Am I Getting Soft Here?

Bingo

I thought this hobby was all about enjoying music. Your personal enjoyment and satisfaction in your kit no matter how little or much cash you spent. For some it is about the gear, reminds me of the arms race. I have listened to some awesome sounding systems that came in under $5K. 

I agree 100% with the salient point being expressed here. Listening to music should be fun, immersive and thoroughly emotionally involving. The experience is utterly subjective by default as it’s such an individualistic endeavor. The priority and goal has to be determining the type of sonic/music presentation that makes you most happy and content. In my opinion this mindset and approach leads to the best possible long term happy outcomes.

Recognize and identify what you like in terms of sound and then earnestly do your best to fulfill it.

Charles

Long Term Happy is why I’m into music and my simple system plays it. 😁

@edcyn It sounds like you've hit a really good equilibrium point. You've put time and money and intelligence into your setup and you're immersed in experience. That's how it should be.

That said, everyone knows that aesthetic appreciation is a stepwise process. First we learn to appreciate; then, upon further exposure and some helpful conversation, we learn what more we might discern and enjoy. Then, we try to step up to that next level, and we shift from critical listening back to immersion enjoyment.

In other words, there are at least two reasons people get dissatisfied.

Sometimes, they are just chasing what other people have. That's not good.

But other times they're trying to step up to the next level of aesthetic discrimination-and-then-immersion. That's how this is supposed to work. Perhaps you're doing this?