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Do you have a life jacket ready?

Paul's Posts — 17 March 2012

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Do you have a life jacket ready?

In yesterday’s post we we lamented the shift away from the neighborhood dealer who provided our advice, information, opinions and service.  There are a number of reasons why this has taken place and one we’ve not yet touched upon is how we access information and form opinions today – it’s most certainly different than yesterday.

We’re smack dab in the beginnings of a new era called the Information Age.  How we access our information has changed from the limited choice model to one of unlimited choices available online – and that level of access has forever affected how we interact with the world.

Let’s imagine you want to get a new DAC.  In the older model of just a few years ago your research on DACS consisted of reading up on the subject from a handful of printed sources, person-to-person interactions from a small tight knit group and then forming an opinion and making your decision.

Today an ocean of information awaits you on DACS from all over the world – in fact, so much so that it becomes a very noisy environment and the challenge isn’t gathering enough information it’s down to wading through what isn’t relevant to you and narrowing your search.  Even the person-to-person interactions have magnified exponentially as we participate in worldwide chat rooms.

This means that the job of the dealer has changed from having enough knowledge to help you make a decision to that of clearing away the information chaos so you can see a clear path.

We’ve gone from thirsting for info to drowning in a sea of it.

Your dealer is a great resource for life jackets.

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About Author

Paul McGowan

Paul McGowan is the CEO and co-founder of PS Audio Inc. a Boulder Colorado design and manufacturing company of high-end audio products and services. McGowan has been designing and building high-end products for nearly 40 years. Hobbies include skiing, music, hiking, artisan bread baking, kick boxing and cooking. He lives in Boulder Colorado with his wife Terri and his 4 sons.

(3) Readers Comments

  1. March 17, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Things have really changed. I remember a day when your salesman’s (or sales woman’s) opinion and advice could be backed up by the fact that they would be there for you in upcoming days, months and many times, even years. You could also, return your purchase to them if what they recommended didn’t work out as purported. A loaner program was available at many local shops. After all, their reputation was on the line. Unlike the nameless, faceless psudo-experts that offer their on line opine.

    You built a relationship with your salesperson / retailer. The local bricks and mortar store has always seemed to be a safer bet to me.

    Another thing to consider is that many of the internet “consumer product reviewers” can’t help but being just a little biased. These folks don’t get a FREE review component. . . they already bought it! And who in their right mind would admit that their purchase wasn’t everything they had hoped it would be? In addition, they probably haven’t had nearly as much system matching experience as a retail salesperson who gets to play with lots of equipment all day, every day!

    Call me old fashioned, but when ever I see a local hi-fi store, I can’t help but stop in for a visit!

  2. Adolf

    March 18, 2012 at 3:47 am

    Hi DocWixson. It seems to be an ideal vision of an consultant, you talk about. Such a character may exist in your neighbourhood. But how to prove or validate him. Any dealer has the target to earn money, furthermore he is fixed upon a certain selection of brands as well. So you never get a complete overview about all options of the market at one single place. Thus any dealer is also biased, because of his limited possiblities.
    In terms of the ocean of information, nice metapher of Paul, there is one issue, that might not be forgotten. Lanvier talked in his book “Gadget, why mankind needs us also future” about intelligence of the crowd, which can be very mighty. Wikipedia is an example of dynamic knowledge building.
    So the internet is a huge basin and in total you can rely on it, in detail you’re aboslutely right. One opinion is no opinion, but hundreds?
    By the way this is, why I have selected Psaudio. Without internet no chance to get it. A lot of different opinions about the quality and functionality lead me to try it out. And I’m not a man, who tries quickly and sends it back, if it doesn’t please. When I decide to buy, I’m going to keep it, if there isn’t an obvious damage.
    Summing up, I’m happy about internet, and I don’t miss dealers, who can advice me.

  3. straylight

    March 18, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    I really miss the local dealer and the genuine nature of “personal interaction” to achieve better audio in my home. Dealers had more than brick & mortar to offer…they had heart and I think they had soul. These are commodities not easy to come by in the virtual world. I could even read their body language when they tried to sell me the product they had the most of that month, although most of the time they knew I was too smart for that. Ever try to read body language on the internet? Not likely.

    As much as I have to agree with Adolf about the power of the internet ‘collective mind’ it makes me a bit uneasy. It’s like the Borg ship on Star Trek…its collective intellect or ‘hive-mind’ is awesome and enticing to behold because it is so full of information…precise, cold-hard-data to pick through, but would I ever really want to trust the Borg ship in choosing my final destination? Over the years, I have realized that many of my best and most enduring audio decisions have been about personal interactions, preferences derived from personal advice and my own passions applied to the art of audio. And this is where following the hive-mind may fall short…passion and personal interaction are things the Borg-ship just doesn’t do very well in my opinion.

    So as the dealers dry up and evaporate quietly in a thin haze above the horizon I am left to contemplate (tentatively) boarding the Borg-ship-search-engine at full throttle, knowing full well that the journey for audio will be much more solitary and sterile than ever before.

    And am I beginning to hear the faint but constant murmur of the massive collective as they begin to chant in mechanically-perfect unison…WE….WILL….ASSIMILATE….

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