Where I live, it's very hard to get the stuff to try out and then decide if I want to buy.
But, with acquiring high-end stuff this tends not to be a problem for me
.
I find from surfing gearslutz, getting a feeling of who knows what, I've been quite successful in deciding what to buy, even without hearing (Rumour, Chandler TG2, BAE312 etc.).
And although all these purchases justified theirselfes on the first listening, something like a preamp I really start to dig after quite some use and yeah, just trying it out somewhere for a few hours doesn't tell much...
If I ever get me something that I truly don't like, I'll be able to sell it without losing too much money.
Greetings,
Dirk