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Personal vs. Market Values

Take truffle oil. Or truffles. The mushrooms, not the confection.
Honestly I can’t taste it. I’ve ordered all sorts of dishes with "truffle oil" which commanded a premium and if there is any difference at all in the taste I could not tell you even after being told about it.

The point of this is that truffle oil holds no personal value to me. I’m not trading in it or running a restaurant or buying it in bulk. If I did that I’d feel and be willing to spend quite differently than I do now.

The point to this and how this matters in audio is that you should be true to your own ears. Use friends, reviews (cough) and other sources as guides. You may also evaluate a brand based on re-sale value. That’s reasonable as the resale could have a material impact on you in the future.

But if you can’t hear a difference or prefer a speaker/cable/amp no one else does then serve only yourself and your loved ones. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the market value of a particular product has value for you or that it is a display of relative merit. It may not. Our hobby is filled with charlatans selling invisible clothes.

Those who say they can't taste the truffle oil or see invisible clothes spend less and are far happier I think.

Happy listening,

E
erik_squires
pratorious
34 posts
 
So... are you saying you cannot tell the difference between one truffle oil and another? This would not surprise me. But if you are suggesting you cannot tell the difference between WITH truffle oil and WITHOUT... I would find that shocking.

I am not sure the analogy holds up with designed, engineered and manufactured audio equipment, but I get your point, and will not disagree. Yet, I have a friend that claims he cannot recognize the difference (or chooses not to care) between his Two Buck Chuck wine and more expensive wines. I find this shocking as well but I still get much pleasure pouring him the best wine I have... currently open.
erik_squires OP
5,268 posts
 
I cannot tell the difference between things that have truffle oil and don’t. Obviously, if a recipe calls for oil for browning, that’s something different. But cook it with extra virgin olive oil or truffle oil and I could not tell. At best I might like the olive oil better. :)

My point is, sometimes there is a difference for you and sometimes there is not. If you cannot hear a difference, don’t pay for it. :)

Also, my own personal goals are different. I’m not out to spend as much as I can. I’m out to spend as little as I can for the same value. So for me, finding a $20-$40 bottle of wine that brings me as much pleasure as a $300 bottle of wine is a win.

When it comes to whiskey, finding one I'll drink, at all, is hard. Whatever my whiskey drinking friends are fascinated by I usually can't drink them at all. So sure, some fancy Japanese whiskey may be worth $100 on the market, but for me, it is worth $0.

Best,
E
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Never had truffle anything except truffle flavored ice cream.As for stereo equipment and what it "REALLY" is worth?One of my favorite persional experiences is about Audio Research SP-10 I bought locally, cheap. Curiously I bought a ARC Sp-15 about the same time. So I had both. The SP-15 crushed the SP-10. Totally, soundwise. But the SP-15 got a ’damning with faint praise’ review at TAS back when TAS was King. (I think it really was about the price being kind of a big jump up $6K) Anway to this day, the SP-10 has a ’following and is ’legendary’ and no one gives a fig for a SP-15. I sold the SP-10 for way more than I paid (and I still did not ask the going price $3K, but only $2,300), in fact it got me the SP-15 for FREE. But still the Sp-10 is considered a little ’treasure’ and the SP-15 I still own and love is unknown and unwanted, EVEN THOUGH IT IS BETTER SOUNDING than the SP-10.
That is my experience.I still use the Sp-15 but just as for it’s three tube phono box for my Kuzma Stabi Stogi S TT.
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