Art Dudley's rant about current high-end pricing

[Diapason]

Have you seen Stereophile's recent editorial about runaway high-end pricing? It's good!

linky

There are a few other interesting comments around about the article, (like parttimeaudiophile.com, where I learned about it in the first place.)

I have to say, the article certainly rings true (despite the slightly ridiculous support that Stereophile has shown for such products over the years). Reading show reports recently, it's pretty clear that a lot of manufacturers have spotted that esoterica at astronomical prices is the way forward, because they just have to shift too many boxes to an uninterested public at the lower end. Twenty years ago when I first got into all of this, "aspirational" systems were expensive yes, but seemed grounded in some semblance of reality. For example, when I first saw a review of the Wilson Grand Slamm at £60,000, that was as gobsmacking a price as I could possibly imagine, and the review alluded to the same sense. These days, many hundreds of thousands of Euro for new speakers doesn't raise an eyebrow, amps in the many tens of thousands is normal, even utilising fairly well-understood technology, and cables...well we know the drill. I can only assume people are buying this, but it does indeed seem that price/quality concerns go out the window when we reach the stratosphere.

I don't get to hear this stuff ever, so I can't say whether the emperor is clothed or not in terms of overall performance, and I'm unlikely ever to find out.

[jaybee]

I did see that... I must say I find stereophile much improved over it American-centric worldview of the nineties....

Accompained if course with generous dollops of salt, they seem to consider hifi from this side of the pond a viable alternative as opposed to tantamount to joining the politburo....

[Claus]

This is what stopped me reading both Stereophile and HiFi+ for a while. It seemed that the majority of the products just had to have a ridiculous price tag to get the "best sound ever" review. I also agree with some of the remarks regarding computer audio, which has to some extent countered the price inflation. Pity it hasn't really gone that way with speakers and amps (cables will remain unmentioned of course).

Another participator rightly remarks that the industry and hifi press all benefit from the charlatans and overpricing in High End. Thus we are really left to differentiate the good from the bad ourselves. This is in my opinion, what makes the hobby so interesting: We all depend on a hugely unscientific measuring tool (our ears) to measure something that is essentially very technological and measurable.... Yet we all come out with different conclusions...

[cybot]

Thank you Art. A man after my own (he)art :) You forgot to mention Croft by the way...but I'll forgive you!

[jaybee]

I also like the level of honesty inherent in some of their writing... such as "i think I hear a difference"

http://www.stereophile.com/content/musi ... ity-m1-dac

[markof]

On an allied topic, an interesting article on hi-fi reviewing methods:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/v ... iohell.htm

[Diapason]

Thanks markof. I had a big response written but I think I'll just say that I agree with a lot of that, but not all of that!

[Ciaran]

Thanks markof. I had a big response written but I think I'll just say that I agree with a lot of that, but not all of that!

Likewise! And according to my answers, I don't seem to be on the road to Audio Hell, though I think I once was!