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

Yes, everyone I know who is in the hobby of Audio has had to Take a Break. When it hit me, a long time ago, I mothballed the whole thing for several years. More recently, whenever I feel like I am sliding back into complacency (with Audio/Music) I have Completely Dismantled, meticulously cleaned, straightened, repaired, painted, treated contacts, tested tubes… whatever seemed doable and re-assembled. It is shocking how long it takes, what ills are “discovered “ and how differently the whole contraption can be re-assembled. Improvements, yes, failed ideas, sometimes, but the important thing is the Exercise of re-evaluation coupled with the Time it takes (could be days, weeks, months…?) can rekindle your interest. The worst that can happen is you have newly prepared equipment for the Used Market.

I remember when the big screen rear projection tv years before Super Bowl in 1985..And then movies and then you needed 6 or 7 speakers with a Big Amp and then a Super Subwoofer..Yikes...And of course the next 15 year trying to better your sound ..Never Ending...Remember going to Bryn Mawr Stereo 3 times in one day to get speakers that sounded really good ..Ended up with Mirage Bi Polar and had them for 30 years..Then saw advertisement for 45 days for tube amp and took me 3 months to pull plug and when it arrived I was shocked what I never heard out of a solid-state that come out of this and of course those 30 year old speakers had to go also..then sent back the tube amp to upgrade in 2019 and was even more impressed with detail never knew existed in the music I heard all those years..Then at 73 years old I made my final upgrade to higher end Amp and still more impressed...But there are days I play system and sure sounds nice but feels like its missing something but another week goes by it sounds beautiful.. Song selection and mood play big part of what we hear at a moment and a week or two or month later it comes together...Just not equipment it is our soul and how we feel at times just like food and how one day you eat something and eat it again you tire of it.

Just take a break and breathe and try later..

PS I am going through this myself now on 6 yr old DAC that sounds beautiful but wonder if I am missing something with purchase of new one ..Never ending wondering what you will hear ??

Sounds like you've gotten the BB King flu... The Thrill Is Gone...

My audio fascination started when I was around eight and my adult cousin put a pair of Olsen headphones on my head and I was hooked. I have since then bought and sold many components to get to the entry level system I'm now enjoying.  I sometimes think I want these new speakers or that new amp, but I haven't pulled the trigger in years. The last audio purchase I made was buying a pair of 6 foot demo Kimber 4TC speaker cables for $40.

I have been at it for a while, and go in and out of phases of engagement both with the gear end and the actual music end as well.  At the end of the day I still love it and the discovery of new music takes me back to that wide eyed feeling of discovery that I experienced in 3rd grade when I got my first tapes.  

Now though at 50 years old, I like to think of my system as comfort, or an old friend that always has my back, but one that can also still teach me something.  I change, and so the system changes.  It's still fun, and there is still a lot to learn, but that learning does not have to take center stage all the time, it's there for me when I need it.