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Comment by SOLAR_FIELDS | Hacker News Reader

Wine might be a better comparison (at least a Rolls and a Toyota look different). Many could tell the difference pretty well between a $5 and $20 bottle (hint: the $20 one is the one not loaded with sugar), but not a whole lot of people can tell the difference between a $20 bottle and a $200 bottle. The law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quick with both wine and audio. I think with audio once you’re in over a few hundred bucks for your set that wall comes up pretty quickly.

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> difference pretty well between a $5 and $20 bottle (hint: the $20 one is the one not loaded with sugar)

Wine loaded with sugar??? AFAIK, in a dry wine all the sugar is converted to alcohol- even in the case it's been added before the fermentation, which is still pretty rare, at least in major wine producing countries. That is definitely not the difference between a $5 and $20 bottle of wine (in Italy you can still get excellent wine for $5 a bottle if you buy it from the producer, btw).

whether it's rare depends on the wine. most champagne has added sugar before fermentation.

search for "brut nature" which for cava, champagne and the like means it's only the sugar in the grapes themselves.

If it's added before fermentation, it's still not in the final product, as it's been converted to alcohol. But you're right, champagne, even the best brands, has some sugar added after the fermentation, about 12g/l. It's part of the method. It's still a rather tiny amount if you consider that an orange juice without added sugar has about 90g/l (and you do drink it by the litre, as opposed to champagne...)

This is incorrect, there is always "Residual Sugar" [0] in wine, even when it's dry. Of course, GP is also not correct as there are plenty of wines with high RS that are very expensive while I can get a 7g/L RS wine for around 4€ here.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetness_of_wine#Residual_sug...

It also depends on the wine... The difference between a typical $10 bottle of pinot noir and a better $30 bottle is like night and day... But most varieties aren't as delicate and hard to make, so the differences get way more subtle.

You got it. There are degrees here. You can be an "audiophile" and not break the bank.

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