Some years back I was up to my neck in "high end" gear. I had spent tens of thousands of dollars on a setup of Mark Levinson electronics (not including all the swap-outs and "upgrades" that got me to that point), and I was on a never-ending search for the next tweak or upgrade that would take my system to the next level.

One night, while I was setting up a new preamp (along with some spendy boutique cables), I sat there and asked myself "What the hell am I doing?" I'd gotten into the "hobby" because of my love for music, but I'd gotten so obsessed with the performance of the system that I rarely ever listened to a CD "just to enjoy the music". The music was just a way to measure this-or-that aspect of the system's performance.

The next day I boxed everything up and listed it on Audiogon.

I believe that the "high-end" is basically a scam. Undoubtedly, there are reputable companies that sell well-engineered products, albeit for a hefty price tag. But there's so much BS out there that even shrewd consumers can get stung. Not to mention the fact that the business model for a lot of the vendors and retailers doesn't seem very sustainable.

For me, the cost of the "high-end" stuff is way out of proportion to the reward, and I'm grateful for companies like Outlaw that deliver performance that is well beyond the dollars they charge.