Am I Getting Soft Here?

@daledeee1

Yep, I keep saying I am done as well. Then I realize I hadn’t optimized this power cord or Ethernet thing or venue adjustment, and then, wow… another notable improvement. All being additive… it is amazing at the amount of improvements I have gotten for so little money (a good thing after buying my components a couple years ago).

On the other hand this is what I have done after every upgrade cycle over the decades with the same result. But each time I do it I am surprised at the magnitude of the improvement.

HaHa!  See how long it lasted.  I have a proper rack coming. The other one just sat on the floor so this should help.  It is a Pangea Vulcan they were on sale for $169.  I have a bunch of Herbie's  stuff to put under components.  Is it advised to put Herbie's on each corner of the shelves as well? 

So much of the nature of this hobby is not really based on the enjoyment of music but on the tiny increment of SQ we can get with the changing of equipment.

Sometimes changes result in much larger increments of SQ, my recent streamer upgrade has turned out to be one these. I only have one adjective to describe this change, and that is revelatory. This is the level of sq I've been desiring since hearing multi $100K vinyl setups in carefully controlled environments. Analytical listening no longer a concern, my conscious state goes into bliss mode without any effort, simply luxuriate into the music. So the question remains, how long will this state last, is this a permanent status or will I return to analytical states over time? Sound such that it brings a tear to the eye at present, will this last over time? Is there an end to this game, or does it go on to who knows when?

@sns

That happened to me as well.
 

After my last upgrade I didn’t touch anything for nearly a year I was so entranced with my system… even though I knew little was optimized. Then finally getting curious I did one little thing and the result was so important, it motivated me to do another… and another. After each I just drop back into the music as my system is even more seductive and just enjoy the music for another month.

When I was much younger I was constantly switched to the “analytical mode”… and spent way to much time there… work kept me away from my system so the small amount of time with it was spent in the analytical mode. I don’t do that anymore… not even after tweaks… if I don’t enjoy the music more, I undo the tweak.