on equipment..
..to the question "if a $350K amp plays $340K better than the "X" brand amp" the answer is no.. ..but, to SOME people this tiny difference JUSTIFIES the extra cost.. ..the "tap" from the foot of a musician, if seen as "extracted" from the big picture is ridiculous - plain n' simple.. ..but the little nuances of a live or studio performance that can be transferred in our room, can also transfer us to another era, perhaps in the same room that this performance was originally recorded..
..it's called "magic" and there's no price tag on it..
Pen & Teller have a funny show on Showtime called Bullsh!t. They look at today’s society and expose the "Bullsh!t" out there, things that are just messed up. One of there shows covered bottled water, they set up a "Water List" at a nice Restaurant, bottles with exotic names, and exotic prices. They filled every bottle right from the garden hose outback, and hilarity ensued. You had folks going on and on about the "delicate hints of Blah" and actually discussing the differences in the various bottles. Acting like they really new what they were doing, trying hard to fit in, to act the part. To do what they felt was expected of them, regardless of the fact that all the bottles were filled from the same garden hose, folks were going on and on about the differences, and getting agreement from spouses/friends... Interesting huh?
Sort of highlights where I am going with my argument. You said you get 20 different people listening to the same music and each hears something different. I am certain they all think they are really impressing the sales guy with their "cultured Ear" or their use of the lingo. For the most part, it's all a bunch of crap.
Think about it, folks buying their low-end consumer gear at Best Buy don't give a fug about anything other than getting something that sounds better than what they have now. They probably know bobo about the gear they are listening to other than what sounds good to them and what doesn't. Simple.
Now, you get the guy walking into a High-end shop they prolly have at least a basic idea of what they are after, who makes “good†stuff "According to the press" and what names will impress buddies. But they may also be intimidated by the whole process, afraid of admitting ignorance of being caught not knowing what the hell they are on about.
Try this, next time you have a "consumer" in the store give them the usual treatment, then instead of actually changing an Amp, or swapping a speaker (Within a similar range anyway) just pretend to switch, punch a couple of dead buttons and then acting all pleased with yourself ask them how much better it sounds now? Tell them it's the latest thing. Whatever, but talk it up and I bet you'll get a large number of folks that will go on and on about how much better OR WORSE the music sounds... Simply based on the suggestion that something was changed, enhanced etc.
It's the comment ..you also have to be able to APPRECIATE (= understand..) the difference between "this and that", [/QUOTE] that keeps people buying into what may be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. It's the threat to ones refinement, the implication that one may indeed be too plebian to be able to "Understand". This is what keeps a lot of the High-end stuff in business. Societies fear of embarrassment, of appearing "Uncool". And this relates directly to the stuffed shirt Full of Sh!t examples I presented above.
I am not saying there isn't a difference between Mid-Grade and Premium gear, or wines, or Cigars, etc... I am not saying that there aren't folks out there that may really know what they are talking about. But I am saying that probably 70-80% of folks that are shopping/buying at the Bleeding Edge, do so blindly, simply because they have been told that this thing or that thing are better, superior, or simply more expensive. These are the same idiots buying HUMMER H2's, victims of marketing, of clever sales, and a desire or hell NEED to keep up with the Joneses, to project the "image".
Heh and you show me a "Financially AVERAGE" person with $350K Amps in their modest homes, and I'll show a lonely single man... Remember, average US HOUSEHOLD income is something like $40-45k? Not a lot of average households will be dropping this kind of coin on Sound gear...
