I wholeheartedly agree with this. I ended up starting my own sound company to help lessen the divide between engineering and the end-user, where I get to go ou

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I ended up starting my own sound company to help lessen the divide between engineering and the end-user, where I get to go out and try and use our products for a number of real shows every year. But it's not really the same issue, as the non-sense the pervades in the audiophile industry. In my typical setup, I try and work as a stage hand, and let normal FOH and monitor engineers work with the products, where I can observe all the issues that crop up. That way I can get clean feedback from band members, and production staff without, being tainted by association with the brand.