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Do You Regret Your Pre-ASR Audio Gear Choices of the past?

I used to believe my dealer ( why would he lie) and to be fair to him he never sold ‘foo’ mainly I expect because foo then was only in its infancy.
Although I did buy a Carver Sonic Hologram generator, and p/ex my Meridian 101B preamp for an Audio Research SP8 which was far noisier.
Those were the days!
Keith
 
When I set up my first real hi-fi system in the early 2000s based on a Musical Fidelity integrated amp, Paradigm speakers and sub, Sony CD/SACD player, and cheap PBJ wire, I think I lucked into excellent sound without being a victim of audiophile price-gouging.

The big thing for me is that I’m contemplating buying new separates, an amplifier and preamp, and since falling down the ASR rabbit hole my potential component choices have been radically transformed from pricey fancy-looking “audiophile” brands to much less expensive Classic D amps and reasonably priced preamps that measure brilliantly.
 
No regrets. I fished around a little at the beginning of this hobby path but soon settled on the core hifi components that kept me happy for decades (with a few changes along the way). I’m learning plenty of new things at ASR and also finding confirmation for concepts previously discovered.
 
Interesting replies thank you.

In my own case, there is nothing I regret.

I really remember the thrill of getting into
“ high end audio,” and anticipating every new Issue of Stereophile or the absolute sound or other magazines. Compiling stacks of them to read through. (I also loved Listener magazine). I loved travelling around to listen to all the types of gear that I saw in those magazines or that I heard about from other audiophiles. I had tons of fun trips and experiences.

I also don’t regret a single loudspeaker I ever purchased. Every one gave me pleasure and was part of a learning experience. Even now I wouldn’t go back and replace all those loudspeakers with the system I have at the moment, because they all gave me something different I’m glad I experienced.

I can’t think of any regrets of other types of gear either, including the tube amplifiers I have owned for about 25 years. Or the various CDPs/DACs I owned.

I think it’s possible that I would hold some regrets if I had spent a lot of money on the woo-woo tweaky stuff, including cables.

But though I wasn’t an engineer, I came from a sceptical/critical thinking background and so I was dubious about claims that people with relevant expertise cast doubt upon. So if degreed electrical engineers were pointing out why lots of the claims made for expensive cables didn’t make sense, I took that scepticism very seriously. And I was quite aware of the problems of human bias.

Not to mention, I was doing blind testing even starting in the 90s, including of expensive AC cables and the like, which cured me of throwing money in that direction.
 
I do think ASR has made me a better-informed consumer of audio gear, but my only serious regret about an audio purchase was buying something I had not personally listened to before purchasing,
 
As others have mentioned, fortunately, I just didn’t have much money. I still don’t, but I didn’t in 2005 for sure.

I was on head-fi a lot. I do think the collective delusion is a really interesting case study. Specifically the HD600, which I’ve had for many years (and had the drivers replaced even), there was so much nonsense about matching amps, trying out different tubes, and then also a huge collection of people who supported each other in this activity. The “sennheiser veil” requiring some very esoteric electronics to somehow pierce through - really incredible how group think works.

Edit - point being, I am glad I did not have money, or who knows how many expensive electronics I would have accumulated
 
No regrets whatsoever coz I was relatively ignorant about audio gears and didn't really buy them. I remember buying a portable media player...a Creative Zen. Got me going listening to mp3 and watching avi/mp4 files. Also I bought a beats knockoff headphone which was soo good (at the time) and some cheap earbuds. After ASR, got to know more about DACs, amps and other stuff. Sure bought lots more after ASR and even that not much regret but perhaps ignorant was bliss way back then. :p
 
No regrets on my part either. I loved tube rolling and finding some NOS Russian pre Cold War 6922s. And my pair of Audioquest cables that were so thick my hands would bleed when I tried to put banana plugs on them. Or my B&Ws cause they had “Nautilus” tweeters. How could they not be better? You remember the golden rule right? In some ways, learning more has taken a tiny bit of the magic out of the gear. Call me an audiophile if you want, but there is a joy in being naive. You live and learn and so I have zero regret.
 
Actually, if I can be perfectly honest and this is not as a ding on ASR. This is my own mistake and I own up to it.

I actually made few purchases that I regret based on ASR reviews. And almost sold an amp because of ASR's measurement only mantra.

Brought a lot of Topping and SMSL products, the QC on them were less than stellar, there were some design bugs. I also didn't have the satisfaction and pride of ownership, because I'm not a fan of desktop form factor, feels like a little kid's toy.

I got so caught up with SINAD, almost sold my Yamaha A-S2200, totally disregarded that steady and consistent power, load and frequency invariant is probably just as important as SINAD. And no, you do not need 105dB SINAD, if you are playing at a volume like a normal person. It probably is highly unlikely that I can tell the difference between the .07% THD+N on my Yamaha vs. my Benchmark ABH2. I don't believe even Amir uses an amp of that high SINAD on his Salon.

Not to mention, I love how my Yamaha looks, the aesthetics gives me a sense of satisfaction when I listen on it, a pride of ownership.

Now, there is no doubt I benefitted more with ASR.
 
Know the difference between scientists and science believers.
 
Brought a lot of Topping and SMSL products, the QC on them were less than stellar, there were some design bugs. I also didn't have the satisfaction and pride of ownership, because I'm not a fan of desktop form factor, feels like a little kid's toy.

I know what you mean there.

Just in terms of build quality and aesthetics, I like gear that gives me a sense of pride of ownership, something that’s really pleasing to operate and looks good.

In general, the pretty cheap electronic equipment lauded on ASR doesn’t fit the bill for me.

That said, I did buy my Benchmark LA4 based on ASR and Stereophile’s measurements. I get no pride of ownership from the looks and feel of that product, but I do get a bit from knowing the high-level of engineering (reflected in the measurements).
 
No. I won't regret.
The earliest one was that retro record player, which was probably a copy of a Soviet product. The sound was very warm, but it only exists in my memory.
Later, there was the cassette recorder, which could be taken out and shown off. Then came the CD player. It was then that I started buying music I liked. Before that, it was my dad and my brother's era.

Later, MP3 players and smartphones emerged. Although these may not be considered HiFi, they brought me a lot of joy. I was deeply impressed by the Motorola smart phone. Its music playback was unique, using an independent chip. It was the best-sounding Android smartphone I had ever heard. Then ESS came out of nowhere, and I also briefly owned an LG. Although it was the high-resolution era, the sound wasn't as good as before. The Apple phone's resolution was average, and could only be said to be sufficient.

And now, I have many devices, but I don't have the leisure to listen to music specifically!
 
I know what you mean there.

Just in terms of build quality and aesthetics, I like gear that gives me a sense of pride of ownership, something that’s really pleasing to operate and looks good.

In general, the pretty cheap electronic equipment lauded on ASR doesn’t fit the bill for me.

That said, I did buy my Benchmark LA4 based on ASR and Stereophile’s measurements. I get no pride of ownership from the looks and feel of that product, but I do get a bit from knowing the high-level of engineering (reflected in the measurements).
I agree with you both. I like having stuff that looks nice in my space. I think a lot of those products are targeted at the desktop pc crowd - those folks spend money on new stuff a lot, but they don’t want to buy $1,000 DACs in many cases I think. So the small stuff fits the bill there.

Here is one high level takeaway for me from ASR - with the electronics, in general, they will all perform at significantly similar levels, perhaps inaudibly different in many, many cases. So it actually is important to prioritize the actual other specifications - am I getting the right wattage for what I’m doing, does it have the connections that I need, do I like how it looks and feels. Is the remote OK. That all seems more relevant day to day than SINAD (unless it’s just badly designed in some way)

Edit: more relevant than sinad, but also particularly much more relevant than random subjective opinions on warmth and other meaningless adjectives.
 
no regrets in regard to gear / music
plenty of others : = )
 
A common theme here on ASR is how many feel they managed to escape the ideas that drive the purchases of many other audiophiles. Getting rid of the woo-woo, no more being influenced by golden ear reviewers, getting off the gear merry-go-round, and finally making more knowledgable decisions that have led to their current system.

So my question to the crowd is:

How do you view your “ pre-ASR life?” (and perhaps your own more “objective” views predate ASR).

Do you regret much of the gear that you owned in your past audiophile journey?

Do you look back on it as a waste of time and money?

(my quick answer: no not at all. But I’m curious about others)
About the same but with more information to work with. No to the last two. I'm probably replacing some Maggies soon but not because of ASR ;).
 
No regrets at all because I bought quality products that performed well. And that was a long time before ASR even existed. I appreciate this site but it is not the be all to end all. There is still objective information out there and there has been for years.
 
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