Wasted Years.

Setting up a really well matched second system has made me enjoy music more than ever.   I feel no need to upgrade like in the past.  It gives me 80% of my main system and at the same time let's me appreciate my main system even more.  I just set up a turntable in that room, it's more forgiving of records that aren't so great. 

That plus millions of songs at my fingertips has really made me enjoy the music and not think so much about hardware.  

That plus millions of songs at my fingertips has really made me enjoy the music and not think so much about hardware.

@oddiofyl  A corollary of that, at least for me, is that I’m finding a ton of great new music that’s also very well recorded (and a lot of it in high res) — win win!

I enjoy the music now as well. But in all honesty I really enjoyed the pursuit of better sound, even with its twists and turns. I assembled some great sounding systems. However...

For me, it wasn’t just a shift in my mental focus... it was literally changing my system to be musically accurate instead of sonically striking. 

Over the period of about ten years I changed my objectives from hearing more detail, getting better bass, imaging,  to correctly representing the music... so the details were as apparent and in proportion to what they are in real life. Also getting the rhythm and pace and natural midrange bloom. Step by step (component by component) as I did this my focus moved my attention from the system to the music. It isn’t dumbing the system down at all, the details are still there. It is getting the gestalt and details right in perfect proportions. It is a step further than a system that presents all the details and has great slam.

It is absolutely not about shear details. For instance, there is a current thread about hearing the squeak in the drum kit on a recording. It is the glee in this kind of pursuit that obscures what most of us really want. If I listen to the recording could I hear the squeak? Sure, I have a great system. But if you are listening intently to hear that... you’re probably completely missing the point. It is a distraction. 

With my system now, I find it hard to listen to the system... the music is so compelling. I mean, if I try to listen to some characteristic... it only last a few seconds until I am distracted and lured into the music. My focus is drawn to the music... no mental direction is needed. 

To me, this is what a great system does... not what the big rig Wilson, Rowland, Burmeister dCS. Those are technical feats of amazing sound.

I really enjoy utilizing great equipment to get the best possible sound into my earballs and quickly dispense with any gear that turns out to not do that. I'm an old musician and I also like excellent guitars and amps, but in the case of that stuff I'm forced to provide the music part myself which is a lot of pressure (and you need to keep yer chops up). I've always been well into the music part of audio as that's pretty much the point...listening to the gear without the music part is simply less interesting unless silence is what your'e after.

My listening space has serious audio limitations. My budget for new equipment is minuscule. My midfi/entry level system is unlikely to get any major upgrades. I have come to terms with my situation and now focus on the music but a poor recording still causes ear pain.