I find myself "tuning out" anymore.....is the magic fading?


I think I might have hit a plateau in my audiophile/hi-fi journey.

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy listening to my system and music, I certainly do.

However, (and not trying to turn this into a b*tch session), I am REALLY tired of a lot of things that go along with this hobby.

It dawned on me when I received (unsolicited, mind you) a copy of Stereophile and a MusicDirect catalog the other day in the mail.

I can't find a single thing in either magazine that I actually want. Nothing. Even the pretty ad pictures just don't do it for me.

I used to subscribe to several YouTube audio influencer channels. I can't hardly sit through any of them anymore without grimacing. Everything is the "latest/greatest/gotta have it" product. Not only do I just not really trust you any more, but I find myself simply not interested in what you are peddling. 

How many different speakers are you going to audition? Jeez.....buy a set and enjoy them. They can't ALL be the speakers you've ever heard.

Even on here, I find discussions of whether or not some tweak works or doesn't work (cables/fuses/magic rocks, whatever....) to be boring and not worth the time to respond. They might work for you, might not work, I don't care.

Any discussions using the term "Snake Oil" will be summarily dismissed from any future consideration of thought.

Which DAC is the best? How come I still listen to CDs when you can rip all your music to a HD? You NEED a turntable! Your amp is old and sucks. Buy some new speaker cables. Double blind test your interconnects and you'll see.... The Pink Panther brigade says if I measure it, it must be true. (Your ears be d*mned!) You NEED to do this/that or the other thing....because I said so.

Maybe some day I'll get the "upgrade-itis" bug again, but at this point, I'm just not interested. Jaded might be a good word, I don't know....burnt out? Overload?

Anyway, rant over. Was just wondering if anyone else ever got to this point.

 

 

 

 

128x128coralkong

It can be difficult to both realize and admit that our taste are changing, especially as we get older. Especially when we realize that the hobby or Pursuit that we have chased so diligently for years just no longer matters to us as much as it did. I think I'm at your stage as well and so far as I like still reading stereophile, but I have no urge to get any of this stuff that I ever see in there even if it's affordable.

And to illustrate this point I guess, a few months ago I rebuilt and refurbished my father-in-law's old pair of coral BX 200 speakers he had gotten when he was in Vietnam. They had been sitting in his garage for decades and he told me to take them and so I did and I restored the cabinets and the facing and replaced and upgraded the crossover and restored the tweeters as best I could and added dampening material and all that jazz and I've had them played in my system now for over a month with my normal reference 3A decapos sitting off to the side and I couldn't be happier.

So it's not a question of sound quality, it's just a question of listening.

My nightcap nearly every evening is playing a couple of albums, streaming or LPs…it doesn’t matter. It’s a wonderful way to relax and unwind. I’ve done it for as long as I can remember, I’d hate to lose that.

 

Discovering great music new to one’s self leads to more musical fulfillment/pleasure/enjoyment than does the purchase of most components, assuming one has already assembled a system of "adequate" quality, adequate being a matter of personal standards. IMO. That statement also assumes the system has been assembled to serve the music, rather than visa versa. Music first, or sound quality? Some of my favorite music is not of audiophile-grade sound quality.

 

How good can the equipment Get? When is there a Stop point? I got of the merry-go-round. I have the speakers that sound great to me. I have separates and plenty of Bi-Amped power. My room has been treated with the proper panels and RTA-ed with a Real time Analyzer. The speakers are nice and Flat at the No preamp in EQ with the 1/3 Octave EQ's set.  

What else can I do.........I Know........Just listen and enjoy.