Can the need for novelty and change be mitigated by rotation?


There is a not too serious term audiophilia nervosa; it may be a joke, but it builds on a valid observation: there are people who are never content with their equipment in medium term.It is not the initial period, when one does know much about gear and learns; or the question of disposable income, when one gets the best they can afford, and upgrades untill he (or, probably less often, she) buys the dream system. Audiophilia nervosa is a state later on, a plateau, when a desired piece initially gives much satisfaction, yet it wears off, and the person gets uneasy and looks for smth. else.
To give a personal example, I was on a quest for my ultimate power amp. Had to be Pass Aleph; happened to find Aleph 4. Did not suit the speakers (Lowther Fidelio) too well; got other speakers (MBL 101b or c) ; still not there; got ML no. 23. Much better; but still uneasy about Aleph and speakers for it; got Gradient 1.5; fine with ML, Ok with Pass; exploring options, got Parasound 2200 mk2 (and a couple of PA amps). And I needed a preamp. Seller insisted on only trading ML no. 28 together with no. 27, — another power amp.
Now the ML 28 is there to stay; Gradient 1.5 are keepers too; but I’d keep old MBL101 even if they stopped working (I’d probably use them as garden sculptures), so they stay, too. But I have way too many power amps (the listed, and a few more), I would need to sell some.
The trouble is, I cannot decide. So, in order to decide, I rotate them. ML 23 is very good with MBLs, fine with the Gradients. ML 27 is very good with the Gradients. Parasound 2200 2 is very good with the Graients, - but in a different way. So I swap every few weeks, and I still cannot decide.
And after each break I [re-]discover things I like about the particular amp / amp-speaker combination.
Again and again...
Which made me think:
— What if this ‘rotation’ takes good care of my need for change and novelty?
After a while I will decide which one(s) to sell, and later on I will probably want smth. new. But for the time being, keeping and rotating them slows down my pace - and I see it as a good thing, as in the aftermath I do not think my decisions have been sufficiently well informed (for instance, I am getting used to the fact that I actually do not like sound of Pass Alephs as much as I thought I do, and my Aleph 4 may be the first to go).
inefficient
Rotation or even better more than one system and music in multiple rooms.
I can understand the NEED to listen music in different room with different systems if someone can afford it...

But it is not AUDIOPHILE MATTER basic... Only a luxury...

Audiophile basic is : how could i manage to make at least ONE audio system with the goal set toward his optimal working S.Q. ?

Confusing this problem with the urgency to upgrade or to the need by frustration to have many "not so well "rightfully embed audio system and moving the problem with our frustration around, is not an audiophile method...It is a chicken walking without head....Sorry....

It is one thing to own many audio systems because we can afford them and another one to learn and know how to rightfully embed each one of them and each specific room...

When all this will be done anyway for each system someone own, in many rooms, there will be AT THE END a better one, linked to the quality of the gear and the way it is possible to control the corresponding acoustic relation to this one specific system to one specific room.... Then the others system will be of no more great sex appeal sonically or only less appealing appendices...

One system rightfully done is enough....The luxury to own many systems is not an audiophile matters but only an economical one...And also a practical one, a bedroom or a bathroom or a living room cannot be dedicated audio room by definition, and music quality there will exist with heavy acoustical compromises...

Having music in all rooms is great but had nothing to do with audiophile ideal goal and endeavour...The reason is manifest and simple: ALL ROOMS CANNOT BE ACOUSTICALLY CONTROLLED....This will be absurd and preposterous...

I can connect my actual system to other pairs of speakers in all rooms of my house, but none will compare to the sound of my DEDICATED audio room....

All these thinking about "upgrading" urges and " rotating" or creating many systems, most of the times reflect our own impotence to create only one which will be very good and which will crush anyway all the others speakers in all the others non dedicated room...

Speaking like that reveal that some people have never own or listen to a rightfully embed audio system S.Q.

This is not a question of money first, but of knowledge first and last....

😊😁😊

The "need for novelty and change" which the OP spoke about  must be someday  no more about sound but  when thing are done right  about music listening choices....

Otherwise there are laid before us the road to conditioned  frustrated consumerism by ignorance of electrical, mechanical and acoustical basic embeddings controls of the gear we already own... Plain and simple....

If your gear is already well chosen to begin with for sure....

Mature audiophile listen music itself  through  sounds, not to sound itself through any music like immature one....
Hmm well I am blessed and able to choose any of 6 rooms to listen in. Each has its own charms. But there is only one best sounding system, though a second is arguably pretty close. It does give me 6 different “labs” to experiment with and build and learn as I choose. Lots of flexibility. One is even outdoors. Plus each room sounds different not to mention pretty good. So sometimes you just never know until you try. There is always something there somewhere that can be improved if one so chooses. But most of the time I just pick my place, listen and enjoy. Your surroundings that you are embedded in while you listen can indeed greatly affect ones mood and perceptions.
Blessed you are.... enjoy...

But for each one of us only ONE ROOM can be acoustically OPTIMALLY  dedicated... If not divorce await you....


Perhaps but the biggest trick in getting good sound is always how one applies the room. No two ever sound exactly the same. Variety is the spice of life.  Nothing wrong with a little “novelty and change”. 
You are BESIDE the essential acoustical point....

I do not CONTEST the pleasure to enjoy music through many rooms or systems...

I contest that this is an audiophile goal....


The reason is basic elementary acoustic....

First: only one room in our house will be BETTER fit, geometrically, topologically, and acoustically more adequate with his materials content to be ideal and way more optimallly easy to control...The bedroom and the bathroom for example are generally not one of them...We must make a choice for ONE ideal room first....

Second : sound is not the end audiophile goal, neither is newer sounds, or change in sound....The goal is how could i manage my system/room to create OPTIMAL MUSICAL instrument "timbre" perceptive experience, imaging, soundstage and listener envelopment by managing all acoustical factors at play and controlling the relation between them ?

If it is done right in ONE room.... You will not look to transform all your rooms for some "differences" which CANNOT win soundwise over the main audio room....A piano filling the room and having a natural timbre is enough....

Luxury and distractions are very good, but are not an audiophile problems...







« If there is many pidgeon holes and only one pidgeon, dont look for it in each and every empty holes»-Groucho Marx 🤓