Ears...? Judge...?

[Haselsh1]

In short, do you let your ears judge what you may well be spending money on...? Now to admit, I don't always. I have bought over the internet and not listened to the gear I have just spent five hundred quid on. For the future; I shall very definitely listen as I am no longer in the middle of nowhere stuck in a cultural vacuum. I now have relatively easy access to places like Newark, Stamford and Sheffield. Watch out...! I feel 2013 could be interesting.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Shaun,
So you've moved to NE Lincs then - I have a feeling you were there before, were you not? You can't be too far from Lincoln either, which is (mostly) fairly cultured!
Cheers

[walpurgis]

I can't always hear what I'm interested in buying, so I do make purchases of Hi-Fi 'on spec', so to speak. I'm seldom disappointed though, probably because I tend to know what characteristics I'm looking for in equipment and I check reviews. My unheard buys over the last few years have turned out very well. These include DACs, pre-amps, interconnects, MC cartridges, SUTs and speakers.

[Stratmangler]

Find yourself a decent dealer who will send you equipment for approval.
One such chap is Keith Cooper of Purité Audio, who kindly sent me a DAC for approval.
The DAC in question was the M2Tech Evo DAC, and I bought it, as it sounds better than anything else I'd tried in my setup.

I'm on a bit of a vinyl revival ATM, following the purchase of a new cart, but the DAC still gets a regular airing on TV and Blu-ray/DVDs.

[chelsea]

Nearly every purchase i have made is by buying blind.
Bake offs have helped for direction.

[hifi_dave]

I never buy anything without listening to it first. I don't trust anyone's ears and certainly wouldn't believe a review no matter who writes it.

[icehockeyboy]

Odd thing here, my very first Hifi set up was bought blind, and purely on reputation.
It was an age ago, Thorens TD 150' Leak Stereo 30 Plus, and Wharfedale Super Lintons, and in truth Most of the kit I've bought since was not given an ear holing, including all the latest acquisitions!

The thing is if the kit is brand new, we are led to believe its sound will change after a while anyway, and what you heard at first, may not still be there later down the line.
Obviously this doesn't apply to used stuff.

[Haselsh1]

Hi Shaun,
So you've moved to NE Lincs then - I have a feeling you were there before, were you not? You can't be too far from Lincoln either, which is (mostly) fairly cultured!
Cheers

Yes old chap, I was here before, I have merely returned home and yes also, I am about thirty miles from Lincoln. It feels so good to be back home again after seven years in a bloody wilderness.

[DSJR]

When someone came in wishing to buy an LP12 without hearing it (back in the days when the LP12 was the UK fashion-deck), I always made him (usually a him) listen to the alternatives first, so that he bought the thing because he preferred it. Same with Naim (when we had alternatives). I do appreciate personal preference would always win, even if the ears said summat slightly different, but as far as I could, I tried to present as level a playing field as a good Linn/Naim dealer could (there were one or two around in the 70's and 80's, believe it or not).......

Since I'm not in the market for new gear, I tend to buy mnost of my used audio purchases on memory, which thankfully, hasn't let me down as yet. In fact, and many thanks to our Marco here, I've had a few very happy surprises :)

[prestonchipfryer]

I did buy a Denon DVD 2900 a few years back. Didn't listen to it as bought mainly for playing DVDs. But actually it's a cracking player for not only the old RB but SACD and the now defunct DVD-A format.

[Haselsh1]

I remember years back when I worked in the hi-fi business setting up a Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck with original Spacearm and a Linn LP12 with an Ittock. The Nottingham was so clearly superior but the guy bought the Linn anyway. The demo was just so clearly biased. He'd made his mind up before I had even set up the gear.

[Macca]

All the loudspeakers I currently own were bought blind. Had a home dem for the current pre and power amplification, though. If you can't get a home trial then you might as well buy blind IMO. Nothing sounds the same in the dealers showroom as it does at home, then sometimes you have got burn in to take into account as well.

[Marco]

I remember years back when I worked in the hi-fi business setting up a Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck with original Spacearm and a Linn LP12 with an Ittock. The Nottingham was so clearly superior but the guy bought the Linn anyway. The demo was just so clearly biased. He'd made his mind up before I had even set up the gear.

It amazes me that such cretinoids are allowed to freely walk the streets, minus medical supervision, whilst mingling dangerously with normal folk.

Marco.

[hifi_dave]

You just can't help some people..:doh:

Back in the 80's, we used to sell as many Space Decks as the LP12, it was a matter of taste for sound and also the looks. Some people would want the Linn even after the dem and some didn't want to listen at all.

[synsei]

You mean, like this chap? :D

dSINO6MKtco&hl=en-GB&gl=GB

[Reffc]

Must admit that I look at specs and try and learn something about the kit before deciding whether to even audition. Not for any high brow reason, but just to satisfy myself as far as I can that it might tick the right boxes as far as system matching goes and also quality. Quality matters. Things don't need to be perfect, but the general standard of design and build has to be good unless buying dirt cheap new or used. You tend to get what you pay for (except perhaps where some CDPs, leads and cartridges are concerned) but only up to a point as there's also a lot of over-priced and over-hyped kit on the market. Final arbiter of choice has to be what something sounds like but even that can be misleading if auditioned at a dealers instead of in your own system.