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It seems to imply high cost to many, when I know from experience this is not necessarily true.

Music that sounded fine on you old so-so system now sounds like garbage. Upgrading is a dangerous activity.

The absolute failure, if not refusal, to reach out to the music lovers not already involved in high-end. There are millions of music lovers listening on awful gear because they don't know there are better options, and reasonably priced ones at that. By the way, outrageously expensive statement products not only don't help, that sticker shock actively discourages outsiders from investigating further. There are times I feel the high-end industry is as bass-ackwards as the music industry.

Not value for money. Other less expensive systems sound equal or better in many cases

prices

I have three: Price, price and price! Their cost may be ten times what another component sells for, but they probably aren't ten times better! Law of diminishing returns, and all that.

gear that does not deliver the expected performance-value equation. Especialy from brands that should be trustworthy.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Long money entry. Overblown claims/expectations.

The pretensions of superiority (ie, the "golden ear" syndrome) put on by some (not all, of course) reviewers and dealers can occasionally ruin the fun. This can be latent or manifest in the writings/gestures of the posturing few. The best reviewers, for example, simply say what they like and why they like it, without explicitly or implicitly expressing some extraordinary "gift" that gives them absolute authority in their judgments. Persistant and occasional offenders? Robert Greene (The Abso!ute Sound) always refers to his damned violin, his PhD.in Math, his association with Water Lily (mediocre productions, at best), and his preternatural ability to hear, say, the differences between speakers with flat baffles and those with rounded corners. Sometimes even "Mikey" can't resist crowing about his veteran status and how this automatically elevates him above the novice reviewer who praises everything (does such a reviewer actually exist?). But Mikey does know analog, and only occasionally feels the need to flaunt, so we'll just slap him once with some wet vinyl wiper and let 'im off easy. Or how about those gifted savants who exaggerate the profound effect of power cords and magic rocks on sound quality...but only, of course, with $200,000 systems, and only if you can hear as well as the presiding Magus. And then there's the set-up ritual: if you don't hear what I heard, the set-up must have been wrong, you incompetent oaf. The grand champion? HP, his royal self: if you bring frankincense and myrrh, bow real nice, and wag your tail in submission, you can visit "Cliff House" (after submitting two urine samples and enduring the requisite 10-year wait for credential checks) and hear the amazing microscopic differences among 15 $20,000 preamps. It's amazing how all this stuff only sounds its best at his place (remember the mighty Wisdoms? or how the Nola multi-channel system bombed at HE a couple years ago?). Oh, I forgot. The magic is in the set-up, and only his elves know the secret ritual. The dealers who require 10 bank letters-of-credit (not to mention a signed affidavit promising to buy) before you can sully the apse of the temple with your miserable presence? Don't get me started. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives 100-1, so who's complaining?

Having my cappuccino with Stereohpile at the local Barnes & Noble, the scary thing is that all I do is looking at the color ads. Good for your advertiser, but also showing what has become of you. Brinkmann and Wilson forever.

Only one item? I've got a few. Well okay, I think way too many golden ears (at least, they think they are) take themselves and their hobby way too damn seriously. Relax dudes, it's music. You're not studying for the bar exam. Chill fricking out. I know you said only one, but how about the mega price gear constantly reviewed in the rags? People keep complaining about it, yet it keeps coming. It seems that if you can't afford these jewels, you just haven't arrived, baby. And please, no more lame statements about liking to read about Maseratis when you can only afford a Yugo. That rings so hollow.

Price seems to be mainly a product of high marketing costs, and certainly doesn't reflect sound quality.

way too expensive

Cluless reviewers who can't believe readers know more about audio than they do. Like the guy who is all pissed off that readers seem to have systems that don't cause fatigue. His answer is they don't know how to listen or don't listen long enough. Maybe they put together a system that doesn't fatigue. Tubes, Vinyl, Speakers with flat impedence, no acrylics, and cabling low in capacitance.Maybe we don't know what "listening to music" means, but if being fatigued does I'll pass.

The lack of reasonably priced (say $2000-3000) components that are broadly available. The concentration of esoteric $5000 plus components and limited channels of distribution makes it extremely difficult to test and acquire good equipment.

It shows the limitation of some of my cd's.

It all loks like one big rocket science

Audiophiles and dealers alike have a pervasive negative attitude. Most current gear is very good, but everyone seams to have a separatist, elitest attitude regarding the products they themselves like, while everything is inferior.

Hyperbole.

The very sad state of the retail side of the business. Truly good dealers are increasingly rare, and precious. Most, sadly, are utter crap in just about every respect.

Morons that say they can hear the sound of wire. After the signal has gone thru hundreds, if not thousands, of solder joints they swear that running their signal thru some exotic interconnect or speaker wire can somehow magically reveal information they couldn't hear without it. Give me a break!