Is it ever enough?


It strikes me that continuing to tinker can be either positive or a negative for a given individual. When I make changes intending them as a remedy for something deficient, I don’t always know if that emerges from an inability to be satisfied and happy with what I have, or as a legitimate process of improvement.
For me, the question of when is my system excellent enough to simply sit back and listen to it for the rest of my life is difficult to ascertain.
Obviously, a lot of people don’t care about this and simply enjoy trying to perfect their sound, independent of any such concerns. And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, or it’s opposite, which I would call being satisfied on a budget, or perhaps having the benefit of less discerning ears in terms of budgetary effect.
Anyway, I’m curious, if anyone else is interested in this topic, to hear what they think. If the topic doesn’t interest you, you’re probably better off responding to someone else’s post.
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Typical human beings like to *do* as well as *enjoy.* 
"Tinkering" is a perfect word -- it's like "sauntering" or "rambling." It's an activity which produces enjoyment via interaction.
There is an old trope about "audiophilia nervosa" which always gets hauled out in order to diagnosis the "sick" audiophile.
But often, they're not sick at all; they just want to interact with their technology. 
The notion that the audiophile just just tweak until things are perfect and then stop doing anything is almost as perverse as the idea of Heaven -- which as David Byrne sang, is a place "where nothing ever happens." 
Hopefully “it” is never enough.

To me it’s about the journey. When it is enough, then my journey is over. I do however believe that more folks on the forum want to reach the destination, so hopefully they get to a place where it’s enough.

I pray I never get to the perfect system.
My main hobby used to be mountain biking. Until A unfortunate accident four years ago turn me into a quadriplegic. Audio has replaced mountain biking for me.
 When you look at mountain biking as a hobby you have the equipment, which would be the bike and you’re either riding the bike or tinkering with the bike. Having audio as a hobby, you have the equipment, which would be the stereo and you’re either listening to the stereo….or…? There’s really no need to tinker with the equipment. It’s kind of what’s missing about the hobby of audio. You don’t need to tinker with the equipment but that doesn’t stop guys from doing it.

  personally I think that’s what makes guys go crazy about cables, power cords, fuses,bi-wire, interconnects, etc. it’s and easy and cheap way to interact with your equipment. There’s a whole industry within audio that feeds on the need  people have to interact with their stereo. Millions of dollars change hands every year for the tiniest of changes that a product may or may not make in a guys system. it’s easier to spend a few hundred here and there to feed that inner beast then it is to save thousands to buy a new piece of equipment. After being in this forum the past few years I’ve viewed call different sizes of beasts That need to be fed. How big is your inner beast?
Thank you, Ray.For me, your post was moving and thoughtful and insightful. I wonder how many other forum members are in a life circumstances in which audio is much more important to them than it is to me, despite my feeling as though it’s a big priority in my life.
When I make changes intending them as a remedy for something deficient, I don’t always know if that emerges from an inability to be satisfied and happy with what I have, or as a legitimate process of improvement.

Perfect example of why the First Audiophile Commandment is Know Thyself. This probably more than anything else accounts for why I am so happy with my system and all my components over the last 12-15 years. It only took me about 25 years to figure out. But the good news is most of those 25 years were spent not knowing the First Commandment. So now I got that going for me.

https://youtu.be/X48G7Y0VWW4?t=62

Okay not Total Consciousness but what am I the Dalai Lama?