How influenced are you by others over equipment purchases
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Steve Williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
It all depends on "who" the "others" are
Good point Steve. If you get a recommendation to buy something from someone whom you know fairly well and their hearing and what they like tends to jive with what you hear and what you like, you will probably take that recommendation very serious. However, it all possible, you should still listen to "it" before you part with your hard-earned cash.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Audio Equipment Positive Statements are like sand grains on a beach
I do a ton of research; searching for more negative issues than positive [audio equipment positive statements are like sand grains on a beach]. Then I use my ears & brain for MY decisions - right or wrong.
Dollar wise, approximately 90% have been correct; the other a 10% learning experience. The learning experience is still a great value.
zz.
I do a ton of research; searching for more negative issues than positive [audio equipment positive statements are like sand grains on a beach]. Then I use my ears & brain for MY decisions - right or wrong.
Dollar wise, approximately 90% have been correct; the other a 10% learning experience. The learning experience is still a great value.
zz.
Geez you guys are too fast - I was putting the poll together, didn't realize the thread was actually active. Vote now.
Very strongly. 90% of my equipment is bought from people who invite me for dinner.
As the electronic equipment lauded by Gary Koh, Steve or Bruce is not distributed in my country I can say that they do not influence my purchases significantly, although I bough the excellent Steve McCormick's SMc Audio "Interocitor One" transformer on the advice of Gary. I was forgetting - I ordered my Wilson Audio V/Puppies on the advice of Lew Johnson without listening to them. We were listening to the Maxx with cj's and Lew told me that in his home system he was using the V/Puppies and he was getting 95% of the sound of the Maxx's. To show people I am a fast in mental calculus I ordered them immediately ...
Was I honest? :
As the electronic equipment lauded by Gary Koh, Steve or Bruce is not distributed in my country I can say that they do not influence my purchases significantly, although I bough the excellent Steve McCormick's SMc Audio "Interocitor One" transformer on the advice of Gary. I was forgetting - I ordered my Wilson Audio V/Puppies on the advice of Lew Johnson without listening to them. We were listening to the Maxx with cj's and Lew told me that in his home system he was using the V/Puppies and he was getting 95% of the sound of the Maxx's. To show people I am a fast in mental calculus I ordered them immediately ...
Was I honest? :
Not too much. But OTOH, when I get a recommendation from someone that I respect, then I do look into that extensively. Have to thank our friend Bob ( Northstar) for his recommendation for a new HT receiver. The Onkyo 818 is working out VERY well
I do rely on the wisdom of crowds, but never any particular individual. If armies of people go on the record saying the Oppo is the Universal player to beat, I'll buy one sight unseen.
When I am in the market for a higher end piece, I audition something that gets a good rap from a broad range of people and keep it if I like it (like Arc Ref 5SE), sell it if I'm underwhelmed (like Shunyata Zitron signal cables) or sell it something better comes along (like I did with EMM Labs DAC2X).
So when there is serious money involved, I narrow down the shortlist based on others' opinions, but always make the final decision based on my own listening.
When I am in the market for a higher end piece, I audition something that gets a good rap from a broad range of people and keep it if I like it (like Arc Ref 5SE), sell it if I'm underwhelmed (like Shunyata Zitron signal cables) or sell it something better comes along (like I did with EMM Labs DAC2X).
So when there is serious money involved, I narrow down the shortlist based on others' opinions, but always make the final decision based on my own listening.
Very strongly. 90% of my equipment is bought from people who invite me for dinner.
As the electronic equipment lauded by Gary Koh, Steve or Bruce is not distributed in my country I can say that they do not influence my purchases significantly, although I bough the excellent Steve McCormick's SMc Audio "Interocitor One" transformer on the advice of Gary. I was forgetting - I ordered my Wilson Audio V/Puppies on the advice of Lew Johnson without listening to them. We were listening to the Maxx with cj's and Lew told me that in his home system he was using the V/Puppies and he was getting 95% of the sound of the Maxx's. To show people I am a fast in mental calculus I ordered them immediately ...
Was I honest? :
Very honest! Frankly, I never thought someone would be very influenced, thus didn't include that option. Can I somehow edit the poll options now?
On h/w, others have an influence on what I may take a serious listen too! On what I actually buy these ears only make that decision. OTOH with s/w quite a bit has been bought unheard, as a simple ex post in this forum, with good results.
I very much value the opinion of others, although ultimately it comes down to what I like and how it sounds in most cases. I bought my Genesis G7.1f's purely on the basis of having heard their smallest brother and the larger G5's, and also very much because I trust Gary and he has been a great help to me.
Quietly, for several years, I've been listing various pieces of equipment on Audiogon and making note of the response to them. I track things such as the number of views a listing will get, how many email inquiries it will induce, strength of enthusiasm within those emails (Ie. ready to buy, just tire kicking, low baller slime.), etc etc.
The (unscientific) conclusions I've come up with are that, if the product isn't featured in a major publication or been bandied about endlessly in the Audiogon forums, good luck trying to sell it. By far, the most notable characteristic is the "number of views" a listing will get.
Controlling for WHEN the listing went up (Always list early on the weekends!) the only chance a product has of getting noticed is if it's a somewhat common and recognizable name. If you are listing anything from Wilson, Magico, dCS, etc. there is a certainty you'll get a ton of hits. If the product is less well known, forget about it.
After that, there can be a wild deviation in the content and structure of the listing itself in leading people to actually contact you about it. But this gets way more in depth.
At first glance, this all seems perfectly reasonable. And it should. But I also think that the results show that we are more influenced by others than we either realize or admit to. It's free to click on the listing of something you've never heard of before, but the masses still don't do it. Basically, if you are truly the type of person who is curious about new equipment, then you may consider yourself an outlier.
By the way, this only confirms the informal tracking we did back in college and when I was working at a local HiFi shop. It rarely mattered how much time we spent showing someone various equipment and getting positive responses from them. More often than not, they walked out the door with whatever equipment had been in the mags within the last 6 months. Again, not actually surprising after awhile. And sort of in keeping with human nature. But also at odds with what audiophiles actually see themselves as!
Ultimately, the only reason this stands out to me is the nature of what gets peoples attention in the first place. By far, if you want to be successful in the audio business, get a "reviewer" to talk about your product. (Duh!) But the problem is, at least to my own standards, the systems and rooms that most of these "reviewers" are using are not only inadequate (and cause me to seriously question their credibility in the first place.) but, in many cases, are simply atrocious.
So here we are. Fewer and fewer actual locations to go and HEAR equipment for ourselves. And still fewer opportunities to compare specific gear head to head. So we are forced to do the thing we insist we aren't doing...... relying on the opinion of others.
The (unscientific) conclusions I've come up with are that, if the product isn't featured in a major publication or been bandied about endlessly in the Audiogon forums, good luck trying to sell it. By far, the most notable characteristic is the "number of views" a listing will get.
Controlling for WHEN the listing went up (Always list early on the weekends!) the only chance a product has of getting noticed is if it's a somewhat common and recognizable name. If you are listing anything from Wilson, Magico, dCS, etc. there is a certainty you'll get a ton of hits. If the product is less well known, forget about it.
After that, there can be a wild deviation in the content and structure of the listing itself in leading people to actually contact you about it. But this gets way more in depth.
At first glance, this all seems perfectly reasonable. And it should. But I also think that the results show that we are more influenced by others than we either realize or admit to. It's free to click on the listing of something you've never heard of before, but the masses still don't do it. Basically, if you are truly the type of person who is curious about new equipment, then you may consider yourself an outlier.
By the way, this only confirms the informal tracking we did back in college and when I was working at a local HiFi shop. It rarely mattered how much time we spent showing someone various equipment and getting positive responses from them. More often than not, they walked out the door with whatever equipment had been in the mags within the last 6 months. Again, not actually surprising after awhile. And sort of in keeping with human nature. But also at odds with what audiophiles actually see themselves as!
Ultimately, the only reason this stands out to me is the nature of what gets peoples attention in the first place. By far, if you want to be successful in the audio business, get a "reviewer" to talk about your product. (Duh!) But the problem is, at least to my own standards, the systems and rooms that most of these "reviewers" are using are not only inadequate (and cause me to seriously question their credibility in the first place.) but, in many cases, are simply atrocious.
So here we are. Fewer and fewer actual locations to go and HEAR equipment for ourselves. And still fewer opportunities to compare specific gear head to head. So we are forced to do the thing we insist we aren't doing...... relying on the opinion of others.
I go with my ears...almost
Nowadays, I tend to stick with equipment that I make, or equipment my friends make...some vintage mixed in. I suppose part of that is political, but together we have managed to cobble together some fairly decent systems. Thankfully, I don't have a friend who makes garbage, or I would be stuck with it!
Nowadays, I tend to stick with equipment that I make, or equipment my friends make...some vintage mixed in. I suppose part of that is political, but together we have managed to cobble together some fairly decent systems. Thankfully, I don't have a friend who makes garbage, or I would be stuck with it!
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