Cloud is the man. He's preternaturally patient, gracious, and informative. I'm on the horns (I swear I was not making an audio pun) of the X4 or X5 dilemma right now. I had a good listen to the X4s with the Don Sachs Valhalla and was so impressed by the sound and moved by the music, I was ready to swap my current system for that pairing right then and there. That, of course, wasn't possible, so, rather than be content and stick with the revelatory sound I'd just heard, I decided I should give the x5s a listen. As a rule, I find Plato annoying and the Socratic method a highly questionable means of arriving at the truth, but sometimes I think he's right, that having choices is one of the primary obstacles to humanity's happiness. If Spatial Audio made only the X4 or X5, the decision would be made, the speaker purchased, happiness achieved. But, no, we must have variety, which leads to choices and forums and the neurotic dithering of perspective buyers like me. To be fair, as with the case of Rthomeint, Cloud did nudge me toward the X4, with several sensible-sounding reasons for doing so. My will to perplexity was not to be so easily deterred, however, and, for good or ill, Clayton has been good enough to find someone in my area willing to let me hear his or her (not sure which) broken-in X5s. Before I go, I just want to add how generous I've found the audio community to be in this regard. They are remarkably ready to take the time to share their experiences and do things like invite perfect strangers into their homes to help someone make a decision that has no impact on them whatsoever. I could speculate as to the reasons for this behavior, but it's probably enough just to say I'm grateful. With any luck, and a little backbone, I'll arrive at a decision and be able to contribute something actually helpful to those facing this same choice in the future. Here's to knowledge, decency, and the pursuit of happiness (cue the anthem).
