Expensive or Insane? Where to draw the line.

[Hyfi]

I think it's mostly a matter of do you have the money to blow or not. While some of these high priced pcs of equipment do sound fabulous, they do not sound $xxxx times better. Case in point, I recently got my hands on a VAC CLA-1 MKII pre-amp. This unit listed for $6500 when new. I swapped it for my Sound Valves 101i which cost me $550 when new. Yes the VAC sounds a whole lot better but it's hard to say that it sounds 10 times better.

I have also heard many of the high priced components when Soundex was still around. I heard the Grand Utopias, Dynaudio Arbitor system and all the other outrageously expensive gear they sold.

Some of the above systems totaled close to $400,000 including MIT cabling that looked like vacuum cleaner hoses. Again, It is too hard to say that they sounded 40 times better than my $10k system. Better? For sure, but not worth the money unless you have it to waste.

[Deadeye]

Hyfi has it right. I used to visit Soundex and listen to some of the megabuck gear. 10 or 20 times better than my rig? I think not. That said, some Apogee Grands or Infinity IRS's would be nice. Of course I'd have to move to larger dig's but if I could afford them, larger digs should be no problem.

[jrhymeammo]

Hyfi has it right. I used to visit Soundex and listen to some of the megabuck gear. 10 or 20 times better than my rig? I think not. That said, some Apogee Grands or Infinity IRS's would be nice. Of course I'd have to move to larger dig's but if I could afford them, larger digs should be no problem.

Hyfi has it right. I used to visit Soundex and listen to some of the megabuck gear. 10 or 20 times better than my rig? I think not. That said, some Apogee Grands or Infinity IRS's would be nice. Of course I'd have to move to larger dig's but if I could afford them, larger digs should be no problem.

Hyfi has it right. I used to visit Soundex and listen to some of the megabuck gear. 10 or 20 times better than my rig? I think not. That said, some Apogee Grands or Infinity IRS's would be nice. Of course I'd have to move to larger dig's but if I could afford them, larger digs should be no problem.

JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where the hell have you been? Good see you around, buddy. Looks like nothing has changed, except for your screen name. Whatta hell dude. We've all missed you and hope to see you around more.

Peace,

[Deadeye]

Thank you vury vury much. It's good to be back. I couldn't get in under my old screen name. The new one is appropriate to what I've been doing.

[Feanor]

Thank you vury vury much. It's good to be back. I couldn't get in under my old screen name. The new one is appropriate to what I've been doing.

I knew I'd seen that avatar before, not to mention the SP9 MkIII.

Great to hear from you, Joe.

[RGA]

I have to say I think the notion of "Times Better" is highly problematic.

No sound versus a boom box is infinitely better - from zero to something is the largest step we can take.

Upgrading to me takes a few forms - 1) more 2) better. If you listen to a small speaker in a line and it sounds nice enough but lacks bass - maybe you decide to pay more to get more bass. You pay X for that improvement. But maybe the bass is not great quality so you decide you want better - so you pay another X amount to get refined bass but you may lose a bit of number 1 (getting a but less bass than before but improved quality). You want that extended bass back but retain the quality you pay another X amount. And so it continues to grow - maybe you want less distortion or clearer highs so you pay another X amount.

In the end though ALL of this is just toys. Most people can be quite happy listening to music on an iPod and half way decent headphones. People buy a $1000 stereo over a $100 boom box because they want to enjoy their music a little more.

Some people choose to spend $80,000 on a turntable because it gets them more emotionally involved with the music than does a Rega P3 for $800. The 80k turntable is not 80 times better - it may not be 8 times better but percentages have NOTHING to do with it. If the $80k turntable brings the listener to a cathartic experience listening to their records and the Rega does not then the $80k turntable is worth it and the Rega is not worth it.

That's the key here. If the 5k DAC makes you enjoy your music and the $1k model does not then to me the $5k DAC is money well spent and the $1k DAC is money poorly spent - even if the difference is very subtle - a subtle difference can be far more important than a BIG difference depending on what it is that is being altered. I like several speakers that have huge frequency response alterations while two turntables may have subtle speed variations that affect frequency nominally.

[elapsed]

Some people choose to spend $80,000 on a turntable because it gets them more emotionally involved with the music than does a Rega P3 for $800. The 80k turntable is not 80 times better - it may not be 8 times better but percentages have NOTHING to do with it. If the $80k turntable brings the listener to a cathartic experience listening to their records and the Rega does not then the $80k turntable is worth it and the Rega is not worth it.

That's the key here. If the 5k DAC makes you enjoy your music and the $1k model does not then to me the $5k DAC is money well spent and the $1k DAC is money poorly spent - even if the difference is very subtle - a subtle difference can be far more important than a BIG difference depending on what it is that is being altered.

I couldn't agree more.. I could argue that the point of diminishing returns for a 2-channel system is around $5,000. This bought me my original entry-level Naim system, Rega Planar 3 turntable, and a couple of small speakers, and was truly enjoyable to listen to. However, it was well worth it to me to spend several times this original budget in order to build a system that gives me a truly emotional connection to the music I'm listening to. And although the upgraded system is only perhaps 10-20% better than the original system, this was still worth every penny to me regardless of the cost.

cheers,
elapsed