What are your goals with this hobby?

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Hmm, let me expand on what I mean Tony. Let's say you want a Porsche. Chances are, you have read the specs, you have read reviews, they are genuine, they describe facts and figures, the 0-60, the lateral acceleration numbers, the torque, the horsepower, heck one can even check what it did around the Ring as far as time to compare. You know well enough what you want out of that car and why you are buying it. The room/the performance, the looks, the style, the heritage, the pizzazz... Many reasons but mostly clear defined and verifiable.



What exactly are we buying with a very expensive power cord or a preamp we have not heard? Or any piece of gear for that matter. So in audio it boils down to an opinion of someone, somewhere with a very different audio system, who does not believe in blind testing or measurements, because we do not like measurements in audio. So trust his ears and hope he was being genuine when he described the "this blows that one out of the water"? Of course if the reality of things does not meet expectations.... then we need a more resolving system or better ears? That's to add insult to the wallet injury?

OK, I misunderstood. I thought your premise for this thread was what our goals were for our hobby, not the validity of how we make our choices.