If a new piece of hifi gear brings more enjoyment, is it worth it? Some people think the answer depends on a number.
The argument goes something like this:
If DAC X costs 80 times more than DAC Y but DAC X isn’t 80 times better than DAC Y, it’s not worth the extra money.
Large swaths of men, it’s always men, believe that hifi has a narrowly defined job to do that can be objectively measured and tested—as if a machine is doing the listening instead of a person—and that a numerical grade can be assigned to every piece of hifi allowing for some quick math that can tell us what to buy based on price/performance ratio—after which point the rate of return begins to decrease. To borrow from the definition of diminishing returns. [footnote 1]
I beg to differ.
If DAC X brings more enjoyment, and it’s something we can comfortably afford [footnote 2], it makes perfect sense to buy it because there’s nothing wrong with, and no limits to, taking pleasure in listening to music.
These are just simple facts. Trying to apply the law of diminishing returns to hifi makes no sense because the value of listening to music is not measured by price/performance, its measure is enjoyment. [footnote 3]
Like so many things we read these days, the arguments for diminishing returns in hifi are not based on reason, they’re based on emotion. If we’re offended by the price of a piece of hifi gear, and even more outraged by the fact that people can afford a $15,000 or $50,000 DAC as easily as we can spend $5, anger can ensue. One telltale sign of this kind of emotional response is name calling and cliché waving: “A fool and his money…”, “You’ve got to have more money than sense…” etcetera. In my experience, nothing makes simmering certainty seekers boil over faster than other people’s enjoyment that seems beyond their grasp.
To put a finer point on it, the law of diminishing returns in hifi is determined by our attitude not our gear; HiFi’s Happy Secret.
1. If you think the law of good enough applies to hifi, you’re probably in the wrong hobby.
2. I believe we should pay for our hobbies with disposable income.
3. Of course we are all free to put limits on our own enjoyment but it’s important to realize they are willingly self-imposed. So any attempt to make our willingly self-imposed limits on enjoyment universal is not only foolhardy but really kinda shitty.