By Paul McGowan, PS Audio

A white table cloth and high prices don’t make food any better than a fancy chassis and gold connectors make a product sound good. Yet, we often have little more to judge quality on than outside appearances.

But, we keep trying.

Doing our best to find artful, inspired, food in the Southwest Florida city of Naples we spotted an offering of squash blossoms on the menu. These delicate morsels are very difficult to cook while maintaining their nuanced flavors. Even the mention of them on the menu gave us a clue The French Restaurant might offer a prayer of gourmet delights. What we got was more reminiscent of Colonel Sanders than Danny Myers: lightly battered and deep-fried, the fact there was a delicate young plant inside was lost in the puddle of melted cheese and the blandness of the tomato sauce.

It’s hard finding high-end anything as marketers continue to abuse the clues to a product’s value.

A DAC that advertises every sample rate and spec possible doesn’t stand any more of a chance of sounding great than a squash blossom deep-fried in tempura batter has of tasting like its namesake.

It’s tough out there.

For more on this story go to: https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/the-squash-blossom-conundrum/