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State of the Art? I don t care anymore.

I appreciate the endless obsessive quest to reach the next level of audio nirvana. But I am starting to wonder if it is really making me happy. It seems that the relationship between cost and pleasure is by no means linear. Some systems I have assembled seem to have had just enough performance and resolution to reveal how terrible a recording sounded, or how badly I needed to upgrade an associated component -- but didn't sound good enough to get me to the next level of reality. While I guess that is all part of the "fun", I just want to enjoy music again. I still love audio and I love reading all of your posts, but has anyone else sometimes felt this way? Could someone suggest a romantically, musically colored component or system where, despite their audiophile credentials and enthusiasm, they have forgotten about the equipment and just listened to music? I don't care about earth shattering volume, the deepest bass, the finest resolution, extended highs, accuracy, rock solid imaging etc. Just want to enjoy music again. I know this is not necessarily a new idea, but I find it very very difficult to achieve.
cwlondon
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
cw: ah, i perceive a zen question. do you really need more and bigger rocks or fewer, more pleasing rocks placed in a perfectly groomed gravel garden? it is for you, not your master, to choose your personal path to enlightenment. put another way: did the software produce the hardware or the hardware the software? corollary: does the chicken even know, much less care, whether there's a road to be crossed? -kelly
ohlala
1,238 posts
 
A lot of times i get into the music more when i am not sitting in the good spot. Sometimes when i'm doing something else the music just jams. I don't think it's a particular system that puts the pieces together, it's a super cool album at the right time.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
You guys are jaded as hell.You talk this way today; tomorrow you'll be out on the street,trying to score cabling or some other "stuff". It's like trying to leave the "mob". (to many Sapranos' episodes)It's ok, and good to vent;that's what we're here for.
chelillingworth
309 posts
 
I have really enjoyed my Audiomat Arpege. Good price, great sound. Along with the Bel Canto Dac I don't feel as though I am missing out on much compared with the big guys. and of course my humble Meadowlark Kestrels which have been with me a few years and have never made my eyes wander at another when I'm out and about.
detlof
1,899 posts
 
CWE, congrats, again an excellent thread! I think it was about 15 years ago. I was on a long trip by car, driving down the autostrada del sole in Italy, when fiddling with my car radio, I just hit upon the beginning of the second movement of Schubert's Quintet in C minor and soon, with the beautiful countryside flahing by, I was deeply drawn into the music. Afterwards I realised that my enjoyment had been completely unhampered by any system related thoughts, that at that very moment I had regained an innocence of enjoyment, I had long lost. In a way, that was a turning point in my career as an audiophile and my further development seems to mymic closely that which RCprince has described so well: I wanted to get back to the enjoyment of music and once having attained that, the budget for my hobby was hardly strained anymore. The changes which I have made to my system in the last 5 to 10 years or so became only minor. Recently, because of an amp-mishap, I rescued an old Threshold Stasis from the mid seventies from its resting place in the cellar and was amazed how good it really sounded on my Maggie bass panels, lively and punchy and when I put it on the Quads, well it was not exactly Jadis, but it was enjoyable enough not to be too distracted. Need I say more?
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