This is something I’ve noticed lately. A lot of hifi shops and hifi manufacturers have helpful staff, but just as many are extremely rude and arrogant.
I’ve had people speak condescendingly about my amp when I’m demoing speakers. Same thing for my speakers. I’ve even had someone, and I kid you not, tell me my streamer has shit sound quality.
It seems like hifi shops are either extremely helpful or just downright awful. The same with manufacturers, they either recognise that there exists alternatives or everything sucks ass compared to their product.
The ironic thing is that most of these salespeople probably have fairly mediocre systems at home, because frankly, the pay for their job is not that great. So there’s probably some psychology at work there that’s rooted in their own inability to have a really nice high end system.