Okay, that's it -- I'm done (unless I win the lottery)

I just took delivery of an Eversolo DMP-A10 (replacing my DMP-A8). I didn’t need to upgrade, but the dealer that sold me my JC5 also sells Eversolo, and they take trade ins, and they made me a good deal, so . . .

It’s been an interesting journey over the past 18 months or so. It started when my old HT pre-amp started acting up, and I replaced it with a Marantz AV7706. While my goal was just to get a solid HT pre-amp, I also bought a second Parasound A51, thinking I’d go the Atmos route.

Then I decided I didn’t want to deal with the additional cabling for the extra speakers, and my four Bose 901s do a pretty good job for surround sound, so I dropped that plan. But having retired a few years ago, I decided I wanted to spend more time listening to music, and started streaming via HEOS and the Marantz.

But while fine for the HT, I figured I could do better than the Bose for stereo music. That lead me to purchase (on the recommendation of a forum member) a pair of Usher Mini-2 Diamond speakers. Wow, what an improvement. That led me down the path of a dedicated streamer (the A8) and better power cords and cables, and things got even better sounding. Finally, I traded one of the A51s in for the JC5, and the A8 for the A10. To top things off, I bought a few linear power supplies to replace the wallwarts that powered the Bose equalizers, my STB and a powered audio switch that allows me to use one sub with either the HT or Eversolo, which are otherwise separate systems. I don’t plan on buying anything else for the forseeable future, not to mention that there is no more room in my audio cabinet.

And I’m in nirvana. I started this journey -- with fits and starts, ups and downs -- fifty years ago. I started with a Marantz integrated amp, Dual TT with Shure cartridge, Technics cassette deck and JBL speakers. But my current system gives me goosebumps when I listen to some recordings, and sheer pleasure the rest of the time. I know there are more expensive (fill in the blank) but I’m happy with the choices I made. Some are probably overkill, or maybe even pointless, but when I’m listening to music, I’m happy, and after all, that’s the point of it all, right?