Why are you still buying expensive premium gears when cheap stuff does the same

[pseudoid]

We could stop replying right now and nothing more than what has been said already needs improvements.
Kind of a QED... if not in this thread; then, elsewhere at ASR.

 

[ta240]

But, most sites survive on the same things being said over and over

 

[pseudoid]

But, most sites survive on the same things being said over and over

I see how you did that double-loading thing of the same word!

 

[CleanSound]

And for perspective, an Ed Sheeran concert ticket for yourself and your significant other is minimum $1k for half way decent seats. And the sound quality of a concert venue is crap, although nobody goes to a concert for good sound, they go for the experience.

A Uber ride to the airport and back costs me $120.

Dry cleaning when I did have to go into the office, was $60/month.

Train ticket when I did have to commute into the city for work was $277/month.

A NYC subway monthly MetroCard is $132/month, again when I did have to go into the city to work.

I spend (used to spend) easily $400/month just to go into work. And that is on top of my $400/month car payment.

So for those of us who are really into this hobby, $600 for a DAC, even $1,500 for a DAC, in the grand scheme of things and in relative to the cost of living, is perfectly acceptable. If we are getting what we want.

 

[droid2000]

And for perspective, an Ed Sheeran concert ticket for yourself and your significant other is minimum $1k for half way decent seats. And the sound quality of a concert venue is crap, although nobody goes to a concert for good sound, they go for the experience.

A Uber ride to the airport and back costs me $120.

Dry cleaning when I did have to go into the office, was $60/month.

Train ticket when I did have to commute into the city for work was $277/month.

A NYC subway monthly MetroCard is $132/month, again when I did have to go into the city to work.

I spend (used to spend) easily $400/month just to go into work. And that is on top of my $400/month car payment.

So for those of us who are really into this hobby, $600 for a DAC, even $1,500 for a DAC, in the grand scheme of things and in relative to the cost of living, is perfectly acceptable. If we are getting what we want.

I think a purchase should be evaluated in terms of your net worth, not your monthly expenditures.

 

[CleanSound]

I think a purchase should be evaluated in terms of your net worth, not your monthly expenditures.

Totally agreed, you buy without your means.

But comparing a $600 DAC to your cost of living gives perspective on how much is too much $600 really is.

 

[Ron Texas]

What a can of worms. First off this is a hobby. There isn't a bottom line which has to be met to get a bonus or avoid being fired. The OP does make a point, with measurements made on laboratory grade equipment it does become visible that the main function of items like DAC's are all great regardless of price. It's a world of choices, at least it is for the time being. I observe some of those choices are threatened if the item produces CO2 directly or indirectly.

There's no answer for this. It also goes back to the question of how good is good enough. For some people only a pair of Benchmark amps bridged is good enough. Others will be happy with a single NC502. They probably sound the same with most speakers.

Years ago a HiFi salesman pointed to a Yamaha CD player and called it the great equalizer. What he meant that it would put out consistently great sound for a lot less money than a top of the line turntable, carriage and whatever it took to get the output up to where it could drive an amplifier. What happened is digital sound took over, and vinyl is now a "thing".

People will buy speaker wires for $8k. Others will put together a system which provides a satisfying musical experience for under $1k.

Be thankful you don't have to pay for the air you breathe and are being offered different levels of purity where basic is $5 per day and deluxe is $100.

 

[Ron Texas]

Totally agreed, you buy without your means.

But comparing a $600 DAC to your cost of living gives perspective on how much is too much $600 really is.

It's not one's cost of living, but what is left over after that cost of living is met.

 

[CleanSound]

It's not one's cost of living, but what is left over after that cost of living is met.

I agree, you buy within your means. I was just using cost of living as a gauge of how much something is, regardless if you have left over disposable income or not.

 

[Ron Texas]

I agree, you buy within your means. I was just using cost of living as a gauge of how much something is, regardless if you have left over disposable income or not.

It's a lot easier to get by in Houston than in NYC. I'm from the NY area.

 

[droid2000]

Totally agreed, you buy without your means.

But comparing a $600 DAC to your cost of living gives perspective on how much is too much $600 really is.

You can never use your cost of living to evaluate the suitability of a purchase because your cost of living is not a fundamental objective measure. It's a subjective choice.

It may be safe at first when your income exceeds your expenditures and you have a positive net worth. But it sneaks up on you. You keep buying more things because they are insignificant to your other expenditures. Next thing you know, the sum total of all expenditures has snowballed into more than you make. Now you're tapping into savings and buying things on credit. You go net negative. Then one day I see you in a homeless camp next to SF city hall asking for change

 

[CleanSound]

It's a lot easier to get by in Houston than in NYC. I'm from the NY area.

I don't live in NY anymore, moved to NJ, a bit more affordable. I did work in Houston on two separate occasions totally 1 year in Houston, I can't imagine moving there. . .the heat is way much for me.

 

[CleanSound]

You can never use your cost of living to evaluate the suitability of a purchase because your cost of living is not a fundamental objective measure. It's a subjective choice.

It may be safe at first when your income exceeds your expenditures and you have a positive net worth. But it sneaks up on you. You keep buying more things because they are insignificant to your other expenditures. Next thing you know, the sum total of all expenditures has snowballed into more than you make. Now you're tapping into savings and buying things on credit. You go net negative. Then one day I see you in a homeless camp next to SF city hall asking for change

I agree and I don't. What I observed is that people often times comment on how expensive something is. Is $600 for a DAC too expensive? It depends, and it's relative. Comparing to cost of living, gives you a good perspective if something is too expensive or not. Of course, at the end of the day, you buy within your means, regardless of it's cheap or not.


EDIT: Just came across this video on YouTube:

 

[droid2000]

I agree and I don't. What I observed is that people often times comment on how expensive something is. Is $600 for a DAC too expensive? It depends, and it's relative. Comparing to cost of living, gives you a good perspective if something is too expensive or not. Of course, at the end of the day, you buy within your means, regardless of it's cheap or not.


EDIT: Just came across this video on YouTube:

Your last sentence is correct. The ones before it aren't.

I watched the video. There are some good parts but a lot of it is just useless fill. Some of it is terrible. For example, within the last 30 seconds they say- *twice* - that if you find yourself in a bad financial situation it's not your fault. This is advice from someone that intentionally wants you to fail and/or is completely financially illiterate.

I know no one will read it. But I'll take this chance to present the polar opposite of a CNBS finance special in case you want to dive deep on why humans buy the stuff they do:

https://cdn.mises.org/Human%20Action_3.pdf

 

[CleanSound]

Your last sentence is correct. The ones before it aren't.

And how so? It's not a perfect way to gauge how expensive something is, but it's still a way to gauge cost, nevertheless.

$1 for a can of soda in a place where you have to pay $500 for rent is considered expensive. $2 for a can of soda for a place where you have to pay $3000 for rent is considered cheap. Regardless of how cheap, if don't have the money, it's still not affordable. But don't go telling me $2 for a can of soda is expensive relative to the cost of living.

I watched the video. There are some good parts but a lot of it is just useless fill. Some of it is terrible. For example, within the last 30 seconds they say- *twice* - that if you find yourself in a bad financial situation it's not your fault. This is advice from someone that intentionally wants you to fail and/or is completely financially illiterate.

The linking of this video is to show how financially challenged Americans are in general. Not endorsing nor affirming their explanation of why and how.

 

[droid2000]

And how so? It's not a perfect way to gauge how expensive something is, but it's still a way to gauge cost, nevertheless.

It's not a valid way to evaluate a purchase because it's relative to your current spending, not your net worth. I don't know any other way to explain it. It may seem like a minor distinction, but a failure to understand this distinction is why many people have financial trouble.

 

[ZolaIII]

I don't buy overpriced gear as I don’t have a need or money for it. I don't buy very cheap one either nor do I care about aesthetics all that much or perusing state of art equipment. What I do like is equipment from well established brands with good quality, performance and reputation with valid warranty for deacent money and still affordable. I priorities functionality and know that you need to put lot of effort in order to get there where you want/need to be. There usually ain't closed black box solution which will get you there especially not no sweat one and in the end it's just equipment and equaliser is you. That apply from; speakers, sub's, amplifiers, DSP's, video gear and cetera.
Sometimes it's easy to get there regarding equipment at least and sometimes it ain't.
I don't mind even gear with limited life expectations on some parts as lamps (for projectors not the audio) as long as spare are available and easy to switch.
Anyway that's me.

 

[CleanSound]

It's not a valid way to evaluate a purchase because it's relative to your current spending, not your net worth. I don't know any other way to explain it. It may seem like a minor distinction, but a failure to understand this distinction is why many people have financial trouble.

I think you mistaken, I did not say I am using a product's price relative to cost of living as part of a purchasing decision making process.

I am using it to gauge the cost of something, is it considered expensive? Regardless if you can afford it or not, is it considered expensive?

The ultimate decision making of a purchase one should use is if the purchase is within one's mean.

Although one can use value of a purchase (how expensive something is relative to what you are getting) as one of many variables in the decision making process if they so choose. But again, the ultimate decision should be is the purchase within your means?

And what constitute if a purchase is within one's mean? That is for the individual to decide, there is a reason why some go broke when they croak and some pass on gold when they're old.

 

[Head_Unit]

Why spend $1K on IEMs when a random Chinese brand can almost outperform most of them under $50?

I tried a lot of cheapie IEMs and none of them sounded* close to as good as my old AKG K240DFs, or as good as my AirPods Pro for that matter, or the Sennheiser HD800s I got to listen to at a show, or the Focal Utopias a friend has. Nor have I heard any $50 speakers that sound as good as $1000 speakers. Now DACs, someday I'll try to rig up a test of the Apple dongle versus some outboard thing. People spend more money
- Often because something LOOKS more cool or beefy or lovely
- They think it will sound better

*There were some cheapie "City Lights" wired IEM that sounded remarkably good at least in MY ears. But not as ultimately transparent.

 

[droid2000]

I think you mistaken, I did not say I am using a product's price relative to cost of living as part of a purchasing decision making process.

I am using it to gauge the cost of something, is it considered expensive? Regardless if you can afford it or not, is it considered expensive?

The ultimate decision making of a purchase one should use is if the purchase is within one's mean.

Although one can use value of a purchase (how expensive something is relative to what you are getting) as one of many variables in the decision making process if they so choose. But again, the ultimate decision should be is the purchase within your means?

And what constitute if a purchase is within one's mean? That is for the individual to decide, there is a reason why some go broke when they croak and some pass on gold when they're old.

Awesome. We're on the same page. Sorry if I was slow to realize that.

I'm going to steal this if you don't mind, "there is a reason why some go broke when they croak and some pass on gold when they're old."