Fluffy
Addicted to Fun and Learning
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2019
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I know a guy who is just like that. He has some boutique hand-made DAC from the Netherlands that he swears sounds better than anything else, and attribute that to some arbitrary engineering approach by its maker (like separate the amp unit from the dac unit and connect them externally with rca cables… right…). We tried to do some blind testing to see if he or me can tell the difference from other dacs, and although we could in some cases, I don't consider what we did any close to statistically valid, so it proves nothing.
Most of the time I question whether the difference he hears is real or psychological, and he in turn says I don't have enough training to hear what he hears. It's mostly harmless teasing and nobody takes it to heart.
But there is something he does that disturbs me – he often recommends rare and pricey products to people who ask what they should buy. For example, if someone is interested in a DAC at a specific budget, he will try to convince them to get a more expansive DAC because it "sounds better", regardless if it really has the features they need. And of course he doesn't really care about measurements or even how specs correlate to sound. And it's almost redundant to mention at this point that he is also a great believer in the sound of cables and also tried to convince me to buy some expansive cable for their sound…
When he does that it really drives me nuts. And worst of all he recently started importing audiophile audio equipment, meaning that now he also has money incentive to persuade people to buy a more expansive product because it has a subjectively better sound.
I think overall if someone wants to believe a DAC or a cable sounds better, it's his right and his money and he can do whatever he likes. But the moral line is crossed once you try to convince someone to spend more money than needed based on your false beliefs.
Most of the time I question whether the difference he hears is real or psychological, and he in turn says I don't have enough training to hear what he hears. It's mostly harmless teasing and nobody takes it to heart.
But there is something he does that disturbs me – he often recommends rare and pricey products to people who ask what they should buy. For example, if someone is interested in a DAC at a specific budget, he will try to convince them to get a more expansive DAC because it "sounds better", regardless if it really has the features they need. And of course he doesn't really care about measurements or even how specs correlate to sound. And it's almost redundant to mention at this point that he is also a great believer in the sound of cables and also tried to convince me to buy some expansive cable for their sound…
When he does that it really drives me nuts. And worst of all he recently started importing audiophile audio equipment, meaning that now he also has money incentive to persuade people to buy a more expansive product because it has a subjectively better sound.
I think overall if someone wants to believe a DAC or a cable sounds better, it's his right and his money and he can do whatever he likes. But the moral line is crossed once you try to convince someone to spend more money than needed based on your false beliefs.