Box swappers - misunderstood.

jaxwired

jaxwired

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I can't speak for all audiophiles that run through a lot of gear, but in my case, a lot of gear has indeed spent short stints in my system. Just wanted to make one quick point about this because I think it's misunderstood. I don't buy gear to keep, I buy gear to audition. After the audition I decide if I should keep the piece. Sometimes I marry a piece after the audition period, but just like most audiophiles don't marry most gear they audition in a B&M store, I don't marry most gear I audition in my home. I just prefer long in home auditions to high pressure short auditions in B&M stores. So I buy gear, try it for a few weeks in my home. Sometimes I know in the first week it's not a keeper and it goes right back on the market. Other times the audition will last 8, 12, or 16 weeks. Sometimes it takes that long to really get to know a component. At least it does for me (contrary to the 10 second rule). :rolleyes:

Just like many of you, my wife was bewildered by my gear rotation. UNTIL I explained the previous paragraph to her. Now it's clear, I'm auditioning a piece. Now she get's it and we are both happier for it. It's not like buying a TV. For me auditioning gear is a major part of this hobby and a LOT of fun.

Currenlty auditioning a Devialet 200 (in my home). :)
 
jaxwired said:
I can't speak for all audiophiles that run through a lot of gear, but in my case, a lot of gear has indeed spent short stints in my system. Just wanted to make one quick point about this because I think it's misunderstood. I don't buy gear to keep, I buy gear to audition. After the audition I decide if I should keep the piece. Sometimes I marry a piece after the audition period, but just like most audiophiles don't marry most gear they audition in a B&M store, I don't marry most gear I audition in my home. I just prefer long in home auditions to high pressure short auditions in B&M stores. So I buy gear, try it for a few weeks in my home. Sometimes I know in the first week it's not a keeper and it goes right back on the market. Other times the audition will last 8, 12, or 16 weeks. Sometimes it takes that long to really get to know a component. At least it does for me (contrary to the 10 second rule). :rolleyes:

Just like many of you, my wife was bewildered by my gear rotation. UNTIL I explained the previous paragraph to her. Now it's clear, I'm auditioning a piece. Now she get's it and we are both happier for it. It's not like buying a TV. For me auditioning gear is a major part of this hobby and a LOT of fun.

Currenlty auditioning a Devialet 200 (in my home). :)
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Well said. A healthy perspective on how taking this approach is actually the smartest way to building the ultimate system. It is also a way (hearing many different pieces in home for extended periods) for me to have learned what my listening preferences are.
 
That's a great explanation and logical if one can afford to take a loss on 95% of purchases.

There is no real way to decide how much you like a pc after an hour in a store, but for many of us, we have to take our best shot and hope we still like it after we buy it. But I do try to hit some audio store wherever I travel or vacation, that is after the Micro Breweries :) in order to see and hear gear I will never own.

I wish I was your neighbor.
 
Well said Tom. The naysayers of blind listening tests should perhaps better understand the box swappers.
 
Shadowfax said:
That's a great explanation and logical if one can afford to take a loss on 95% of purchases.
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That is a totally different topic and one I have opinions on. However, I think it wise to keep them to myself.
 
Tom,

It can take me a while to figure out what I am hearing too. Every piece has its own personality. Thank for putting it down in writing.
 
Of course Tom...this is a post, near and dear to my heart. In fact...I was just thinking about it the other day (as I chastised myself, for even contemplating another speaker...when I love the PMC FACT 3s).

I eventually concluded, this wasn't quite an accurate analogy...but I'll share the thought anyway. The opposite side of the coin, from guys like you and I...are those who buy something, and hang on to it for 10 years or more. Well...what if you met a guy, and he proclaimed himself a "wine expert". And you knew a little bit about wine...so you asked him what he liked. He said Caymus; and you reply, sure...that's a nice vintner. What else? And he was like "that's all I drink"...lol; just how much of an "expert" would you consider him?

Again...I admit, it's not an exact and entirely accurate analogy; but it is somewhat how I view the hobby. There's LOTS of good kit...and in some ways, I can appreciate much of it. Sweet little, $900 tube IA; good. $9,000 PMC FACTs...also good :)

On another forum, some of the members...used to get p*ssed with me; because they thought I passed myself off, as some kind of "authority". I'll be the first to tell you...I don't consider myself to be one; and the way you know that, is I don't think there's any such thing. How can I be an authority...on what you like?

But what they took, to be considering myself an authority...is a lot of members, would ask my opinion. I also gave this some thought. Sure...why wouldn't they? I've tried a LOT of kit, lol. I mean...if you ask a guy, who's owned ARC for 10 years; "what do you think of XYZ"...what's he really going to have to say?

Just another way, you can look at us box-swappers...perhaps a little differently. No one is denying, we're mental...lol; but I'm toe-tapping, all the way to the asylum.
 
You like it or you don't. You keep it or you don't. Some like it as soon as they here it. Some take weeks or months. I can tell if I am going to like something in the first ten seconds, how much may take longer. Also a lot of my equipment I buy blind, not even heard it once.
 
CDLehner said:
Of course Tom...this is a post, near and dear to my heart. In fact...I was just thinking about it the other day (as I chastised myself, for even contemplating another speaker...when I love the PMC FACT 3s).

I eventually concluded, this wasn't quite an accurate analogy...but I'll share the thought anyway. The opposite side of the coin, from guys like you and I...are those who buy something, and hang on to it for 10 years or more. Well...what if you met a guy, and he proclaimed himself a "wine expert". And you knew a little bit about wine...so you asked him what he liked. He said Caymus; and you reply, sure...that's a nice vintner. What else? And he was like "that's all I drink"...lol; just how much of an "expert" would you consider him?

Again...I admit, it's not an exact and entirely accurate analogy; but it is somewhat how I view the hobby. There's LOTS of good kit...and in some ways, I can appreciate much of it. Sweet little, $900 tube IA; good. $9,000 PMC FACTs...also good :)

On another forum, some of the members...used to get p*ssed with me; because they thought I passed myself off, as some kind of "authority". I'll be the first to tell you...I don't consider myself to be one; and the way you know that, is I don't think there's any such thing. How can I be an authority...on what you like?

But what they took, to be considering myself an authority...is a lot of members, would ask my opinion. I also gave this some thought. Sure...why wouldn't they? I've tried a LOT of kit, lol. I mean...if you ask a guy, who's owned ARC for 10 years; "what do you think of XYZ"...what's he really going to have to say?

Just another way, you can look at us box-swappers...perhaps a little differently. No one is denying, we're mental...lol; but I'm toe-tapping, all the way to the asylum.
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To me, it depends on how long you keep the gear before it rolls out your door to the next owner and everyone is posting "GLWS" before I would consider someone's opinion on a piece of gear. If you only had it for a couple of days or weeks, I'm probably going to take your opinion as seriously as my Great Aunt Florence who is deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other.
 
mep said:
To me, it depends on how long you keep the gear before it rolls out your door to the next owner and everyone is posting "GLWS" before I would consider someone's opinion on a piece of gear. If you only had it for a couple of days or weeks, I'm probably going to take your opinion as seriously as my Great Aunt Florence who is deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other.
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MEP...what kind of monsters, do you think we are? I've never sold anything, after days :disbelief:
 
jaxwired said:
I can't speak for all audiophiles that run through a lot of gear, but in my case, a lot of gear has indeed spent short stints in my system. Just wanted to make one quick point about this because I think it's misunderstood. I don't buy gear to keep, I buy gear to audition. After the audition I decide if I should keep the piece. Sometimes I marry a piece after the audition period, but just like most audiophiles don't marry most gear they audition in a B&M store, I don't marry most gear I audition in my home. I just prefer long in home auditions to high pressure short auditions in B&M stores. So I buy gear, try it for a few weeks in my home. Sometimes I know in the first week it's not a keeper and it goes right back on the market. Other times the audition will last 8, 12, or 16 weeks. Sometimes it takes that long to really get to know a component. At least it does for me (contrary to the 10 second rule). :rolleyes:

Just like many of you, my wife was bewildered by my gear rotation. UNTIL I explained the previous paragraph to her. Now it's clear, I'm auditioning a piece. Now she get's it and we are both happier for it. It's not like buying a TV. For me auditioning gear is a major part of this hobby and a LOT of fun.

Currenlty auditioning a Devialet 200 (in my home). :)
Click to expand...

the first step in getting help is recognizing you have a problem (aka addiction) which I think you've done here. you can rationalize it all you want using terms like "audition" as a metaphor for turning tricks and the like, but nobody is buying it. I recognize denial when I see it, from one audio junkie to another you're not fooling anyone:sneaky:

Bottom line, there's no cure. coming out on a public forum spilling your guts may appease your spouse but you know you're not going to stop doing it:lol:
 
puroagave said:
the first step in getting help is recognizing you have a problem (aka addiction) which I think you've done here. you can rationalize it all you want using terms like "audition" as a metaphor for turning tricks and the like, but nobody is buying it. I recognize denial when I see it, from one audio junkie to another you're not fooling anyone:sneaky:

Bottom line, there's no cure. coming out on a public forum spilling your guts may appease your spouse but you know you're not going to stop doing it:lol:
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Ha. Auditions have an end. The goal is not to keep auditioning.
 
there are as many valid approaches to system building as there are different listeners, and as we explain and defend our own approach others do the same with theirs.

and where on the system building pathway and even personal sonic compass discovery pathway we might be changes how broad and open our view on gear might be.

have we heard a system which defines what we like? do we have a clear target? a reference?

i think one case is once one has set up a basic system which reflects their tastes and then goes about optimizing it. maybe 'box swapping' still gets used to find the right cables, or maybe the right digital player, or cartridge. but 'box swapping' of speakers amps and preamps is done.

another case is where the basic system and sonic preferences are not yet established, which them leads to 'box swapping' looking for combination that touches them. hopefully at some point the box swapping stops and the music focus happens.

some here have lots of different amps, preamps and speakers and the many different approaches is their personal goal. others might have a similar investment in only one amp, preamp and one set of speakers. who can say which way is best.

you would think that over time one would move toward a clear reference and do less and less box swapping. although maybe as one marches up the price point ramp new rounds of box swapping might be in order.
 
CDLehner said:
Definitely the case for me; though "less and less", is relative...and by comparison ;)
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me too.

i haven't had a significant change in gear, except for upgrades with the same manufacturer, in many years. speakers, amps, preamp.....all 8+ years. digital the same unit for 7 years. RTR decks also 7 years. tt, tonearms, interconnects, speaker and power cables, 4 years.

once i find a sonic vision i like, i seem to simply want to get more and more into that vision.

of course, we all don't share the same taste or system goals. and for some, my approach would be boring.

been married to the same woman for 41 years, worked at the same place for 34 years.

change for the sake of change is not my program.

i've certainly tweaked my system continually over the years to optimize things in various ways so i'm not staying in the same place. but i've stayed true to the basic reference goals.
 
I'm currently doing 36 to life with the one and only woman I have ever been married to and I have had the same employer for almost 40 years. My system has undergone some serious changes since last March when I bought the ARC Ref 5SE and Ref 75. I also bought the Nola KOs which just arrived yesterday and were just set up today. I have had my table, arm, and cartridge for several years and I have had my Otari MX-55 and Ampex 350s for around 4 years.
 
Hmmm...that's facsinating. I wonder if there's a correlation between people that don't swap gear and also don't swap jobs. I've worked for like 8 different companies over the course of a 25 year career. And I have an interview tomorrow. So I swap jobs and gear with abandon.

kinda makes me think gear swappers are bold adventurous fearless path forging spirits and the other half are well you know, not....
 
8 different employers in 25 yrs is a red flag, you'd be considered unemployable in some industries 2nd only to being under-employed. the exception is tech, it seems to be the norm in that field. my nephew was plucked before he graduated college, he's now vested in a new financial services firm as a software eng. the founders have an enviable track record, when they go public he could retire by age 30. i've begged him, no matter what happens not to quit that gig.
 
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