Is more expensive better? What I learned from comparing 5 differently priced speakers. 

This video spoke right to my heart! I too, as an old man on a fixed income, has mostly vintage gear, I have found in my journey that even the parameters of what I like have changed. As I have swapped out gear over the years, my definitions have become so different than what I thought they were. They have become much more refined. Once I find a piece of gear that I really fall in love with, it becomes easier to tailor other gear(some by listening to reviewers, some by trial and error) to my loved pieces. My system is getting very close to what I want it to be, and I have stopped caring about what others think of my choices, and just enjoy it, because it makes me happy! Thank you for your part in that journey!

Yes, taste, equipment synergy and room. Never forget the room.

Hi Thomas. Wonderful story. I ever say about a gear: 1) what some love others hate it, 2) no one can hear with each other's ears 3) At the end is your pocket that pays the bill, so choose by yourself matching your taste and your budget

I'd really like to see a similar test with audiophiles doing a blind test with about 5 very different levels -- speakers that are 100K, 20K, 10K, 1K, $200.

Thanks for your stories which are relatable and make listening to you even more interesting. If possible, never stop the stories.

I am happy to see your audiophile friends can enjoy a conversation! Sadly, the few audiophiles I met were so close minded they became verbally agressive if I didn't agree with them. I wish people were more civil in sharing their opinion! Great video!

Consistently providing granular detail, and greatly expanding my knowledge base. Very enjoyable and much appreciated.

Very enlightening. You not only hit the nail's head, you showed how to pick which nail to hit. Good work!

Thank you, Thomas. I'm always learning from your videos - it's endless I think. Since I'm a newbie this video really hit home. I was starting to sense what you spoke about but you really captured the words and explained how I can take the information from a review that's pertinent to me.

Thank you for sharing your friend’s thoughts and yours. You sum up a collective ton of experience in a very easy to understand and relatable way. Much appreciated.

Your stories and approach to this hobby are always so refreshing and accessible Thomas. I love this format you have been using. Carry on with the good work and context! Cheers.

I will never get tired of your audiophile stories because I know I will learn something from it. Keep up the good work Thomas. Cheers! 👍

You're on a roll, Thomas!! Both the last video and this one resonates so true. It's not clean and clear cut, but it is truth on how this all works in the end-and it's all in the details. Keep up the streak!! 👍🙌💪

You really nailed it Thomas! It's so informative, thank so much, and more vids like this please.

Great insight. I, as a so-called much older audiophile, have changed my music parameters from once being critical and analytical to just listening to music for it's pure pleasure and enjoyment.

Hey bud I just recently found you on here and I really enjoy your videos. I appreciate the break downs and all the knowledge that you have and share. Priceless! I thank you kindly sir...

Really enjoyed your video Thomas! Very informative! So many variables!.......so many !

Great video Thomas and you nailed it when you described what is important and what to look for when choosing a hifi product.

This is the kind of informative and educational video we've come to expect from you Thomas. May it long continue. In order to find your preference in sound you have to be able to listen to a wide range of speakers and systems which isn't an easy task. Having local audiophile friends certainly helps. By the way this vid appeared at the top of my list this morning!

Love your thoughts and the way you put them into words.

Thank you for your work. Your passion to the craft is unrivaled and infectious!

Great narrative and wise words.. I wish you were around when I started my audio journey. You could have save me thousands Thomas! I certainly hope, the younger ones among us take notice of your advice. Greetings from Sydney. 🇦🇺

Love this Thomas! :))) keep them coming! Really miss your opinions on things and your stories/experiments! This is why ur channel is the best!

I restarted my Audiophile path. I spent my money, and I continue to pursue better sound. I do not believe a certain dollar level buys you better performance since, there is no best but there is better - to a point. Based on your test, from what I can gather, if you were new to audio and wanted to start your path, you would have an extremely tough time when everything needs to match up to provide the best outcome. That is a lot of experimenting.

Thomas needed a mic to drop at the end of this one. You did nail it.

Thomas, this is the best teaching video on how to pursue audio that I have seen. Not just what you present though. Your style is also perfect for me. Being willing to try blind tests moves you ahead of all other video folk.I can easily follow your meaning. Keep up the good work!!

Yep - Nailed it. Thanks Thomas and greetings to you and yours.

Excellent, as usual! Thanks for helping us quantify taste more precisely :-)

Beautiful, lovely video, excellent explanation of something so many people gloss over... personal taste and personal choices. Superb, thank you :)

This is the best video of breaking down peoples preferences and taste as it pertains to audio gear. 👏

You speak allways to the heart , continue your way , love it

Link to my lastest KLH video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uZtAQJfYMsU.html My new Patreon account: www.patreon.com/ThomasAndStereo

Hi Thomas, really enjoy these type of videos, as you always say it's a matter of taste. Take Care

I love your stories Thomas - absolutely nailed it! Great watch 🔥

When audiophiles meet…. IMHO this is one of your best ideas! More more more!

if there is a Nobel Prize for analytical assessment of audio equipment/gear, you would be a likely candidate.

Can’t wait for more of your regular reviews. 👍

Excellent Video Thomas!

Cool test Thomas! thx

Great video, very helpful.

This was a particularly good video, Thomas. Thank you for what you do.

Once again Thomas, terrific video. Very educational with loads of valuable information that makes falling down the rabbit hole more enjoyable and easier to navigate. It is truly an amazing thing how much of this is subjective, and how synergy plays a big role. Synergy I discovered is everywhere, I especially see it's nature unfolding in gardening, in the paying close attention to soil composition, fungi, environment like cardinal directions, companion planting, etc. all must have a symbiotic relationship with one another for optimal health much like the synergy between electronics and speakers. Thanks Thomas.

Great video Thomas, couldn’t agree more with you on this.

Love such content! More!

Great video, I enjoyed the story. More people should do tests like that. Especially for younger and more inexperienced audiophiles that can be a great help to discover their own taste and priorities in sound.

I always like your opinions and viewpoints

Great analysis. I have updated my notes.

Owned the Cabasse minorca for about 5 years. It is a great speaker, especially when combined with a sub to handle the lower bass. I got it as I wanted the good aspects of the KEF Q300 (midrange/voices and imaging) and at the same time get as much as possible from what the Klipsch RB81 offered (liveliness, rhythm, low volume listening) in one speaker. The Minorca did a good job with that. Would it be great to see Thomas' take on its bigger brother, the Bora.

Finally a video that has given insight as to how to better approach my musical interest !!!

Enjoyed this one!

I prefer content like this to gear reviews. The trouble with reviews is that without context it can be a bit make believe. Thanks a bunch!

Extremely useful presentation... Than You Thomas!

“Nailed it“ 😄💪 Best mic drop

The Wharfdale is a giant killer. It will hang with speakers double its price. There is everything for everyone.

First video of yours I saw. Very informative - and I love your 'taste'... of humor man!

Some very sensible advice. Great video

Not a bad idea with the playlist! One likes to listen to you, you’re good at thinking ;)

All true, I agree. Good blind test too. Thanks.

This video concept comparison was most useful. Would be great to see a similar comparison for tower speakers.

Thoughtful and insightful... makes good listening....Thank you...

🔊 What we so hardly need back…..is the old fashion analogue equalizers in our hifi-systems - I always love mine analogue equalizer -

Very interesting, thank you.

Taste and synergy! Great advice Thomas!

You really make a difference when compared to other RU-vid Channels! Always neutral and focusing on the essentials. So many truths also in this video! You got my highest respect!! I have in my more than 45 years of hifi hobby experienced the same. Taste and synergies and there ist no best, only it suits you or not. Thanks for your always interesting Videos!

I agreed with everything you said in this video, especially when you said 'nailed it'

All great Audio food for thought. With price NOT the top criteria, it makes our individual audio journeys more FUN!

Another great video!

My take on this is very simple. The minute you start really enjoying your favourite music is the key to knowing which speakers/ set-up is right for you.

Thank you. Very good!

The video looks pleasant and sounds good. You put your heart into it, so do I, ha ha.

Your experiences and stories are my favorite part of this channel. It's like attending a lecture on audiophilism by a master.

This was a Great video, Thank you.

v good tom, really appreciated

good advice Thomas!!

This video really shows that the only thing that matters when evaluating something, is how good it preformes at the hierarchy of goals that are set.

Great information 🙂

I rate speakers and systems based on how they make me FEEL. The better it conveys emotion, the better the system. Everything else is secondary to me. Great video my friend, keep up the good work

Great video and so addresses the fundamental goal which is your subjective pleasure with the system.

This was a wonderful speaker experiment and what emerged from it was an infinite set of quality factors. I guess that is what makes hi-fi such a joy. You do, however, need to pay extra $$$ for a speaker whose cabinet is well made and doesn’t produce vibration or resonance at peak volumes, it sounds just as good at low volume as well as high, has low impedance for increased sensitivity and the cones are made to withstand sharp rises and falls in dynamic range, delivering the music fast without fatigue. My speakers (Energy ESM 3) are now nearly 35 years old, purchased for $800AU in 1987. The only parts I had replaced 17 years ago were the woofers, which had deteriorated. The tweeters are still original! My ESM 3s still deliver a punchy sound and will faithfully render all the fine detail that my MC cartridge picks up from the vinyl on my Linn LP12.

Hi tom, I like the stories, as much, as the reviews, more hifi chit chat please... Thanks Antony, Warrington

Thanks for this video- really enjoyed it. I miss the days of my local hifi stores where we could just talk equipment for hours. Believe it or not, there are almost no high end stores left in the Silicon Valley and many of my purchases as based on RU-vid reviews. But agree, all based on taste and components and dare I say, cables. I prefer these days a much warmer sound that I can enjoy for hours. I’d rather test with Diana Krall versus the Sheffield Drum Record these days. And I’ve realized that what you love, is generally not what I gravitate to so I had to laugh about your comment about Mr Vintage.

Excellent job 👌👍

Very good audiophile wisdom for newcomers

Good video, nice comments. People do not realize how +1 db here or -2db there make curves similar... but are preferred by on or other

Great video, the Cabasse caught my eye as I owed a pair of Bora's ... Funny thing is, I did the exact same experiment last night whilst listening to a Kate Bush Song that sounded so good through my LS50 driven through PS Audio mono's into an Auralic Altair G1 streamer. A REL S3 helped with some lower end... I then changed my speakers to B&W 606, played the same song and again with my $7k Dynaudio's... All 2 way bookshelves... I did it again and again, same song and must admit the $2k LS50 to my ears sounded the best...most expensive does not always equal the best for certain music in particular set ups and rooms....system matching makes such a difference too... Lovely video Thomas

Enjoyed that.

ty for the info

Thanks brother.

Good job… I enjoyed this…

You get what you paid for: expensive cabinets don’t necessarily confer better sound quality but you are paying for prettier cabinets and more exotic parts. What’s important to the consumer?

Love the video, got urself a sub

Love your videos and reviews, Thomas. Always insightful, with a bit of cheeky wit to make them interesting. But this one was esp. good for me at least to watch :-D The Frugal Audiiophile-Wanna-Be in Vancouver

100% correct. The Nyquist theorem would explain the sampling times for HD sound.

I am fully with you. Taste and synergy of components are what make components the best _for you_! From my early days until now, I am always astonished how, components dissappoint if I swap e.g. DACs of me and a friend of mine in our systems. We selected our components carefully to match our systems to meet our taste. He likes loud and lifelike dynamic forward presentation. And his system is impressive in this regard. I like natural tonality and effortless microdynamics and rythm. And my system does not disappoint. The astonishing point is that our favorite DAC made the others system perform worse which we both agreed.

Top 10 TnS vid here for sure.

Thanks for this. I own a pair of hsu hb1 mk2 bookshelf speakers and hsu stf2 subwoofer.. I like bright sound, top treble and punchy bass just like u. Hsu recommends Onkyo and Pioneer receiver. So I bought my first receiver Onkyo TX NR 414 back in 2012, I got the exact sound I needed. But this amp suffered the hdmi issues that plagued Onkyo after a 5 years of use. So decided to buy Denon X1500h, It has this warm, subdued sound which I have difficulty adjusting to. I have turned via Audyssey, manual tuning - its sounds ok, but obviously does not have Onkyo sound that I am used to. Unfortunately I in Ghana, Africa and so I was unable to ship back due to high shipping and duty charges here. Nice review and I would agree to the system matching to get the sound needed. I sent an e mail to Hsu and they recommended that I stick with Onkyo. I have subscribed to your channel. Thanks

Thanks so much for this video Thomas. For the first time in my life I realise that I’ve been chasing a sound that I didn’t even know what it was!! I’ve been buying equipment based on great reviews and not based on my taste!! The question is how on earth do I figure out exactly what it is that I like. I still remember the first time I heard high end audio and it gave me goosebumps,. I’ve been chasing that for years but never managed to replicate it again

👏👏🏻👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿👏👏🏻👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿 😇 Wonderfully done to share insightful view on one's taste & preference. Have a wonderful audiophile time. Thanks

you are the best!!!

I like the 220 and 225 I just wouldn't want to be bound only by it. But it's a hell of a starting point into affordable HiFi. Nice commentary about your and ones HiFi journey and evolution into HiFi.