What's the point of upgradable components?

For example Arcam CD players, and Cyrus amps. It's far cheaper to sell what you have on ebay and buy the higher model second hand. And if you dont like what you end up with you can sell it on again.

 

There are several people who don't like /want to buy second hand stuff and there are even more who get attached / affective to what they have and therefore don't want to sell it.

 

Not everyone in the UK has access to the Internet and eBay.

If you buy secondhand, you don't really know the history of what you have bought and how much it has been used. If you have your own player upgraded then you know exactly what you are getting.

 

I think it depends on the item.

I agree that the Cyrus6 to 8 is probably not worth the cost but the value lost in selling and replacing can be large.

I think things like the Wadia 861b-861-861se are a good idea though as they add functionality AND performance improvements.

 

I think especially in AV it's a good thing with new surround standards coming out.

 

Here may be a live example of reason to upgrade....
I have a well looked after, but technologically ageing, Arcam CD8SE. I can e-bay it for scrap value or I take it to PJ HiFi in Guildford and get it converted to the latest spec DiVA CD82 Dual mono Wolfson DAC for £220.
Whether the change is worth it, I don't know. I still use a Quad 34 pre-amp so maybe not! )

 

Im with you on the point Hodgesaargh.

Looking purely on hifi as a financial investment, the best way to get bang for buck is to buy second hand and sell second hand.

Also worth raising the point that if you are going to play with the insides of a bit of kit, the better the starting point the better.

Also from a financial perspective, I dont think tweaked products hold the value of the tweak much above the price of a normal base model..

Depends why you want to do it I suppose.. (upgrade parts). If its to sell for a profit - probably a bad idea!