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Is Upgrading Degrading?

Is the search for the "perfect system" a kind of vulgarity?

We don't tend to say "I' had an old Bach recording, but I've upgraded to Schoenberg!" We appreciate the wildly diverse character of these two geniuses on their own terms.

ok--it may make sense to say "I've upgraded from the Spice Girls to Bartok" but once music reaches a certain level of seriousness, it seems to me the correct approach is to bask in the aesthetic differences and perhaps the same is true of music systems.

Are we really getting "better sound" along an imagined continuum that runs from ghastly cacophony to some auditory Valhalla or are we just experiencing different wonderful systems with personalities as varied and unique as human beings are?
marburg
foster_9
1,638 posts
 
or are we just experiencing different wonderful systems with personalities as varied and unique as human beings are? Marburg 04-08-11
That's just not a realistic point of view, at least not for me. When my system is "wonderful," I'll be happy and content. I think many feel like this. "Wonderful system" means that changing gear stops. Putting together a "wonderful system" can be easy for some, and full of difficulty and frustration for others. If you are fortunate enough to have a high end system, or any system, and it's "wonderful," you better be listening to music. Forget about upgrading!
jult52
155 posts
 
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Is that true?
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,012 posts
 
I can't speak for anyone but myself, but for me, it has been a long process. I don't really consider the evolution of my system "upgrading" toward some absolute standard. For me, it has been more about learning what is important to me personally in a music system. I have been a slow learner, partly because I read too many ads and reviews. I am more in touch now with the sonic priorities that make music sound good to me. Of course, affording it all is another matter...
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
I have noticed recently less of an interest in reading reviews in Stereophile and TAS as well as the many online publications since I finished "tuning" my system after years of investment in gear of all kinds. My shift is clearly to music and I find myself opening up to new genres. I am on a huge bluegrass kick right now. I've been in this hobby for decades and never really appreciated the musical chops that the finer bluegrass musicians possess. As I write this I'm thoroughly enjoying the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle be Unbroken" Awesome stuff.

For me at least, settling on the performance of my system has sifted my focus to the music. Good thing that.
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uru975
684 posts
 
Jult52 it was for Dostoevsky here on Audiogon it is more like All happy audiophiles are like all other happy audiophiles, all unhappy audiophiles are unhappy due to their system, room, individual pieces of equipment and anything else that might be part of the audio experience and each to their own varying degree of unhappiness.
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