Head-Fi can be so hardcore

I've been on Head-Fi for years, and I've always gotten the impression that they're pretty much the same demographic as most other audiophile type forums. I think a lot more 'young people' are into music than are into gear. There are always exceptions, but most headphone reviewers I've seen on YouTube are well past being 'young people'.  

I don’t actively participate on that forum but DubStep Girl’s exhaustive comparison of rectifier tubes was invaluable to me and among the various tubes I’ve rolled, I found her descriptions to be spot on. Of course, market prices have gone up and some of the tubes (WE in particular) are even more unobtanium than ever.

As to using music as grist for evaluating equipment, I think that’s a common thing in audiophile land. It is useful to the extent you are making changes and comparisons, but it can also be a trap that I’ve certainly fallen into over the years.

I can’t claim to be more enlightened- maybe it’s just that I’m old, tired and don’t feel like fiddling around with tube rolling and gear changes at this point- I’m quite happy with the current system and am able to enjoy it as a vehicle for playing music- the obvious goal once we get things "sorted." I know there is this mindset of "never satisfied"-- I’ve been there too, but somehow, I’ve overcome that hurdle at least for now. Maybe it is a question of striking a balance-- between the amount of time spent in analytical mode and the amount of time you can devote to just kicking back and enjoying what you’ve got. Like I said, age, wear and tear, many years tweaking and twerking have gotten me to a point where I’m able to put the audio nervosa to the side and spend the time listening. It may also be the result of having gotten this system to the point where it really sings. I know its strengths and weaknesses and tend to play what I want to listen to, musically, rather than worrying about SQ.

I spent many years putting together my headphone system… starting in the early 2000’s. I spent a lot of time on Head-Fi. Although I have had some sort of really good headphone system for over fifty years.

I had a great main audio system and wanted my headphone system to reach the
“magical” level. That level at which the music, some of which you would “never” listen to would completely captivate you. This was my office system, it would allow me to dive into a work problem and the better the music the more I could let go and intellectually dive into the problem.

I think I worked on it for four or five years until I finally reached that tipping point… it became magical (many of us know what that means). I think the last pieces were a power conditioner. Anyway, no one in the office knew my system, hidden behind my computer and monitors was worth about $7K.

But the thing is, when you reach this level.. everything changes… upgrades are no longer required, the music becomes captivating and, well, it is just magical.

My feeling is some of the folks on Head-Fi either know this or have experienced it. It is this dedication to get better sound that drives us. I think it is important that the journey be the enjoyment… and then if you are really fortunate, the destination is simply incredible.

I am really fortunate. The journey has been incredible. I was a Geologist and spent a decade with the best portable systems wondering all over the West. I worked internationally for the next thirty years… and the memories like listening to ERA (the band), while looking out my window in Tokyo, and grooving to tunes in the middle of nowhere in mainland China… and dining in the Bankton Hotel in Scotland while listening to my favorite Scottish band are absolutely irreplaceable memories from all over the world. I also collected music from all over the world.

The real pay off for me came after retirement when I upgraded my system 2x. For the last 3 - 4 years I have been in real heaven… now having time to listen. I spend about 2 - 3 hours a day with my main system and about an hour with my headphone system. I find it hard to pull myself away from either… every day. They are the most amazing thing in my life… the result of over fifty years of learning, enjoyment, and investing. You can see my systems under my UseID.

Worth the thousands of hours of research and thousands of dollars.

Big +1s on both @whart ​​​​@ghdprentice and as always well reasoned and well said based on years of hard-won experience. The only one small thing I’d mention is, for most of us, budget almost always comes into play. This is what brought me to my end — or at least my end as I can afford it now what with two teenagers headed toward college, etc. My HeadFi rig all in comes to about $7k and for that budget I’ve optimized as best I can and for my tastes everything from power conditioner to streamer/source to amp/DDC/DAC, to ‘phones and all the cables in between and I’m perfectly happy now and want for nothing. Could it be better, and maybe even a lot better? Hell yeah, but I’ve done through research and trial and error the best I think I can do at what I could spend, and I’m really happy every time I listen. Now, I can either drive myself nuts thinking about the next thing I could improve but can’t afford, or I can just sit back and enjoy where I’ve currently landed, and I much prefer the latter. To me, the key is getting your setup, whatever your budget, to the point where everything just sounds “right” TO YOU and there’s nothing or little that offends your senses or sounds unnatural or wrong. That’s where I am with both my home and HeadFi systems, and while I may tweak here or there in the future as budget allows for what look like meaningful improvements or as significant technological advances provide, I’m just damn happy where I’ve landed and with what I hear. And like the very sage advice I think that was provided by whart and ghdprentice above, work within your budget to get to a place where you’re happy and then just friggin’ stop and enjoy your efforts and the music. Life’s too short to just keep chasing your tail for the “next big thing.” Not sure I answered anything here, but I think a true audiophile trusts their ears and can tell when they’re truly happy. Stop there for awhile and just enjoy the fruits of your effort until something REALLY significant piques your audiophile self and then maybe think about opening the wallet again if possible. Do the work you need to get happy and then do what we should all be doing and just enjoy the music. If you can’t just do that, then you know something’s wrong or maybe your priorities could be a bit outta whack. Ok, I’ve babbled far too long and maybe gone nowhere, but this is all I got for what I thought was a very good and thoughtful question for many here. Enjoy!!!

I was going through the IER Z1R thread on HF and the lengths some people go to to squeeze every last bit of sound (pun intended) out of their stuff make my eyes water.

To each their own but it seems like some (many?) people use music to listen to their gear, and I wonder if they even enjoy music or is it just something to justify their investments...  https://routerlogin.uno/ 

OTOH, reading that thread does make me wonder if I'm underutilizing mine, now I have to guard myself against bad financial decisions...

i got this.....