New equipment

Going onward and upward, instead of lateral shifts.

It’s a tough call.

First ask the question., First define the question. Define the parameters of the question. What the question means, what the question is doing, what the question is about.

In technical terms and many angles within the details.

Write it down. Write out the details. Ask yourself if the details are true. Research each detail. Question your assumptions.

If some version of this is not considered then failure to move onward and upward is very much in play.

Is one looking for more of the same, or is one looking for better? To get there, one must fully understand what ’better’ is, what ’better’ means.

And in audio, whether one wants to believe it or not..Audio is a tough set of parameters to understand. With multitudes of people (middle of the bulk of the curve) chiming with directions that all lead to nowhere. to qualify and frame the answers, doors, and paths that others share with you.

Reality could be seen as a complex problem with one path forward through a morass of error. Error is cubed in relation to the limited paths forward. Onward and upward is robustly framed in/by/via error.

If one seeks mediocrity, then one is not short of paths to take, a place that is akin to wandering around in a huge market full of average goods. Any bit of yummy stuff will do. But ....to seek onward and upward takes effort. Results tend to be as good as the efforts put in. The correct path narrows, by design, by the very nature of reality.

Audio is a tough one as we are looking to satisfy emotions and the body, in ways where depth and clarity of thought, in rigor.. is very much in recession (MIA) by design. Where we have to use rationality, logic and mental grunt in the greatest complex integrated efforts we can muster..... in order to get there.

An obvious part of the complex scenario... is that few will seek it, few will know it, and few will understand it. Each ’level’ (if one may say that) of upward motion is occupied by at least 10x less people. Just like all other areas of life and endeavor.

The more difficult the question... the greater the complexity of self, the greater the reach and range self .. that is required to be injected by the self - into the question and answer set.

I'm sure you guys realize one get both tone and texture along with greater resolving capabilities these days. Some amazing equipment out there, and getting better over time. You can have your cake and eat it too.

I'm at point where I'm unsure of full resolving capabilities of audio reproduction, relatively low life 16/44 continues to amaze with it's ever evolving resolving capabilities. Designers and engineers with quality sensory perception and the technical knowledge to pull it off are producing equipment with both high resolving capabilities and natural timbre and/or high levels of harmonic development.

Continual jitter and noise reduction in digital reproduction are only two of the better known measurement protocols being continually improved upon making this possible. Adding new equipment to  streaming systems is not a circular game, many new innovations in this arena, fast evolving which makes it extremely interesting for me.

I've done the same.... buy a new system that I like the sound of and almost immediately start thinking I can do better. I did finally make it though after realizing that the sound quality is as good as it can get for what I can afford. When these to tangents meet, that's is where you need to stop.

Volume.  Sounds simple, it's not.  I think I have it right now!! 

It can be a real roller coaster.  I love the new_____.  Well, maybe not.  Yes, I do. 

My latest itch is new crossovers for the speakers....Good thing money matters.  My UPS guy would hate me lugging those heavy pieces up the hill.

Call age but after 40 years I’ve learned a few things in this hobby, once you nail it with the sound you enjoy, then after that, it’s like cooking, you change something for a "different sound" or as I say spice and flavor to the sound. I have seen the systems sound superb the owner then gets bored and swaps out gear and loses what they had, they really start to shuffle gear in and out to get the magic back they had. This is very expensive but if you have the deep pockets to do it then do it. The Absolute Sound is the sound you enjoy, nothing more or less, and it never has what was mastered in the studio, for every cable, power cord (huge) impacts how the sound is delivered and what areas of reproduction they bring out in our systems. I have a very enjoyable system and I know it is as good as it can get for me, and the only other thing I think of now is enjoying my vast music collection. I’ve owned box speakers, electrostatic speakers, and now open baffle speakers and the open baffle really nailed what I liked about Electrostatic Speakers, but with unlimited bottom end and dynamics. So done with speakers now. The biggest thing is room acoustics and setup once you have a great system, it is cheaper by far to improve those 2 areas than any piece of gear can. TV between your speakers, racks, etc, get rid of them, imaging improves, bass traps in each corner bass improves and imaging, side wall damp them, even if it is canvas large prints, 48 X 60". Curtains if you have windows, even blinds on those windows tilting upward a bit is a good defuser and along with heavy curtains you have a good front wall area if you like me have windows on the front wall. Rooms are a huge percentage of what you hear and the balance of highs to lows.