Is now the right time for "Extreme Week"?

[firedog]

1 hour ago, bluesman said:

This thread is really about a lot more than the wisdom, advisability and societal consequences of buying luxury goods (and I can only define a 5 figure piece of audio gear as a luxury - it’s neither a necessity nor mainstream entertainment).

 

First, it’s about personal codes of behavior.  Many who could afford high end living are comfortable and happy being down a rung or two.  One of my mentors when I was a resident and junior attending physician was a descendant of the founders of the Pennsylvania Railroad.  The family name is on everything from roads to skyscrapers.  He was a very nice and humble man (and a world class surgeon) who drove a Chevy, wore OTR suits, and never let a medical student or resident suffer because of a problem with which he could assist.  He and many of his colleagues (of whom he was not the only offspring of old money) were charitable because they were raised to be and thought it was the right thing to do.  Most were nice to everybody - they truly defined “gentleman” and “gentlewoman” (yes, I was educated by world class female physicians too).  Many of my friends and colleagues today are the same way.

 

There are many who feel that they earned their money and have a right to spend it however they wish, and for whatever reason they embrace.  They’re not wrong.  And many of those artists who design state of the art audio equipment that sells for 5 or 6 figures are just following their passions to an extreme.  There’s nothing wrong with that, either.
 

The cost of a pair of big Magicos would provide school lunches for much of the world’s starving children for days to weeks.  The excess caloric content ingested by the world’s obese population would cure those kids’ hunger permanently if redistributed to them.  But we also have the freedom to buy those speakers and eat twice as much as we need biologically.
 

This thread already demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling differences like these and assimilating them into a broad cultural context with which we could all live happily (even if not quite as satisfied in some aspects).  The closest we’re going to get to this is probably a balanced menu that has something for each “culture”.  We just have to be willing to let a few posted statements that may violate our personal code go unanswered.  
 

High end reviews are very interesting to me, even though I wouldn’t personally buy a $100,00+ component (or car).  I’ve bought many high end items used, just to experience them.  I later resold them with little or no loss (& not infrequently a bit of profit). But (as many of you know), value is my middle name - praise be to the Raspberry Pi!  So I’m lovin’ it all.  In the end, it shouldn’t be about any of us.  It’s about music and art and creativity and fun and adventure and learning.  
 

I think it should also be about the world in which we live and are leaving for our children.  But a healthy balance should be part of that, which to me means letting neither children nor artists go hungry.  If some of us help one group and some the other, it’s OK with me.  Stay the course, Chris.

Well said. 

In terms of audio, I'm fine with such reviews - I enjoy reading about other peoples journeys in audio  - even those on the "extreme" journey I'd never book. Chris seems to understand about the balance needed and reviewing components like the Parasound is a good counter - it's considered a "giant killer" - and it's important to also review items that give value for the dollar and allow SOTA (or something very close) for less.

Audiophile nervosa can be limited if articles are published showing how less expensive equipment can also give great results. 

[firedog]

2 minutes ago, bluesman said:

And I'm one of those trying to help Chris fill that gap.  He already has the next installment of The Value Proposition in Audio (an in depth evaluation and comparison of operating systems for SBCs for audiophiles) queued up.  And I'm on the last page of the following one about hot rodding SBCs for audio, with sequential performance data as I built up my cooled SuperPi4 to run at 2.2GHz with great mods like zram/zswap, reduced GPU memory etc.  The one after that is underway as well - it's on audio things you can build with a Pi, including a multitrack DAW, a portable music recorder, a CD/vinyl ripper, and a 3 way active crossover.

 

Ain't we got fun!!!

Right now I'm using a RPi4 as a Roon endpoint in a $20k system- and I think it sounds fine. I will probably replace it at some point with something more "audiophile" that gives me some additional HW or SW feature, but in the meantime I'm enjoying my music and have no complaints.

[firedog]

On 5/23/2020 at 1:52 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

The split within that number would be interesting.

Artist and labels is a misleading catagory - I'd bet purposely misleading. Why should they be lumped together? Willing to bet the vast majority of that went to the labels. We have lots of evidence showing how little many artists make from streaming. I doubt the labels want us to know.

 And let's not forget that the labels themselves are big shareholders in the streaming services. So they are paying that money to themselves, as it were. 

[firedog]

10 hours ago, vortecjr said:

As if putting a lot of thought into something makes it proper. The suggestion that only the reviewer knows what's best for the rest of us is improper IMHO. I emailed Chis C that this very trend sets the wrong message. 

 

It's really not a challenge to set up an affordable system that equals these overly expensive / ridiculous solutions and I'm more than happy to give a hand in this respect.

I'm not sure I understand either Austinpop or ray-dude claiming that their solutions are best for the rest. They are reporting what they hear, and they have the means and the will to spend those sums for the improvements they hear. They are trying to get a bit more performance out of already great setups. 

 

 I for one am doubtful I or many others would hear the same improvements. In addition, for most people, if you are going to spend lots of money, you are going to get a lot more bang for your buck spending money on speakers and the right amps for them. The writers of these reviews of extremely high priced units may have already maxed out their spending on amps and speakers and are looking for other ways to improve their systems. 

 

And it's all a matter of perspective. There are also those that would say that a $600 or an $1800 or a $4000 internet streamer is outrageously expensive for what it does and for the added value it gives relative to cheaper solutions.