@pascon,
Reading your comments lead me to conclude that you are going to be fine moving forward. You've reached the crossroads of realization. You have to choose audio equipment based on what I believe is the most important criteria, what do "you" like. Simple admittedly philosophically but sometimes it takes awhile to get there.
All the frequent talk (Angst?) about ever more detail and resolution. These qualities are worthy of pursuit but only if they are congruent with musical enjoyment and heightening your emotional engagement and spontaneous reactions to what you're listening to.musicality and pure visceral connection along with high resolution are not incompatible.
But if listening to a component or system sounds clinical/analytical/sterile dry and lifeless don't let someone convince you that, oh it's just accurate, neutral and very detailed, BS! It you are not thoroughly engaging and could continue listening for hours then something is wrong. Music listening should be fully enjoyable and compelling to your satisfaction. Per your posts above I can see that you have come to that recognition. I heard the Holo May level 3 DAC in my audio system (A loan from a friend). Very nice sounding but I'd choose @jond older generation Audio Note DAC 3 if ultimate musical involving listening were the stated objective. That's just me, others might prefer the Holo May DAC.
Charles
Reading your comments lead me to conclude that you are going to be fine moving forward. You've reached the crossroads of realization. You have to choose audio equipment based on what I believe is the most important criteria, what do "you" like. Simple admittedly philosophically but sometimes it takes awhile to get there.
All the frequent talk (Angst?) about ever more detail and resolution. These qualities are worthy of pursuit but only if they are congruent with musical enjoyment and heightening your emotional engagement and spontaneous reactions to what you're listening to.musicality and pure visceral connection along with high resolution are not incompatible.
But if listening to a component or system sounds clinical/analytical/sterile dry and lifeless don't let someone convince you that, oh it's just accurate, neutral and very detailed, BS! It you are not thoroughly engaging and could continue listening for hours then something is wrong. Music listening should be fully enjoyable and compelling to your satisfaction. Per your posts above I can see that you have come to that recognition. I heard the Holo May level 3 DAC in my audio system (A loan from a friend). Very nice sounding but I'd choose @jond older generation Audio Note DAC 3 if ultimate musical involving listening were the stated objective. That's just me, others might prefer the Holo May DAC.
Charles