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Snobbery in Hi-Fi. Why are people so stupid and turn their noses up at gear costing much less which is just as good?

tineared said:
"Premium" refers to anything that's more expensive than the OP deems necessary.
Next, will you ask me to define "necessary"?
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Etymology (from Google)
The term originates from Latin praemium, meaning "booty, profit, reward," derived from prae- ("before") + emere ("to take, buy").
 
PristineSound said:
I am also very intrigued by your outlook in life. You are free to private message me if you like, I would take the opportunity to learn more about you and why you feel other people shouldn't spend their money as they like.
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I don’t care if people want to waste their money on whatever. But we have a site here dedicated to measuring audio equipment to a standard, yet people are still compelled to spend way more than they need to. That is a social science phenomenon in itself.
 
Westsounds said:
I don’t care if people want to waste their money on whatever. But we have a site here dedicated to measuring audio equipment to a standard, yet people are still compelled to spend way more than they need to. That is a social science phenomenon in itself.
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Westsounds said:
It's true, if the job is fit for purpose, and it works just as good as any other tool. Who would ever question what tools were used in the process.
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Wow, so much circular contradiction. o_O

I'm afraid we all may have been sucked into a trolling thread. I suspect that this thread will be shut down pretty soon, so I will move on.
 
Allow me to assist once again:
Groove01 said:
There is certainly a point of diminishing returns in audio. Your point of demarcation may be different then others based on your circumstances, means, and use case.

Ryobi works. Makita just works better for harder jobs over and over again. Is Festool better than Makita, yes. Is it worth 3x the price for me, no.

Is Makita worth 2x the price over Ryobi - for me 100%.
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Westsounds said:
And on this, no one will ever know whether that stunning bit of building work was ever done using only Parkside tools
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Groove01 said:
You’ve obviously never drilled through filled block and had the chuck just completely sheer off. I personally don’t like taking 2x the time and cleaning up rough cuts because my tool bogs down.

That’s not my definition of winning.
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Westsounds said:
oh no, we have a tool snob in our presence
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I’m getting a bit dizzy trying to keep up - lol.
 
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PristineSound said:
Wow, so much circular contradiction. o_O

I'm afraid we all may have been sucked into a trolling thread. I suspect that this thread will be shut down pretty soon, so I will move on.
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Oh no.
You pulled the "Troll" card.

It's the most disappointing and deflating card in the pack of internet cards.

It is the nuclear option to get mods to do your bidding (arguing) for you when you can't argue in good faith yourself.

I am disappointed.
 
Westsounds said:
There's nothing wrong with premium gear, premium gear can be defined by something that is well constructed, fit for purpose, will probably last as long as any other well-designed gear and measures well. We can add all sorts of variables to that and get the same product but increase the value by x10 or x100 or more. This is where it becomes mindless spending. We are going beyond ‘good hi-fi’ into bias influenced or subjective spending, it’s not better ‘hi-fi’, yet there are swarms of people who swear it is, and even turn their noses up at the lower end ‘premium’ stuff because they don’t think it’s in the same league. It is just as good though.
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Many years ago I was in the market for a preamp. I brought home a Mark Levinson $10K No. 326S and a Parasound JC2 at about half the price. I compared them for several days. As expected by those not afflicted with "golden ears" I could hear no difference between the two and both satisfied my needs for inputs, outputs, and performance (SINAD) using ASR terminology.

I ended up buying the Mark Levinson because of it's far more precise volume control (the motorized pot of the Parasound was not repeatable and would over and under shoot the level I wanted. I also felt the build quality of the Mark Levinson should give me decades of service. The Parasound is an excellent preamp, but it was not the level of the Mark Levinson.

I did not buy the Mark Levinson for bragging rights or snob appeal, in fact the preamp has been hidden in an equipment cabinet in all the years I have owned it. As for build quality, it has never let me down and I am still using 10 plus years later.
 
Mr. Widget said:
Many years ago I was in the market for a preamp. I brought home a Mark Levinson $10K No. 326S and a Parasound JC2 at about half the price. I compared them for several days. As expected by those not afflicted with "golden ears" I could hear no difference between the two and both satisfied my needs for inputs, outputs, and performance (SINAD) using ASR terminology.

I ended up buying the Mark Levinson because of it's far more precise volume control (the motorized pot of the Parasound was not repeatable and would over and under shoot the level I wanted. I also felt the build quality of the Mark Levinson should give me decades of service. The Parasound is an excellent preamp, but it was not the level of the Mark Levinson.

I did not buy the Mark Levinson for bragging rights or snob appeal, in fact the preamp has been hidden in an equipment cabinet in all the years I have owned it. As for build quality, it has never let me down and I am still using 10 plus years later.
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A 5k preamp in 19-nought-plonk fits right into the OP.

Take a seat
 
I can't get over this forum, it's as if you actually want gear to cost more than you need to spend.
 
BlueTunes said:
It is the nuclear option to get mods to do your bidding (arguing) for you when you can't argue in good faith yourself.
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Can be.

But it is also a perfectly good card to pull out when there is actual trolling going on - as seems to be the case here.
 
Mr. Widget said:
Could you repeat that in English?
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19-nought plonk" is local slang for something of yesteryear.

5k£€$ 20 years ago is absolutely in boutique world.

€$£10k more so.

Don't have just a seat at this table, take a whole bench!.
 
antcollinet said:
Can be.

But it is also a perfectly good card to pull out when there is actual trolling going on - as seems to be the case here.
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Or ignore as I did long ago
 
BlueTunes said:
I don't think you are the point the OP is making tbh.

The OP isn't about "premium" stuff that's well built, well designed and fits into a reasonable cost-benefit curve.
I see the OP is more about equipment that's luxury for it's own sake.
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You may be right, I re-read the first few pages to look for some specificity from the OP but I couldn't see it, so I'm not sure. I had thought they proposed a budget for adequate hi-fi but can't see that either, probably another thread/poster.
 
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