So where do you fall in the spectrum.? Gear or Music?

Gear<----------|---------->Music

If that is a way to visualize the question, I fall right of center on that Spectrum

Gear<----------|-----Me----->Music

*No politics expressed or implied

*No judgement expressed or implied

Both. Your question is like, where do you fall on the spectrum, sports cars or driving? For me I couldn’t do one without the other, stereo is pretty much the same.

Yours in music,

Ted Denney III

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.

I am all gear during an upgrade cycle… the 100% music for about 7 years until the next upgrade cycle.

Always loved music but it took the right gear to get me where I'm at, and it's a never ending quest as well, so throw in the journey which both require and call it a day.

All the best,
Nonoise

60% gear---85% 🎶.  I work in statistics for a big 4 accounting firm!🙂

@tom6897 ya man Lie, Damm Lies, Statistics, HiFi dreamers !

count me in.

i am a robot seeking a winning density function 

@ghdprentice speaks the truth. 

I'd guess for most of us, good music came into our lives long before good gear....

I love music, but enjoy it much more through a revealing system.  

Having a good system has allowed me enjoy more music. That said, I play mp3s in the car. Music wins.

OP, clearly this is an interactive hobby. 

Here's a quote from a really well-researched article on the audiophile hobby in Japan:

"This research study started with a question: What is “good” sound in the high- end audio? The notion of “high-fidelity,” which can be defined as the accurate reproduction of the original recorded music performance, was encountered many times during the  field interviews and in the documents. In effect, the term was an implicit “agreement” or a shared understanding among the stakeholders, including manufacturing engineers, dealers and sales representatives, professional retail shops, professional audio reviewers, magazine editors, peak associations, and amateur audiophiles. It is the ultimate goal and the key point of reference in the community practice. In reality, however, the definition had to be vague with margins of ambiguity due to the fact that the high-end audio equipment experience is a complex interaction of art, culture, and technology – an agent for humans.

The equipment delivers recorded music to human ears and minds with different tones, focal qualities, and sound characteristics in order to  t the subjective orientations, styles, and needs of audiophiles, as a tangible transducer of musical acoustic vibrations. At the same time, audio equipment, as a combination of machines, is also the object of attachments for audiophiles.

As a result, it is obvious that this complexity and ambiguity require multidimensional approaches in the valuation process, making use of both quantitative metric measurements and subjective, qualitative judgements by audiophiles as valuation devices. The latter requires the seasoned listening experience gained from years of tasting high-quality sound and ongoing tweaking, tinkering,, and repeated recombinations and reconfigurations of the components of the audio system. Employing the cable work, making system setting adjustments, install- ing peripherals – it is all part of a lifelong search process for audiophiles, a never ending quest for hi-  tones. The individual experiences and sensations at the moment of the tasting are the processual activities that deepen attachments and create hardcore audiophiles." 

-- "Japan’s high-end audio equipment industry in transition: Pragmatic valuation of “hi- ” sound and valorization through networks" by Tsutomu Nakano https://tinyurl.com/y36lknuj

@hilde45 I agree and yes very interactive.

@ebm I do hope you get some sleep 🛌 

@jerryg123 One thing which really came out in this analysis is how important to the overall popularity of products are the contributions of online communities. Many of other factors play in, of course, but because this market is niche, there is a much larger role played by forums. That’s why we see reviewers and dealers and youtube participants weighing in.

Some commenters, of course, are completely irrelevant. They're just toddlers with keyboards. But others who write persuasively or repeatedly or both are influencers. Dealers, reviewers, producers know that. That's why they're here, too.

@hilde45 This can be me at times when responding to some here on this forum.

I am really trying to be better.

Some commenters, of course, are completely irrelevant. They're just toddlers with keyboards. But others who write persuasively or repeatedly or both are influencers. Dealers, reviewers, producers know that. That's why they're here, too

@dabel no not a new leaf an old one. Be more tolerant, I am at home and work just not here so much. 
 

Do appreciate the compliment though. There will alway be a couple who get my goat but that’s okay. 
 

• Do I sense the turning over of a new leaf? Compliment ...

 They're just toddlers with keyboards. 

Truer words have not been spoken. Great piece on the cultural analysis of audio hobbyists in Japan. I truly wonder if it wholly applies here though.

All the best,
Nonoise

@hilde45   “They’re just toddlers with a keyboard.” 

👍 I really wish I had come up with that one! 

The toddlers inspired me. I can’t take all the credit. 

Great responses but for me if’s all about the music.

Why does the question have to be framed as an "or"? 

We can have both. 

Just listening to the gear is not the point, it is a vehicle. 

As to relative sonic merits, I'm most interested in how "regular" records sound, not "audiophile spectaculars"- thus, the baseline is for commercial records from the '50s through the late '70s. If it a question of where my personal priorities lie, that would lean toward music. But, I can usually find good sonic representations of good performances. There is so much music out there....

@whart This trick of having both reminds me of the Pirsig book on motorcycle maintenance.

The tension between the "classical" and "romantic" mindset is at work in a lot of us, but it's possible to find beauty in making things function and logic in expressiveness. This blog post is a nice little potted summary of the Pirsig, for those who are unfamiliar. 

@hilde45  Thanks for bringing that book to mind. Too many perceive quality only as judgment on linear scale. However, replace the word quality with qualities, this then allows one to learn to be mindful of all the parts of the whole, this is actual insight. One can appreciate the complexities of all things with this mindset, not be so anxious to come to conclusions. When things aren't going well, focusing on nuance rather than end games allows one a measure of satisfaction, and the calm mind needed to pursue better end games.

And I love motorcycles as well as the audio, I go about modifications of both with the mindset Pirsig introduced to me all those years ago.

I was one angry person for many years, Pirsig taught me so much! Also led me into Buddhist philosophy, words cannot express how much this philosophy has meant to me, much more sanguine mind.

@sns Thanks for relaying those memories. I based my college entrance essay on the book. It had a big influence on me in high school.

These kinds of debates -- gear OR music -- are indicative of a way of thinking that just perpetuates false choices. The question I’m curious about is what does it say about where we (collectively) are that we repeat the same false choice, over and over again?

So is this an investment question?  I do have more invested in my gear than I do my music media but I also stream which defers the total cost into easy monthly payments... for the rest of my life

“For the love of music”

Music.

Gear is merely the means to that end....and ought to be, always.

What one spends and adapts ones' environs in the pursuit of the goal is the prerogative of the listener(s).  'Low-ball', 'Hi-end', and all that exists in the midst is valid even if only to the owner of same.

'Owner' is happy until not, for whatever reason or rationale....

The 'ladder' doesn't seem to lack rungs to ascend, so one can climb until the efforts tires, the view is sufficient, the means of pursuit wane, or one is deaf and/or deceased....

There Are others....pick one, or make it up.  I have, and you ought to have one just in case. *L* ;)

I tire of being a 'bot....maybe I should be the mayor.....*evil G*

Great gear won't fix crappy music, but you can listen to great music on crappy  gear and it's still great music. If one thinks the gear has any importance other than relaying the music to your earballs, I can only assume you can sit and fondle your fuses and lovingly gaze at a dead sound system which without music is a pile of paperweights. Music is what matters, period.

This past week I completed a Raspberry Pi 3 based streamer project that I started 2-3 years ago. I built up 2 streamers, one with a I2S DAC hat and the other without. So, one has analog outputs and the other is just the USB output that is built into a Raspberry Pi. Anyway, I never got Moode OS running to my satisfaction. Last week I installed Volumio 3 on both and I could not be more happy with the results.

I also just cleaned out the orphaned audio closet and sold a crap-load of stuff. In there I found a pair of the Radio Shack Presidian speakers that made a minor stir back about 10-15 years ago. They had an MSRP of $39 and the final closeout price was $14 per pair!.

Anyway, at this moment I'm listening to a sub-$100 Raspberry Pi streamer, the $39 Presidian speakers through an Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp that I purchased used for a bargain price.

All told this system is under $500 and I'm sitting here thinking "Wow! Radio Paradise in FLAC is sounding great in my office".

Point being...... I'm a music guy.

Any relatively well designed gear---------------------> my room specifically controlled soundfield----------------> me and music

All arrows pointed in the same direction because chosing the gear or chosing music cannot be valid  alternatives save in audio thread schizophrenia...Or ignoring acoustic....