Rig building - When or Why, do you change devices?

I found that once you upgrade one component to be sonically better, the rest of the component in the chain then needs to be upgraded as well to a similar level.

I upgraded my cdp and that resulted in wholesale change of all my other components. I guess the phrase your sytem is only as good as the weakest link plays a part in my willingness to swap out gear

I expect that there is a considerable psychological bias to liking the "new" thing more than the old. Just by entertaining the idea of trying the new thing probably leaves us with a predisposition towards the new one. How do we know that we want to try the new thing? Someone, somewhere, said something or wrote something about it, or about its predecessor, or about something similar. Or it looks cool. Otherwise, there is no way that the thought would enter our heads.

I think Macrojack is right. A lot of us are twiddling and tweaking and changing because it is interesting to do so. I have read many posts out there where the writer has seen evolutionary changes through a half dozen components (the same role; e.g. CDP) and while I have listened to many more than that, and there are incremental differences between a lot of CDPs, there is more to do with system synergy and that day's predisposition than there really is with the components I bet. Since I bought my first high-end system, very few times have I found something with which I could not live happily.

Personally, I wait for great things from the past to come around at a stupidly cheap price, then pounce. Because if it turns out to be all hype, someone else is probably out there doing the same thing and I won't lose much on the turn...

Macrojack

Hear! Hear! Very good.

I think with a gear change... a new piece... or a modification of some aspect, I am certianly altering the presentation, perhaps the sonics too.

I'm not sold entirely on the fact that every change I've made has been to increase performance. Render a clearer window to the recorded venue, or even immulate a live performance after all.

I think, more often than not, my greatest foe in acquiring that next level is myself. At times, with a lot of changes which I did this past year, I sought for a time to regain that which I had let go of... I initially tried to make the now all tube power duplicate the sound of the Tube & Ss set up. yet found out soon enough that wasn't going to happen completely. Then I got to listen still more critically and found out some areas were improved upon, while others lacked. A Shelby Cobra just isn't a Hemi 'Cuda. Both are breath taking rides, yet get there in different ways. A funny thing happened then, I slowly began to not miss so much, those areas where the SS amp excelled past the tube amps…. And so forth.

Getting 'different' is lots easier than attaining 'better'. Different isn't a bad thing either. actually, I feel that the relationship between 'diff' & 'better' are often interchangeable and can point towards the same things, generally speaking. It’s all relative. Right after I got married I realized all my problems were relative. I moved away from my relatives as soon as I could. With audio, it’s not the same.

The relative diffs are where the incrases, if any, are found. Allong the upgrade highway, the ‘relative differences’ begin to shrink, and become scattered about. Where and What those distinctions get found out determines better. It gets tougher and tougher to feret them out, and when you do, finally decide, it’s one of a couple thoughts… “Is this indeed better? Do I need to keep looking, or Can I live with this?””

I know I can’t live with my relatives, but could easily live with the stuff I’ve brought in here since all this began a few years back… and some items that are gone now as I’ve moved on, I’d sure not mind having back.

My system was virtually unchanged for five years. I wasn't even looking for speakers, they found me. It was the old "too good to pass up" thing, I got a great deal on speakers that I otherwise could not afford. Unfortunately this set off a chain of events that was beyond my control. The speakers were deserving of a better amp, so I replaced the amp. Of coarse I just had to have the matching pre-amp. This combo had great synergy and it was apparent that my CD player wa the weak link so I bought a DAC. To make things worse my sub died shortly after so I had to replace that as well. Hopefully I'm good for another five years.

Like TVAD, I buy 2nd hand after looking at the forums, reviews etc. I decide on a component I would be interested in and wait for it to turn up. Having got the kit right, I look at tweeks, cables and recently supports. I have a range of the latter from Symposium, Stillpoints, Herbies audio lab. All make a real difference, I just move them around for best results.
One reason for change not mentioned, is our brain being attuned to change. I am sure we all have been floored by a new addition, then a week later, the system sounds the same. It is'nt the same, we have just got used to it. That implies change, any change, can be seen as better. That is a real danger I think, in brief auditions at a shop