What steps forward were actually steps backward?

All of my upgrades I think have been OK. The one issue in all of them however was that they made my system more revealing to the recording quality of the music being played. So now some of my favorite music in fact doesn't sound as good even though it is being played through "better" equipment.

Maybe upgrading isn't so great...

Regards,

Steps backward in disguise, based on marketing and lies:

Solid state amplification
Acoustic suspension speakers
Digital

In 1970 I went from a kit-built Dyna SCA-35 to a transistor integrated whose name I've repressed. Now I'm back with tube amps, I realize I lost the music for thirty years.

I never did find the amp that could make bass sound tuneful rather than thumpy on my AR2ax's.

For over ten years my music-loving friends drove me crazy with CD hype secondhand. Why couldn't they hear the weird dynamics, the acid highs, the decay falling into the bitbucket ? The technology is only just coming right. It's a shame to think of the recordings of the early digital period. Even today, younger music lovers think badly-made CDs and yucky MP3s are normal.

I think that much (not all, but much) high-end equipment gives out an increase in detail and so forth but sacrifices the music. Since all this detail is impressive, many do not even realize that their upgrade has, musically speaking, been a disaster. Not understanding the difference between being impressed and having the music wash over you and carry you away, most defend their purchases and present them to the world as significant upgrades, and the more money they pay, the louder they sing their praises. Many who have invested enormous amounts of cash (because they were, at bottom, not satisfied but couldn't find the spot to scratch) are in this boat now, but not having heard systems (except cheap ones, which preserve the timing more often than not) which can present the subtleties of timing which is the core of musical expression, they simply are not aware, and keep dreaming of that next, significant "upgrade."

When I decided to add an extremely powerful powered subwoofer, the Intermezzo 1.2 with a 850 watt amplifier, to make my horns fullrange, I realized that in connecting it, it add a low range electric hum....regardless of whether I use speaker output connections (shared with another pair of cables) or RCA inputs, the cables in my system or on the way to the subwoofer pick something that makes it hum. Thus, I had decided to detach it from my present system. Amazingly, I do not miss it.
To see whether the sub was defective, I decided to connect it to my portable CDP, with some XBSComplexity and ambition to a fine set up is DEFINETLY a downgrade in steps.

Good post, johnnantais. I find myself torn between wanting the impressive sound (and falling for it) and despairing that I am missing the musical forest for the trees. Audiophile and music lover, like Jeckyl and Hyde.