How do you quantify gear?

General Discvssions & Theory/Vnderstanding
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The past few months I’ve been writing an article (that has grown to at least 2 parts) and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking mostly about how I go about evaluating gear, how to look beyond FR, how I determine value, and how I quantify what is important to me.

Not only all this, but how it has changed throughout your journey. For me, when I started I was a slave to features, snr, and what people said was the “bestest”. Thankfully fir my ears this all has changed.

For reference, my article. This focuses more on my process for audio purchases but I am interested in just general try outs and reviews as well.

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Everything has a learning curve, over the years I’ve watched people grow in this hobby through their experiences. Same exact thing for me in everything i do, i tend to grow as i have more experiences.
@Souldriver, i envy you and others who can “end the hunt”, i’ve slowed down as the years go by, but i fell victim to hoarding stuff sometime in my early 20’s. My ex-father in law was a bit of a preparedness freak, my own father similar but to a lesser degree. As i went off into the world w/ my then new bride and took responsibility for her safety and well being the lessons and reasons why being prepared for a variety of situations was drilled in to me harder than ever. The importance of the subject matter grew ever more stringent from both the men whom i looked to emulate in life and hope to surpass in my own success some day. Anyway, 20 +/- yrs later I had my own epiphany and decided to live for today, make my own tomorrow, and deal w/ shit once it got in my face.

Playing w/ gear is my hobby, the gear varies but the end results are always the same, eventually i get bored w/ things and move on. True value is only found in the items i own which tend to have a very worn look to them. Some are very dated, others are tired and worn looking but continue to function as designed when called upon. The shiniest, nicest looking or dare i say more costly items in my various hoards are not necessarily my “daily drivers”, my go-to pieces, my “war” kit in some instances, and here we get somewhat on topic. It’s taken me a few decades to develop my tastes and truth be told sometimes they are in opposition :grimacing:

Products in the audio world come in such a variety of technologies, many purpose built to show off the newest ideas, features and performance metrics. I get caught up in marketing as happily as the next fellow, i too have the sickness of shopping as has been pandemic the past few decades. At some point though as is my character, I turn to my well worn goods because something about them sounds/feels right and that’s the only end use case reason that matters. Every purchasing decision was based on research, desire, craving, recommendations, sales, marketing cost and sometimes dumb luck. Once the hunt is over, the veil of lust dissipates and the reality of living w/ a product settles in. Somethings fit just right, others excite but then the excitement fizzles out.

I’m enjoying your article, i want to read it over again, (BTW, there are few grammatical errors) . The world of Audiophiles is filled with such various characters, (2 days now i’ve been arguing over how to ship a package and the guy finally told me to fuck off because bubble wrap is the end all for heavy electronics in his mind :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:) such characters i tell you…:crazy_face:

When all is said and done, that which provides me any sort of joy, distraction from life’s pain, simple tactile or emotional pleasure is what has value of any sort despite what marketers or others opine :pinched_fingers:

Happy listening and relaxation to you always. :hugs:

PS, great photos in the article, nice job :pinched_fingers:

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Feel free to point them out. Ive been burnt lately and didnt microscope this one like i normally do This is one article that i started in september and picked up and put down a few times over the month so i am happy that it is not more disjointed. I still find little errors re-reading all my articles but at a certain point i try not to look. :face_with_peeking_eye:

Nick, I feel like youre someone that is a great example of having a different goal. You like trying new things, having a roster, multiple rooms with setups and all that good stuff. And each setup isnt a joke or made of cobbled gear. Like you said part of your “end-game” is the trying and tinkering. Yes you have your bade but you still love putting your ears on things.

Me, I just want my ride-or-die gear. Yes I still will dabble or listen to something but to me if I already have MY PERFECT everything else is just a chance to be disappointed. An almost grimm look at it but once i get into my comfort zone i tend to stay there. I also tend to have strong gut reactions to things and rarely do they get overturned with extended listening. It may take me a lot of listening to explain what i hear, but i dont think any piece won me over or turned me off with time.

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This here statement is what gets ME every single time. To expand upon it sometimes you need just the right tool for a particular job. Your own thought process is spot on in our hobby and is that of an advanced user. You my friend have joined the ranks of the elite and wizened ones seeking the ultimate end game to your desires. Your actions and thought process are that of the advanced hobbyist, professional, athlete, etc.

Just for the sake of this discussion, having a unit custom built to your desire and specifications, is end game goal level action that usually only comes about once the end user knows what they want and rather than continue searching for the mass produced product that may or may not offer their desires simply has it built to suit their needs. Writing thoughts down is also the sign of an experienced user who chooses to untangle the process and seeks their own clarity on the subject matter :+1: Wonderful article, I look forward to the next part.

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Some thoughts popped into my head while reading the article and I should have written them down but the few that remain I’ll chime in with now.

When you wrote the “outlines of what you want” my mind immediately went to an outline of an image versus the outline of a written paper or presentation. I’m a visual thinker which is weird given that sound has such an impact on me emotionally when I sit down to listen (not critically) deeply. I even thought about the why I limit my critical listen outside of the boundaries of my deep listening.

I thing everyone has a place in the audiophile spectrum and I think my place falls between you two in that I share that need for wanting it all perfection and the need for the tinkering and mixing and matching. I also share you limitation of space as one of the factors I can’t overcome so I’m simply learned to embrace the shortcoming.

Often when I go to a show the “size” of the room screams out at me how grand things sound. That said, I’ve never yet come back from a show and not loved the gear I’ve chained together when I go back and try to remember what I heard and compare it to what I’m hearing at home. That’s obviously the room and the fact that I’ve spent so much on perfecting it to my taste.

Getting back to your outline comment though, I think for me it’s something that happened organically and for some reason or another I quantify a system more on how it makes me feel rather than it’s sound. I’ve taken some pieces in a direction that have genuinely floored me on their detail but yet I didn’t enjoy the music I was hearing from it. There are some situation where you like what you’re hearing and you know you can tweak it enough to get to what you want and there are others that you simply know it’s not for you.

I can’t agree more about experience being the key and this is a solitary hobby by nature and chasing that experience is something that you have to work on. Either going to shows or more meaningfully listening to other people’s systems. A show is never going to be what you get at home, it’s merely a hint and it can go the wrong way once you get it at home. A friend’s system on the other hand is something they’ve put together, curated, shaped and hopefully gotten it to a place where they’re content.

That content is what I like to refer to more than end game. I say this only when I reached a place (with my 2 ch) where I no longer thing about what I’m going to change on it, or how to make it better and there’s no more end game than that.

The way to get there is simply as yourself what is the system not currently giving you and then research avenues, cabling, gear, power, room treatment, whatever; as a way to get there. But you know you’re there when the thoughts no longer hit you or when you know that you’re simply unwilling to take the next step because of the limitations. Whether they be room size or budget or whatever. What I call a rationed content. :slight_smile:

Look forward to your second part. What’s the ETA on the amp anyway?

One last thought, that I’ll share. I’ve scratched the desire to take things to the nth degree by simply addressing to 100% every, and I mean every aspect of the audio chain. Footers, platforms, cabling, ground, power, room treatment. If I felt it could improve on the sound, I have addressed it. It’s funny but when I add up the cost of my system, I only include the components, but I probably could buy a nice used car with the amount of money I’ve plunked into “accessories”. It’s no wonder why I don’t add it up.

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The word was two weeks as of two weeks ago. Ill let you do the math from there. I do get a bunch of pics every few days so progress is there, but this last 5% is the slowest. It will be a full year April 14.

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Here is a basic and simple answer to quantifying gear for myself. I was speaking to a friend about purchasing a pre-amplifier recently.
Paraphrasing below to best of my memory:
He asked me, “why?”
My answer: i don’t own a plain pre-amp.
Him: Why this one?
Me: I know the builder’s work, the parts alone are worth the asking price and it uses an interesting tube i want to experiment w/ and try.
The price is right for its heritage, same or similar custom build today would easily cost me many thousands over to have built.
If it breaks or if the mood hits me i can send it back to builder, throw more money at him, use the good parts to re-build to my own spec. and desires.
Lastly if it works well, i can send it out to our friend @oberon for an external re-vamp using his beautiful woodworking and custom metal skills because it’s a fairly simple design and then i would have an even more beautiful custom interesting piece to play with and appreciate :hugs:

The hunt for audiophile satiation takes many routes and these are some of the metrics i use to quantify gear.

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This is probably the deepest, broadest question you can ask. I’ll focus on one little segment here.

For me it goes back to the first audio problem I had to solve: I bought my first good pair of wired over-ear headphones, but plugging them into the interface I had at the time left a lot to be desired.

The background was black, the imaging was pinpoint, but the sound was piercing and I couldn’t bear to listen more than a few minutes. There was no bass whatsoever which was a huge sign something was wrong.

I was getting the volume I needed, but after some research I came to the realization my output was not up to the task of driving high impedance studio headphones properly.

We’ve all been there.

I value gear based on the ability to solve or avoid problems, the ability to heighten the musical experience, and the ability to move me into an objectively higher standard, e.g. physical media over streaming. Here, I’ll focus on the first two.

My first amp solved the problem and opened a whole new world for me. The music pumped. I now knew what these were:

Imaging
Impact
Fullness
Musicality

More importantly, it set my standard for what gear ought to bring to the table.

XLR or RCA?
High impedance or Low impedance headphones?
Classical, Hip Hop, New Wave, Country?

No problem.

In other words, it accepted everything, and always excelled. It didn’t give me bullshit excuses.

With it in tow, I embarked on my audio journey configuring the rest of the chain. Along the way I learned about:

Density (realistic, not washy)
Macro Detail
Micro Detail
Separation
Soundstage Depth
Transparency
Tonal Clarity
Energy/Speed
Perception of size (related to imaging)
Giving desire to listen and being emotionally compelling
All of the above at low volumes to save my ears
And more

If any piece failed at any of the new standards I was adding, it was out. Conversely, sometimes in light of new knowledge and appreciation, I would go back to something I passed on because I just didn’t “get it” at the time (My Headphones!).

However, all those little audiophile aspects don’t mean a thing if it doesn’t add up to an enjoyable experience you can’t wait to get home and have. I have that, but it’s less about how I value this or that component, and more about having a meticulously put together system that is more than the sum of its parts. It’s hard to do if you constantly swap components, since small tweaks can have huge consequences. For example:

My amp needs to stay on.
My source can and should be set on standby.
The amp should be plugged into the wall.
The source does better on a power strip with isolation.
My preamp needs to warm up with audio for 10 minutes, best after an hour but I usually don’t wait that long.
Etc

You can’t value something you don’t know.

From your article:

Then why “upgrade”? The answer for me was not to, and the amp in question is indeed the RNHP.

Getting better at evaluating gave me confidence to keep it. Instead of looking for new, I maximized, squeezing out every drop of performance. It’s the only thing that hasn’t changed. It’s the only component in the chain less than $1,000, but it sounds thousands of dollars better than when I first got it.

Now, I’m not closed-minded. If I come to the conclusion that a new amp will add new standards for me, and improve on things I care about without sacrificing others, I’m game. But, the fact that it’s widely accepted there are no direct upgrades is very telling, IMO.

You gotta learn when to go forward, gotta learn when to go back, but I think big time audio maturity happens when you can evaluate that it’s time to stop evaluating. You did it.

When I do get that new amp though, and I will, this is what I’ll be thinking about.

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@Barolo that was a very good and relatable response. Well thought out and concise on what i agree is a deep and broad question. One i purposely proposed as such so people can put in their 2 cents without being shoe horned. Which i think you did wonderfully.

For me, simply put, because i heard the levels above and beyond and i want to have a system that can provide that.

Getting better at evaluating helped me hear those levels. It also helped me appreciate my pc and portable setup. My pc is a bf2 → rnhp → hd800s and if anything changes there it will need to be the headphone and it will need to match the source. My portable dap is nicer, but is no frills and cost me ~$600. I appreciate both systems and use them the most but i yearn for those higher tiers on the big setup.

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