40 plus years of audio wisdom.
Is it egotistical to call my opinions wisdom? Hey this is MY tiny corner of reality so deal with it. I have heard a lot of high end audio equipment, some touted as state of the art. You know what tout means?
First golden rule there is better and good, but there is no BEST. As things ascend the hill of quality the paths lead to things you like. Perfect may not sound the way you want. You may like sugar in your coffee. (Ruins it for me)
Second golden rule is this is supposed to be fun. Do not get angry that people like different things or disagree with you. Appreciate different perspectives.
Every method of sound reproduction has distortion. Every method of measuring distortion has flaws or limitations.
Equipment reviewers are imperfect and human and are motivated by their situation. They almost always give positive comments, they have to. Read between the lines and make your own judgements.
When considering a purchase think critically.
Sometimes you may just want a taste of something different. That is perfectly fine.
Good equipment has a definite voice. Specific brands usually have specific voices that reflect the preferences of the designers. I conclude that this voice is a particular family of distortions that the device has. If there was no distortion it all would sound the same.
Both Tubes and Transistors can be used in high end gear. Neither is inherently better. They each have weaknesses. They are different.
Both pure analog and digital methods and media can be very good. One is NOT inherently better than the other. I have both pure analog and pure digital recordings of impeccable quality. I also have combination of those technologies that are excellent too.
It is great to have high quality recordings of good music. It is fine to have less than great recordings of great performances too. Music is performing art after all.
Psychology and preferences will drive purchases. Nobody is immune. Sales people need to sell. Snake oil products are common. A community of people that believe something reinforce that belief amongst themselves, even if it is false.
I have found that over four decades the absolute quality of audio systems has not improved that much. The golden ear experts described a lot of gear as perfect and realistic and many positive adjectives back 50 years ago. I have assembled systems with older equipment and it is pretty good. Preferences for particular things change.
Try to explore and have fun.
