I have been to many of the HiFi and music stores in the Bay area recently and have opinions on them all. First and foremost, these are my opinions from a consumer and have no connection professionally to any of these places. I did not live in the Bay area, but rather travelled two-three hours from Central Cali to visit the shops. Ok, here it goes:
HiFi stores i have visited in the past 4 years include Elite Audio Systems (SF), Audio Vision (SF), Analog Room (SJ) and only seen Audio High (MV) from the road, thus no opinion. In ranking the first three for overall worthiness and desire to visit i would rank them as Analog Room (1), Elite Audio (2) and Audio Vision (3). Now, i am bias because i own Sim Audio gear. Both Audio Vision and the Analog Room sell Sim Audio and Elite do not. Why i still rank Elite above Audio Vision is the customer service aspect. Ill get into into that in a second. Why the Analog Room is number 1. I met Brian H in 2011 while visiting my daughter in Santa Cruz while I lived in Italy. During my visit i visited multiple stores in Seattle and the Bay area. During this visit i purchased Transparent cables from Definitive Audio in Seattle and the Sim Audio 300d Dac from Brian along with vinyl. Brian H is a talker and great to listen to. He knows audio since it is his life. Yes, he will talk up his gear since he is a salesman, but in his roots he is a audiophile in heart and will tell you his true opinion. He has a small store on the corner of Fruitdale which may be easy to miss if not truly looking for it. A house gutted and transformed into a store. In his store he sells primary SimAudio, Pass Labs, Air Tight, Nottingham, SME, Quad, Harbeth, Quadraspire and a few other brands. Check his website out for the complete list. His vinyl collection is impressive with quality and quantity. No its not Amoeba or Rasputin, but he does have a reputable selection. Although, do not expect it to be cheap. I ended buying a majority of my system from the Analog Room. Secondary, i chose Elite Audio even though i only went there once. The owner took the time to display his Burmester audio setup and introduced me to the Devialet for the first time. He has taken much time setting up his showroom in combination to the coffee shop. If i ever chose to open a audio hifi store, it would mimic Elite Audio. Third and definitely last is Audio Vision. I have been to the old and new store in San Francisco. First time, i entered the small cramp store i quickly realized these people knew nothing in setting up a store. Completely disorganized and very cluttered. The owner (forgot his name) takes pride in owning ever piece of Sim Audio gear currently produced. In addition he has Dynaudio, Naim, HRS and other equipment in the shop. I entered the main room and was quickly sent out since they were giving a presentation to a client. Ok, i respect that, but did not need to be rude. By the way, why not have a dedicated room for scheduled presentations and not the main room? I stood a hour waiting to get questions answered and would not give me the time of day. The following visit to the new store, i received a similar service, but they were kind enough to have me listen to the Sim gear with Dynaudio. At the time of the visit he even stated his frustration with people coming to the store to listen and purchasing elsewhere. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. I told him i traveled three hours to visit his shop and spent much money on my current system. In conclusion, the store is cramped, overly priced and service is horrible. Would not give the store or arrogant owner another dime. Since i traveled three hours i did purchase 6 HRS sound isolation hockey pucks were a waste of money.
Again, these are my experiences and my opinions of the three hifi stores in the bay area. Other than the Analog room, i spent money buying music at Amoeba both in SF and Berkley along with Rasputin. A quick mention, i did like 1,2,3, Go in Oakland for selective inventory of heavy metal and independent artists on vinyl. Hope this helps.