[bigshot]

I would take everything that salesman tells you with a grain of salt from now on.

 

[mammal]

I would take everything that salesman tells you with a grain of salt from now on.

He allows me to try at home for free, some items I am happy with and I keep them, others not so much and I return it. I am happy to spend my hard earned money if the new item gives me more enjoyment. I am not here for accuracy, as with EDM I have no clue what that would even mean. If an item changes my music in a way I like, I buy. If it does not, I don't. Even if it changes for "less accurate to the real world", I don't care much as I want to enjoy my songs. I hoped upsamplers would do that, but the two I tried did not.

 

[bigshot]

It's always good to be an educated buyer. It isn't easy to do that when the person feeding you information is manipulating you to try to sell you something. I'm sure he's a nice guy and he's very friendly. But I think you would do better to take a little responsibility to do your own homework from now on. You can't count on people like him to figure things out for you. It really isn't all that complicated. Digital audio generally just works. The only consideration is features, which you can figure out better for yourself anyway. All the blather about things sounding a little bit better if you have x, y and z is just sales pitch.

 

[mammal]

It's always good to be an educated buyer. It isn't easy to do that when the person feeding you information is manipulating you to try to sell you something. I'm sure he's a nice guy and he's very friendly. But I think you would do better to take a little responsibility to do your own homework from now on. You can't count on people like him to figure things out for you. It really isn't all that complicated. Digital audio generally just works. The only consideration is features, which you can figure out better for yourself anyway. All the blather about things sounding a little bit better if you have x, y and z is just sales pitch.

What‘s wrong with me playing with new toys, getting them home for free, trying them out for a week or two and only paying if I hear a difference? I get why a salesman would be pitching me things, hoping I would buy, but I am not buying blindly, only after I audition in a controlled environment. What’s wrong with that? I am not counting on anyone else to figure things out for me, again, it my ears who have the key for my wallet, not him. Also, he cannot trick me at the shop, as I am doing the auditioning at home.

 

[bigshot]

OK. Don't do any research randomly buy and return stuff. That's fine. But you won't get a better sounding home audio system that way.

 

[mammal]

OK. Don't do any research randomly buy and return stuff. That's fine. But you won't get a better sounding home audio system that way.

I would like to kindly ask you to read my posts more carefuly. I am not buying and returning, I am borrowing (aka dealer is lending me items), that I can test at home. In your last sentence, you literally pointed to what I am trying to achieve, “get better sounding home audio system”. I am not sure about you, but I listen with my ears, not with my eyes. I want to educate myself as much as the next guy, but please explain to me, how is trying things for myself, listening to them 2 weeks at the time, comparing what I hear (yes, with blind AB/ABX testing) not contributing to building a better system? Or are you only listening to things that make sense to you on the paper first? I am not discriminating any item, even if it is a snake oil, I am more than happy to welcome it to my home, test it for myself (while blind AB/ABX testing) and then decide. Why would I need to understand what the thing does first, in order to enjoy it? I literally wrote that I tested upsamplers and I found them not enjoyable, so I did not buy them. If you think I am blindly buying things left and right, you are wrong. If you prefer first being a believer of some technology making a difference and only then listening to it, please continue doing so. It is your time and your money. But I see nothing wrong with trying things out (yes, without first understanding what they do), and judging with my ears (not eyes). Do I need to understand everything in this life in order to enjoy it? I don’t know how engine in my car works (I have very rough understanding), but I still drive one. I did test drive like 8 cars before I purchased mine. I did research that was relevant to me, but no, I did not chose by understanding each component and its superiority first. My profession is something else, that’s where my brain power goes to. I came to music to enjoy it and I am on this forum to share my experience with others and learn from others while I am here. Doing research first makes more sense if you can’t try things, as you may not want to risk things blindly, but if you can try everything in existence (and all combinations together) if you had the time, why wouldn’t you? It’s fun, you should try it.

 

[bigshot]

The way to improve your system is to isolate problems and research solutions. Listening is a big part of that, but so is doing the research to understand how it all works. Just swapping stuff in and out randomly without any goal in mind or understanding of how it works is just shopping. It won’t move you forward. If you want to improve things, you have to invest in a little research beyond just what salesmen tell you. But if you enjoy shopping, feel free to go right ahead. I know that is more fun for some people than actually using their audio equipment.

 

[mammal]

The way to improve your system is to isolate problems and research solutions. Listening is a big part of that, but so is doing the research to understand how it all works. Just swapping stuff in and out randomly without any goal in mind or understanding of how it works is just shopping. It won’t move you forward. If you want to improve things, you have to invest in a little research beyond just what salesmen tell you. But if you enjoy shopping, feel free to go right ahead. I know that is more fun for some people than actually using their audio equipment.

That’s a decent answer, thank you.

 

[71 dB]

Thank you for your message, I am here to learn. I did try Chord's upsampler for a week, did not like what it did to the music, so returned it. Since I do not have your level of understanding of these technologies, I am easy to sway away by a talk of a salesman / marketing department on what will improve my music enjoyment, especially if they quote math to me, which to my low level of understanding sounds reasonable. But in the end, I vote with my wallet.

You are welcome! The truth is we all are learning. The day we believe we know everything we stop learning. Please don't take what I write as word of God, but instead be critical. I do understand these things pretty well, but that doesn't mean I can't be wrong.

 

[bigshot]

Don't take anyone's word for conclusions or opinions. That's the problem with the world nowadays. Mine the conversation for facts, do your own research to put those facts into context, and come to your own conclusions. Too many people want to take a shortcut by absorbing other people's opinions and bypassing all the work that goes into forming them for onesself. Internet forums are full of people parroting "common knowledge" from internet forums that just isn't true. If they focused on facts and did their own homework, they wouldn't be wrong so much of the time.

 

[redrol]

For 5000 bux I bet you could get a great upgrade on your actual speakers or headphones.

 

[bigshot]

Or get sound treatment installed in your listening room!

 

[jk6661]

Old thread, but I'll chime in. Don't listen to industry mags like Stereophile when it comes to spending your hard-earned money on equipment. They've never listened to a piece of $$$ equipment that that didn't transport them to audio Nirvana, including the M Scaler (see their review) and ridiculous nonsense like power cables that cost five figures. They don't want to offend potential advertisers, so they claim that "everything matters." Perhaps everything matters when it comes to their bottom line, but when it comes to audible improvements in sound quality, not so much. I would challenge any Stereophile or The Absolute Sound reviewer to conduct blind listening tests with two high-end systems that are identical except for something like a power cable and be able to differentiate them with a greater than 50% success rate. Funny thing is, they don't conduct tests like this. I wonder why.

End of rant.

 

[bigshot]

I want to click like on that twice.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

Everything related to the signal path does matter.

The issue is, does it matter enough to be audible, and if so, enough to be worth what it costs.