How do you decide what your next upgrade will be?

When I see an insult or a "ho hum" aimed at one of the components in my system. "Well...for an entry level component it's okay, but you'd really be doing yourself a big favor if..." Trouble is, I like my system just fine.

When it comes to upgrades, apart from seeking out the best possible mastering, it's always loudspeakers for me.
 

For sure, as I get older/lazier/busier/less obsessed etc I'm looking for an easier life and may want to add streaming/ Bluetooth options but for sonic improvements I don't bother looking past transducers.

If I was to hear a clearly better CD player than my Marantz CD6000ki or a better amplifier than my Creek Destiny, I might reconsider, but as of yet this hasn't happened.

I've done enought chopping and changing of components in my time to finally accept that there's very little of gain to be found down those particular avenues.

Of course things might change, and if some of the things mentioned by Edgar Choueiri in his recent Audioholics interview come to pass then things will be different.

His insistence that the spatial aspect of sound is by far the most important aspect when it comes to realism in audio is one that has made me reconsider my opinions.

I think he's right.

Wow! thanks for this video...

This scientist seems to confirm my intuition and experience about " seeing sounds and seeing music"

His insistence that the spatial aspect of sound is by far the most important aspect when it comes to realism in audio is one that has made me reconsider my opinions.

I think he’s right.

OP if you’ve addressed the first 50% of the issue, the ROOM and the electricle grid.

The other 50%, is Gear, speakers, cables, and isolation. The least expensive for the return is isolation and decoupling speaker enclosures, from the rooms floors, ceilings, and walls..

You can hear a difference because of clarity, not through a fog so to speak.

When thing don’t sound right to my ears I try to change the different tones to compensate, when in reality cleaning up smeared multi bass signals was the issue all along.. Clarity and Definition coupled with the imperfect perfections of valve harmonics.. Different story, ay?

Room (low expense)

Electricle and cable routing (low expense)

Decoupling (low expense)

Gear (EXPENSIVE)

Speakers (EXPENSIVE)

Wisdom (priceless)

Regards

For me it has been a combination of what type room I am setting my system up for (now or in the future) and if my music genre preferences have shifted. My previous systems started to struggle due to either room volume/shape as a resulting of moving or if I started listening to different types of music. When that starts happening I start making "improvements".