In reply to:
Those that are crapping on you for owning a Sony, have probably never owned one. Ignore them!
Exactly. Part of the problem is that a lot of people base their opinions on their experience which is usually never or poorly qualified. Sony has made some products
in the past that have had "poor sound quality" but that definitely did not hold true for the ES series. Part of the problem that some manufacturers face is achieving acceptance to as large a target audience [market] as possible. They try to appeal to the budget minded as well as the discriminating listener with deep pockets.
Instead of people saying Product A blows away Product B, if they say in my listening environment with my preferences in music with this equipment my personal preference is Product A over Product B and I have also compared it against Product C & D with these other pieces of equipment..., then that would provide people searching for opinions a little more to base their decision on.
As I and other here have mentioned, people seem to forget that they all hear a little (or sometimes a lot) differently. Try listening to your favourite gear with a tune that you are very familiar with and then listen again while distorting or pulling on your ear. You notice in most cases that it will sound different. When is the last time you noticed that someone else has the exact same ear shape and canal as you did?
Sorry, my rant...
As others have stated over and over, forget what other people like. You can use that as a basis for statistics but what it comes down to is, if
you like the sound, then who cares that the other person had to spend $20,000 more to like the sound that they have. Be happy that you can spend a lot less to get the same pleasure out of life.
