IMPOSTERS: When it comes to our HiFi systems and how good they sound, I suspect they are far better than most of us inwardly fear

At some level, we’re all imposters. We fear our projected self-worth—the way we present ourselves or the way we believe others see us—doesn’t live up to expectations.

In my 74 years, I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t to some extent suffer from what is commonly known as Imposter Syndrome. Maybe it’s a fear that our HiFi systems aren’t as good sounding as we believe, or maybe it’s what holds us back from offering advice and opinions (despite the wealth of knowledge we each hold in reserve).

The outward image we project is almost always a combination of guarded talents and knowledge depth sprinkled with a smidge of hopeful confidence. We don’t want to set expectations too high for fear of embarrassing failure yet we don’t want to go too low and be ignored.

It’s probably not as bad as you might suspect.

When it comes to our HiFi systems and how good they sound, I suspect they are far better than most of us inwardly fear.

In fact, if you’re reading this blog post you are most likely one of the few experts on audio systems in the world (relative to the other 7 billion of us). You know more about sound and high-performance audio than just about anyone on this planet.

And that is quite an accomplishment.

Paul McGowan / PS AUDIO

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