Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

[Dre_J]

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?

Dre

 

[puroagave]

resaleability/resale value: important. i dont hold on to hardware for more than a few years, actually less in many cases
Name recognition: important. falls in step with resaleability, todays darling will in all likelihood be long forgotten in a few years especially if its from a newer or foreign company with short track record.
Prestige: not really
Aesthetics: too personal and doesnt really matter at the end of the day. if given a choice i like black components.
Inclusion: like in a club?
Exclusivity: Usually means very low production and poor long term product support - i'll pass.

 

[Shaffer]

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

The only factor, listed above, that I care about is aesthetics. These days I buy gear to keep, so resale value is of little consequence. No one comes to visit me, diminishing the effect of name recognition, exclusivity and prestige.

Aside from performance, I'm influenced by aesthetics, value, reliability, and the tactile experience (for a lack of a better descriptor).

 

[Dre_J]

resaleability/resale value: important. i dont hold on to hardware for more than a few years, actually less in many cases
Name recognition: important. falls in step with resaleability, todays darling will in all likelihood be long forgotten in a few years especially if its from a newer or foreign company with short track record.
Prestige: not really
Aesthetics: too personal and doesnt really matter at the end of the day. if given a choice i like black components.
Inclusion: like in a club?
Exclusivity: Usually means very low production and poor long term product support - i'll pass.

A very candid response. Thanks. I hope all of them are like this.

That being said, How do these traits compare in importance to the pure performance aspect of the equipment's sound? You may address this in any way you interpret the question.

Thanks,
Dre

 

[RogerD]

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?

Dre

To each his own,but to me accurate reproduction is everything. Now name recognition,Accuphase,Ampex,ParaCas,Sony,Monarchy,NBS,FMI.....well not exactly name dropping is it.

 

[Bruce B]

resaleability/resale value: important. i dont hold on to hardware for more than a few years, actually less in many cases
Name recognition: important. falls in step with resaleability, todays darling will in all likelihood be long forgotten in a few years especially if its from a newer or foreign company with short track record.
Prestige: not really
Aesthetics: too personal and doesnt really matter at the end of the day. if given a choice i like black components.
Inclusion: like in a club?
Exclusivity: Usually means very low production and poor long term product support - i'll pass.

+1.. totally agree. I got burnt too many times by "Exclusivity".. doesn't mean much in the long run. I'll pass as well.

 

[microstrip]

resaleability/resale value: important. i dont hold on to hardware for more than a few years, actually less in many cases
Name recognition: important. falls in step with resaleability, todays darling will in all likelihood be long forgotten in a few years especially if its from a newer or foreign company with short track record.
Prestige: not really
Aesthetics: too personal and doesnt really matter at the end of the day. if given a choice i like black components.
Inclusion: like in a club?
Exclusivity: Usually means very low production and poor long term product support - i'll pass.

+1!
But I can not hide that although I do not rank aesthetics as a positive feature, I immediately exclude equipment if I do not like their aspect.

 

[Robh3606]

I would say performance then aesthetics, the rest I don't care about. I tend to keep my gear after I purchase it so resale is not important to me.

Rob

 

[asiufy]

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?

Dre

Resale Value = most important, after performance.
Prestige = not important at all.
Name Recognition = not important at all. But I do realise that a bit of "resale value" is affected by these two.
Aesthetics = somewhat important. I'd live with gear I don't find particularly attractive. I preferred dCS' units in black, but since I got a deal on the silver models, I picked up anyway. Also, for instance, I wouldn't buy a Magico S5 in orange, even though it's quite striking, because it would affect resale value
Inclusion = no idea what this means.
Exclusivity = not important.

So, for me it's down to price x performance, and what eventually I'll get for it when reselling.


alexandre

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Resale value = Don't care about it.
Prestige = It's a fleeting thing. Today's darling is tomorrow's crack-whore.
Name recognition = Somewhat important. A strong history of continual success is a good thing to buy into.
Aesthetics = Very important. If it looks like a turd I don't want it smelling up my house.
Inclusion = I also have no idea what was meant by this.
Exclusivity = Not important.

The most important thing to me is VALUE. I don't buy anything that doesn't represent good value. I would like to say that "performance' is the most important, but it isn't in my case as I can't afford the level of performance I would like to have.

 

[Brian Walsh]

You left one out: Reliability.
I know, it's boring. But all dead components sound the same.

 

[jazdoc]

Performance for money aka 'value': Rank #1, #2, #3 in importance...you get the idea.
Resale value: Don't care. I'm at the point in my life that I hope to buy my last (fill in the blank audio component).
Prestige: Don't care. I buy seem to buy stuff that no one has heard of!
Name Recognition: See above
Aethestics: Important...yes, I am that shallow!
Exclusivity: I'll admit it, I like owning gear that no one else does!
Reliability: When you purchase bespoke products, you are buying the person as well as the equipment...choose wisely!

 

[edorr]

Resale value: Extremely important. Only way to keep my gearswapping compulsion affordable
Prestige: If I want to show of I'd buy a Porsche before a prestigious piece of audio gear (for the record, I drive a Hyundai Sonata)
Name Recognition: Only name my friends would recognize is Bose
Aesthetics: Avoid the ugly stuff
Exclusivity: Avoid exclusive stuff like the plague - see resale value concern
Reliability: Yes - I completely abandoned tube poweramps for this reason, but honestly all other stuff is pretty reliable and you only know if it is not after the fact

 

[Dre_J]

You left one out: Reliability.
I know, it's boring. But all dead components sound the same.

Not really; There are always other things that come to mind for a reader.

I said:

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?

That being said, What are your thoughts on these vs. pure performance? I know you are a dealer but you are an music listener first, if my hunch is correct. I'd like to hear more of your opinion on the subject.

Thanks,
Dre

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity

How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?

Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?

Dre

honestly; there was a time when i cared about those issues; back in my Linn CD-12/Mark Levinson/Wilson days. and i loved those products; but i did get security from the iconic nature of recognized brands.

in the last 10-12 years, almost every product i've purchased has been either the first of it's kind, or very very early in it's lifespan. speakers, preamp, amps, tt, arms, cartridges, digital player, power conditioning, power outlets, even cables (both power, interconenct, and speaker). so no market or reputation had been established for any of these products. i would say that the amps were not quite as early in the product cycle as my other products, but still quite early.

the exceptions have been my Rockport tt, some of the vintage tt's i owned, some tonearms for those vintage turntables, and my RTR decks.

i will say that aesthetics has always been something that i appreciate, but build quality was more important. however; performance has been way more significant to me than anything and the fact that these products took performance to new levels for me was the big attraction.

i still use most of those 'new' products (or one's in the same family) and still consider them on the cutting edge of performance. so i'm happy with my approach to gear selection.

i suppose that i've ignored the issue of 'exclusivity' from the list which most of my early adapter purchases have resulted in. and i admit that i liked that aspect of those purchases but that issue was not a driver for the decisions.

 

[Dre_J]

Thanks for the replies to all.

For those who left out the comparison of these aspects to pure performance, could you take a moment to share where you rank that aspect against the others you have so meticulously shared/listed?

Thanks,
Dre

 

[Bruce B]

Thanks for the replies to all.

For those who left out the comuparison of these aspects to pure performance, could you take a moment to share where you rank that aspect against the others you have so meticulously shared/listed?

Thanks,
Dre

Performance is #1

 

[LL21]

For me:
- Reliability
- Pure Performance

If it breaks every 6 months, I will not tempt myself into buying something that's in the shop as often as its playing. Otherwise, its all about performance for me.

On resale, fortunately, having bought nearly everything demo/second since 1993...I am probably net positive on purchase/trade in or sale.
On aesthetics, its a subjective thing anyway. I like the way most of my equipment looks, but its not a consideration for me. Someday in the Custom Room, I intend to hide all the equipment other than the Transport in an isolated, well ventilated side room and have the cables come up thru the floor directly behind the speakers.
On brand, exclusivity, not an issue for me. When I was looking for powerful amps, I considered Clayton Audio and a few other less well known high-powered custom designed tube amps...as well as CJ, Lamm, Boulder, Gryphon. I did not go for those less famous names mainly because I did not know how to get those serviced, and did not know the track record of reliability with any certainty.

 

[zztop7]

WEIGHT - weight - & more weight

WEIGHT = if I cannot easily move it around, the value diminishes.
Quality of sound / quality of construction.
zz

 

[treitz3]

The end result as to what hits my ears is the only factor I really care about. The rest will just fall where they may.

Tom