It is an interesting subject that has been bothering me for a while and recently I have a few acute situations that expose the subject with new vigor. I would like to share my thoughts.

Pretend you have some kind of playback installation, some kind of results from this installation, the result that reflects your sonic and musical objectives. Then you would like to perform some modification. It perfectly irrelevant what kind modification you would like to do. It might be a new element in your playback, like a different amplifier to DAC, or it might be an alternation of something that has been working in your playback: like change of a crossover, or modification of power conditioners, or changing a cable or anything else. The point is that you recognized the need to make change. Then you properly approach to the change.

(if you do not use the only way to do it

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=432

… then it is too early for your to read my site)

And you realized that you will not be able to make the change yourself and need external help. This is perfectly normal situation. We humans can give birth to humans and it requires no skills or special training but to make amplifiers, cables, circuitry calculations and other audio elements it does require specials skills that mostly likely others possess better then you. So, you employ service or product of somebody else to get what you need. So, far it is very normal thing there one interesting twist in this ploy: who owns the result?

This is not as simple as you think. Pretend that I need let say an amp and company ABC make the amp that I would like to buy. The ABC company is very proud about the very wonderful sound of this amp and they insist that they are the people who made the amp to sound in this way.  This is normal healthy ego of the company and I have no problem with it. However, I insist that by paying money to the company and permitting the amp to run in user playback the user takes over the responsibility and credit for the sound and this amplifier. The ABC Company has no further neither control nor recognition for the placation of the amp and the sonic result.  By performing monitory exchange for the amplifier the company lost all authority and responsibility for the applied result used get from the amplifiers and the sound user got become the user Sound, not the Company Sound.

Some might find it a bit twisted but I insist that it is what it is. I feel that it is very important to understand where the responsibility for the Sound is thresholded. If you recruited a custom designer  to build to you a loudspeaker, an amplifier, a crossover or cable then whose responsibility would be about getting the result and evaluating the result?  For sure your vendor will be feeling that he is a belly-button of universe, that he is unique with his set of expertise but it is only YOU and no one else can and shall be in position to assess the effectiveness of the vendor’ expertise for the benefit of YOUR projects.

Remember: the High-End Audio, as most of you are perceiveing it, has absolutely nothing to do with true High-End Audio. What most of your get as High-End Audio are rather overpriced rat-made burgers from McDonalds that the industry pimps have sold to you as Audio Filet Mignon. True High-End Audio interacts with individuality of demands – the level where the industry douchebags are dead at arrival.  So, if you do have any individuality of demands and looking for any individuality of solution then remember that only you, and no one, even very experience vendor, is responsible for the result.

I know that most of vendor who offers service to audio people would consider my position ridicules. They are very proud about their expertise and they have all evidence in the world that their services and products are wonderful. Still, in True High-End Audio there is only one epicenter of gravity – the end user personal reference points. So, any vendor’s ego crashes and has to be crashed by the cliff of the user personal reference points and the user’s custom requirement. If not, then go to Best Buy, get your new audio component and do not drive nuts yourself and others with your stupid blabbering about High-End Audio.