[ToddRaymond]

I hear he's from Michigan.

 

[Hardwired]

 

 
Actually that could be shortened to 'Don't spend money to impress people' but it doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

[45longcolt]

 
Make sure what you have is for your pleasure and is not what you imagine pleases others.
 
 

 A quibble - you don't always know what you like until you try it. In other words, sometimes you have to have a huge house with a putting green to realize you don't need a huge house with a putting green.
 
Which brings up the old question of first causes - i.e., do slackers become surfers or do surfers become slackers? Or, do we, in our little subculture, get obsessed with chasing the ideal system because we care about the last micro-percentage of sound improvement more than we care about the cost; or do we just want to show off our shiny new toys and choose audio gear instead of watches or cars. Do we become addicted to sound and gear, or are we addicts who just happen to pick gear as our addiction?
 
Mike, age seems to have brought you wisdom. (That's a compliment, not a shot at your seniority.) And I am very much enjoying the Ygg/Rag with both phones and speakers. Kudos.

 

[rtaylor76]

Never Spend Money to Impress People You Don't Like.
 
You don't really need the "you don't have", because many do have, and there is no reason to make that distinction.
 
Sorry Mike. Love your Schiit!

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

  Never Spend Money to Impress People You Don't Like.
 
You don't really need the "you don't have", because many do have, and there is no reason to make that distinction.
 
Sorry Mike. Love your Schiit!

 
But then it wouldn't be Mike's quote any more, would it.
 

 

[sludgeogre]

My problem is spending money I don't have to impress myself (so I guess you could say the "people you don't like" thing still holds true *insert drum roll and cymbal crash here*). I think Reddog has the same issue. It is so hard not buying a Gumby and Mjolnir just to have 3/4 of the tiers of Schiit gear to compare to. I know I have fun doing it just with the gear I have now. Dreams of an Yggdrasil/Ragnarok stack on some future possible bonus are hard to fend off as well, but would I rather travel to Europe for that money with my girlfriend? Most likely. So many other priorities, so many things to choose from, so little money to draw from.

 

[krikor]

I hear he's from Michigan.

 
Sorry to go completely off topic... 
 
@Turdski Love the Critters... but have not heard them in ages.  They still around?
 
 
Krikor from Michigan 

​

 

[rtaylor76]

   
But then it wouldn't be Mike's quote any more, would it.
 

 
Duh.

 

[doublea71]

Upgraditus has to be some form of mental illness. Alan Watts probably said something about this back in the day.

 

[money4me247]

  Upgraditus has to be some form of mental illness. Alan Watts probably said something about this back in the day.

'upgraditis' or oniomania can be a symptom for a disorder, but in it of itself not really classified as disease per DSM-5 or ICD-10. Like with many other psychiatric disease, it depends on how adversely it affects daily life.
 
Similar to how anxiety or depression are symptoms, but do occur within the spectrum of normal behavior. It is normal to get anxious or depressed or to want to purchase the latest greatest thing. It depends how negatively these symptoms are affecting daily function whether treatment is required.
 
Shopping sprees or other reckless excessive behavior can be a symptom for addiction, bipolar disorder, impulse control disorder, or OCD. Likely would present in other aspects of life beyond audio gear purchasing such as reckless driving or other foolhardy behavior done without thought of consequence.
 
The usage of "retail therapy" as an adaptive behavior is similar to "stress eating." Not really an issue unless the behavior continues despite extremely poor consequences (such as getting diabetes or becoming morbidly obese). Can concerning if cycling through rapid periods of elation followed by a prolonged feelings of guilt and/or depression and/or overspending followed by overly frugal behavior to 'compensate'. Ex: Bulimia nervosa with be binge eating followed by purging/excessive dieting/exercise/fasting.
 
Can be a poor coping mechanism for something underlying mood disorder such as depression. Some things to look out for is purchasing well beyond means and/or incurring excessive debt and/or inability to exercise self-restraint in face of severe legal/personal consequences.
 
Treatment would be cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Unless suffering from a bipolar disorder where an antidepressant is contraindicated as it would trigger a manic episode, and a mood stabilizer should be used instead. For someone with more OCD-type symptoms, exposure and response prevention (ERP) would be used instead of CBT. For someone who is concerned for themselves or a loved one, it would be best to talk to your primary care physician.

 

[GearMe]

 A quibble - you don't always know what you like until you try it. In other words, sometimes you have to have a huge house with a putting green to realize you don't need a huge house with a putting green.

Definitely can be true...but sometimes the spending is for others (i.e. family). We had a nice house on an acre when we had kids. Now we're in a 2BR townhome that's within walking distance of restaurants/movies, is a mile bike ride from the lake, and within a 5 minute drive of our kids & Grandkids. Got rid of almost all my audio stuff (mulitple 2 channel systems, Home Theater, etc.) but don't miss our 'larger' lifestyle one bit! That said, don't regret having it when our family 'needed' it!

Do we, in our little subculture, get obsessed with chasing the ideal system because we care about the last micro-percentage of sound improvement more than we care about the cost;

I think this depends on the person. I almost always chased value for my dollar in the 2 channel world:
Amps -- first amp was Phase Linear 400, next I built some Hafler DH200 kits; then Crown...Marantz...Luxman...GAS...Sumo...AR...finally ending up with Forte.
Speakers - JBL L100s (what else would a 15 year old pair with the PL400?), Polk, Infinity, Dahlquist, Acoustat, Mission, Quad, and Maggies.

I got some great sound out of this gear without breaking the bank. Still have the Forte and the Argonauts...and one DH200 (first kit; couldn't part with it!)

TBH...I started souring on high-end audio when the stores started selling cable that looked like Boa Constrictors and cost as much as the amp itself. What was worse was I came to find out my systems sucked without these 'upgrades'! After several years of counseling, I've moved on, but to this day I still get hives if someone mentions Fulton, etc.

I've always been willing to spend hard-earned money for very good sound but never obsessed about the 6 figure audio system or the 3-5K headphones. They're fun to listen to in the store or a friends house but not worth it in my eyes. That said, to many people, a 4 to 5 figure stereo system or $600 cans is obsessing!

Even though headphones cost way less than room-based systems, I'm still looking for value.

The really cool thing about the headphone hobby these days is the huge variety of equipment, sound signatures, price points, etc. for a relatively low cost -- especially if you're willing to look for bargains. For $2000, I have 7 great and very different 'listening rooms' (T1, 400i, 650, 600, Q701, DT770, D600) suited for different music and/or moods...about the cost of a pretty nice 2 channel amp in the 70s and 80s.

FWIW...the portable world's even better! For less than $300 total, I can listen to my Amperiors, M80s, TF10s, or HF5s which ride with me in my laptop backpack where ever I go. I still smile every time I listen to my $30 V-modas!
[/quote]

 

[Serenitty]

Sometimes its more fun to wring out that little 1.8L mx5 with sticky tires than say a 458 italia. Can't attest to the latter but the former is a barrel of monkeys. Jason just "gets it". Another awesome chapter.

I concur on the monkeys, and it's been my own downgrade for "fun" instead of pure performance...

 

[NA Blur]

The hard part, and to many the fun part, is knowing that we get used to a particular set of gear because our brains learn. What we end up learning is the sound signature and our brain becomes trained to its sound. New gear, better or worse, will sound different and if the initial take is that it sounds good our brain will tend to trick us into thinking it is better than what we already have. This is of course part of the reason measurements are important, but because listening is so subjective, not everyone likes to read the graphs and talk numbers.
 
I like that Schiit started by making USA built audio gear at an affordable price. I know I have been stunned at least once by how good their gear sounds with certain headphones.

 

[Odin412]

 
But a couple of things happened on the way to that. One was the audio market veering out of control into full gold-plated-Bentleyland (when I started working for Mike at Theta, I thought a $3,000 DAC was beyond the pale…when $16K DACs started appearing, it was a step so far up the ladder, I knew I’d never be comfortable there.)

In economic theory there is pricing concept called ​"charge what the market will bear”, meaning set prices based on what customers are willing to pay, not based on costs. The reason that already insane prices keep getting more inflated is very simple: Enough customers are willing to pay to make it worthwhile for the manufacturers. (The fact that many of these customers are literally dying off is a different matter and something those same vendors seemingly pay no attention to.) Solution: Say 'when' and seek out vendors that make great gear at reasonable prices. I sometimes get depressed visiting one Bentley-like room after another at various audio shows, but then I visit companies like audioengine, Schiit, and Elac (plus Zu for their awesome music) and I feel happy again.

 

[tonykaz]

Is Anyone actually buying the pricy stuff on display at RMAF or being reviewed in the Glossy Mags?
 
The RMAF Rooms look rather sparse with fancy gear sitting on the floor or on a cheapie table.  A printed Banner with the Company Name is the least expensive thing an outfit can come up with.  Most of the displayed gear looks rather One-off to me.  
 
These guys might spend a few Grand to do a RMAF event and they might sell something but do they? or are they just taking a chance with an Amp or Speaker that someone made for them?
 
Audio Dealers are Scarce now-a-days, I don't think any of these exhibitors are anticipating signing a Dealer or building a Dealer Network, besides a Dealer would be buying "1 to Show & 2 to go", can Dealers take a chance on an Unknown outfit anymore? don't think so.
These Exhibitors are Wanna-be's, the Show organizers sold em a Room and promised the World.
 
[size=x-small]The Folks wandering the hallways at RMAF looked like they were drinking NyQuil, Show Attendance was way down ( Except for the Headphone part which [/size]was WAY up and exciting ).  
 
[size=x-small]HighEnd is pretty much Dead!, the Glossy Mags are trying to keep an "IV" flowing into the Corpse, we keep reading the Glossy Mags who keep getting advertising money.  Stereophile has 72,000 Paid Subscriptions, enough for them to keep going. [/size]
 
[size=x-small]The guys we see at RMAF are gonna stay till they run out of money or die. They'll die hard, they'll die hopeful.[/size]
 
[size=x-small]Tony in Michigan [/size]