Is now the right time for "Extreme Week"?

[Allan F]

11 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I fully understand and sympathize with your position, however...  "Affordable" means different things to different people.

 

By no reasonable or acceptable definition of the term would a $27,000 music server be considered to be "affordable".

[Allan F]

48 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

Perhaps not to you and me, but I guarantee that there are people out there to whom $27,000 is chump change.

 

I am less concerned about the limited few for whom that is true than I am about correct use of the English language. Notwithstanding that $27,000 may be "chump change" to some, that does not make it "affordable", a term that by definition implies that it is reasonably priced and within the means of many. While its meaning is relative within reason, it cannot be extended to include this very expensive "luxury", to use.@bluesman's  description.

 

The issue of whether or not anyone should judge or feel "guilt" regarding such a purchase is an entirely different issue, and is irrelevant to the etymology of the term.

[Allan F]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Isn't that term by definition extremely subjective?

 

To a certain, but not extreme degree it is. It may be relative or comparative. One has to view it in context. When we are talking about very expensive items that few people have the means to purchase, the term is inapplicable. Given both the very high price and the fact that capable music servers can be bought for a small fraction of the cost, there is absolutely no way that a $27,000 server can be described as "affordable". There are no doubt instances where the use of the term is debatable, but this is certainly not one of them.

[Allan F]

16 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I’d say affordable has no relation to what other products are available. 

 

And I would respectfully say that is incorrect, e.g. most compact cars are affordable. A Ferrari is not.

[Allan F]

16 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

And I'd say that to Elon Musk the entry level Ferrari is a bargain!

 

It may be a bargain to Elon Musk, but it is not "affordable". There is a difference between what a particular individual can "afford" and the word "affordable". The former is specific, whereas the latter implies a general application.

 

Re the question of whether an Aurender W20se is "more affordable" than a Taiko Extreme, I would suggest that the more appropriate term would be "less expensive". However, I will concede that in that particular context, "more affordable" might be acceptable, but "affordable" would not be. Of course, that runs contrary to Chris' view that the term has "no relation to what other products are available".

[Allan F]

13 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

ok... Once again, I don't want to argue so I'll let you have this one. I disagree, but that's okay I guess.

 

We can agree to disagree. Regardless, I believe that this horse has been flogged to death.

[Allan F]

: able to be afforded: having a cost that is not too high.

// products sold at affordable prices

 

Both of which I suggest imply relative to other products or services of the same genre. But I agree that it doesn't necessarily have to be so. As in the case of a Ferrari, there are products that are so expensive as to be both objectively (not subjectively) and independently not "affordable".

 

 

[Allan F]

1 hour ago, daverich4 said:

When you compare it’s price to less expensive products that are available you are talking about value, not affordability. 

 

Value refers to worth of relative worth. But price determines whether something is affordable. Its worth has nothing to do with its affordability.

[Allan F]

2 hours ago, bluesman said:

Value is often defined as worth / cost.  But worth is subjective and individually determined.  And there is no single unit of measurement for worth, which makes inverse dollars the default unit of measurement for value.

 

It depends on the definition of value that you are discussing. Value or worth may be determined by market price, for example, which is not subjective. However, whether one views the value placed on something by the market is justifiable or "worth it" is a subjective evaluation.