Nobody pretends that high-end watches are anything besides objets d'art and even then not every watch is a Rolex synonymous with conspicuous consumption. TE, on the other hand, has legions of fans that buy this stuff without knowing the first thing about music production just because they think it's cool and want to try it out. Nobody who buys a $700 Tissot thinks it tells better time than a $17 Casio.
I have no problem with any of this. The world needs more aspiring creatives and it's none of my business how these consumers choose to spend their money. The fact that you find it appropriate to unilaterally shit on people who have nice watches while being in possession of a $2000 groovebox is, however, as the kids say, "a choice."
It's not telling better time, it's telling of a better time.
If you re-read your own comment, do you experience cringe? If the answer is no, that's worrying and worth looking into.
The parent comment is right. Their logic is cyclical, they acknowledge that Teenage Engineering is widely accepted to be overpriced hipster crap, and then refuse to defend their conclusion that it's not made for the hipster audience. They do not posit what their "amazing inventions" are, or qualify their justification for buying two (!!!) OP-1 models, or link to the music that could only be made with the OP-1. They are responding to marketing, which is not a healthy habit of consumption in any market. For musicians, it's called Gear Acquisition Syndrome (chronic GAS).
In essence, you are criticizing someone for challenging a rich snake-oil customer.
They essentially make toys for that demographic but theres nothing wrong with that if you get enjoyment out of it.
"And it's amazingly precise! One look at your wrist and you know exactly how rich you are!"
> TE's amazing inventions
> But that doesn’t mean anything that looks cool was made for them.
How anyone tells themselves this while buying Teenage Engineering gear is beyond me. The closest TE came to an "amazing invention" was the OP-Z, and that flopped like a fish on land. The whole business is a marketing-saturated DAWless hipster fantasy, hook line and sinker.
I was there when my properly talented musician friends bought the original OP-1, and I was also there when they sold it to afford a better MIDI controller. It's a Fischer-Price 4-track recorder, there's a very good reason you don't see your favorite musicians dailying it.
The OP-1 (and TX-6) on the other hand are excellent, I have 3 of them and love them dearly! Plenty of producers and bands still use them to great effect, the used price is evidence of this. Treating it as a controller is a pretty solid sign you've missed the point. Most midi devices are not able to cope with the bpm/playback speed shifting in response to the tape interactions (which is fully in spec). I did appreciate people offloading them for cheap.