I am so happy.....

1. So you built your Neurochrome 686 stereo amp? How long did it take you? 

2. Are you willing to post pictures of it?

Thanks! 

This is a great thread because we definitely place different priorities on gear and enjoying music. I definitely have upgradeitis. But I enjoy it to the full.

It started with moving to my 3rd home. It was my first old home which had ’formal’ rooms. Old homes seem to have better proportions for listening to music. All of a sudden the same system sounded 18x better than before without an upgrade.

So I thought, ’let’s see if I can make it better!’. I added a Technics 1200G turntable...yes, sounds better. Then I switched the room layout 180 degrees...holy smokes!!! Easily the 2nd best improvement...the first being the move to the house. Then the switch to tube gear...a little bit better.

Then the wife made us move!

But I countered with another, even older, home with very formal rooms. It’s not as good as the other room...but about 75% there. But now I know all about rooms vs upgrades ratio and it is helping me unlock the potential of this room. I’ve stopped upgrading electronics for the moment but not the room.

I’ve always enjoyed the journey more than the destination. I’m not goal-obsessed. I’ve always been more process-obsessed. So upgradeitis is here to stay for me. Bring it on. And yes, to each their own.

There's upgradeitis, and then there's experimentitis. I have been very happy with my systems many times, but I can never get over the question "I wonder what it would sound like if..." And then I wonder "Why am I so fascinated with this audio thing?" I guess we all need something to do. I change my diet around a lot too, not because I'm unhappy with the current diet, but just wondering what will happen, like if I change from a keto diet to an ultra low fat / high carb diet? So I try it and find out I can ride my bicycle faster with lots of carbs, but need to bring food with me on longer rides and dress warmer in cold weather. I deal with hot weather much better but also pee a lot more. 

I was happy with my reference system until I wasn’t. It sounded good but now, for sure, sounds better. It is unusual for many audiophiles to hold the line against the bug to do so. However, with a thriving used audio equipment softens the financial stress of upgrading. I have an equipment graveyard. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed most of my equipment even though I have often moved beyond it. An important part of my education as an audiophool was my evolution of equipment in various configurations.

@asctim - I can relate to experimentitis. I'm very happy with my current system and don't plan to ever truly upgrade from my speakers or integrated amplifier as it would take more of a financial investment than I consider to be justifiable for me for a variety of reasons.  I'm an engineer, so often have curiosities that I'm interested to explore.  As an example, I am fairly new to the "cables make a difference" side of things, so now I'm interested in toying around with cables a bit more for the sake of the experience than a desire to improve the sound of my system.  Cables are such a rabbit hole that it's somewhat daunting to figure out where to even start.  I'm currently leaning toward upgrading within my current cable brand based on the assumption that if I'm happy with their "signature sound" I'll likely be happy with whatever they consider to be better.  There's also a top dollar for what I'd ever consider reasonable to spend no matter the results.  I suspect that playing with different brands is similar to rolling tubes were the result can be "different" as much as "better" or "worse" in a lot of cases.