It dawned on me recently while reading a review. It came about when the reviewer discribed the "reference" gear that they had hooked up to the equipment being reviewed.
So if a £300 amp is connected up to WHF's £8000 reference speakers and a £5000 CD player (you get the drift), the there may be issues with insight , timing, tonality, cohisiveness (is there such a word?) and all the seemingly endless adjectives used. So would anyone buy a amp CD player DAC speakers etc. and pair them with kit costin 10 times the amount. Granted its a level playing field and differences will emerge but if nobody is pairing reference equipment with budget, midrange or even high end (not reference) gear then nobody will hear the difference.
So if a £300 amp is connected up to WHF's £8000 reference speakers and a £5000 CD player (you get the drift), the there may be issues with insight , timing, tonality, cohisiveness (is there such a word?) and all the seemingly endless adjectives used. So would anyone buy a amp CD player DAC speakers etc. and pair them with kit costin 10 times the amount. Granted its a level playing field and differences will emerge but if nobody is pairing reference equipment with budget, midrange or even high end (not reference) gear then nobody will hear the difference.