Burning question regarding upgrading paths

Hey Tom,

I didn't think you were bashing my system at all. In fact, I think the your suggestion of the EVS is a practical step up since the EVS isn't expensive and suits my system's configuration to a T. If there is any reason for me sounding as if I was being abashed, it was because I felt people misinterpreted the context of my Zen quiz.

In my previous post, I was merely sharing my opinion of the tweakaudio site, not the actual component itself since I never had the pleasure of auditioning one (nor has anyone before they purchased it, I assume.)

BTW, the tweakaudio site explains the EVS uses mosfet output stage instead of op-amps. Since mosfets are used in amps and preamps, mosfets must provide a higher current than op-amps(I don't know what I am talkin about but read along,)and this will allow the amp to receive a stronger signal. So the sound coming out of the amp should have more dynamic range and gobs more bass compared to sound coming out of the amp when a op-amp is feeding it.

Viggen

yes the EVS does fit your system to a t
just like it did mine

I'm pleasantly rediscovering many of the 800 plus cd's I own, some I thought were duds are now quite engaging

I think the Millenium II has upgraded the output stages
from an earlier cost constrained version on the Mill I

The piece looks nice, I was pleasantly surprised
Hell I'd still never part with it even if it was hideous looking.

Tom

1) Depends on 2
2) MU
Dlr- Huh?!?

Mes, in your response to question #2 [MU], are you making a reference to the Japanese concept of emptiness? If so, I will try to expand on that suggestion.

Viggen, I think a viable path for you to take is the way of the Shugyosha. This would allow you to seek enlightenment for both of your questions while on a single journey.

Roughly 300-500 years ago in feudal Japan people from various backgrounds would embark on spiritual treks with the goal of finding the state of "emptiness" or "mu". Priests, swordsmen, caligraphers, tea masters, etc. followed this path. Many warriors would roam the land, training themselves and engaging in all manners of duels. The famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi participated in over 60 duels from the age of 13 to 29 and never lost. It wasn't until he was in his mid-50s did he think he had become enlightened in the way of the sword.

Therefore, my answers would be 1) E, and 2) F.

As many Shugyo have done in the past, and even as the great Buddha himself did... Viggen, I feel you should cast aside your current music system and all your conceptions of the ideal setup, then wander the world listening and enjoying music in as many hifi salons as you can. When you feel it would advance you to a higher state, you should challenge the masters of appropriate stereo shops to aural duels to the death.

Only after facing death and emerging victorious many times will you be able to enter aural combat unfettered and in the state of MU. Without fear, anger, hate, or a preconception of the outcome is the realm of emptiness. Then one day you will find YOUR way, YOUR ideal music system, and you will know it without doubt.

Just make sure you don't go over board like Musashi and bath on occasion. Bopping around in feudal Japan smelling like a rancid goat may have been OK, but this is the 21st century and hifi dealers may not allow you to enter their audio temples if you haven't bathed in a few years.

For those who wish to learn more about these deranged hybrid concepts, I would suggest reading Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings [Go Rin No Sho] simultaneously with the works of Arthur Salvatore the Audio Critique.

Hey Gunbei,

Great response!

It is indeed my wish to partake in a journey.

First, in regards to Mes' response, I have no idea what "dlr" means. However, as Gunbei pointed out, Mu is the concept of emptiness, according to the Dogan school, I think. I am not familiar with Japanese Zen, however, I believe the concept of Mu is derived from the Daoist Wu Wei, and Wu Wei is derived from the Hindu/Buddhist Sunyata. I can be wrong.

Also, as his response points out, the answer to part A is totally related to how one answers part B:

A) Since quality is subjective, should we tune our taste to our existing system accordingly to achieve audio nirvana or,
B) Does audio nirvana arrive only after achieving system synergy?

Back to Gunbei's response, and I do feel his response is a good one if I haven't mentioned it already, eventhough the analogies can be a little contrived. First I want to establish and understanding of he concept of Mu, and I shall use concepts of other disciplines to do so since I know jack sh*t about Japanese philosophy.

The earliest derivation Mu is perhaps Heracletian philosophy where everything in the world is relating and static. He perhaps thought since everything is relative, there are isn't anything that is eternal. In other words, the only truth is "nothingness."

Alexander the Great's conquests which was about 300bc. This is important because perhaps Hercacletian ideologies were spead into Asia through this channel. About 300ad, Nagarjuna thought every human proposition is a contradiction, and the only truth is nothingness.

After the fall of Qin dynasty, Buddhist monks trekked to China and gave the Chinese very bad translation of sutras. During this depressing Chinese medieval age, people thought relief by practicing Buddhism, but they have no previous concept of sunyata, so they adopted Daoist concepts of wu wei in place of sunyata in trying to understand Indian sutras.

Wu wei isn't nothingness as expressed by Heraclitus and Nagarjuna, but it is they way of the Dao, the natural way, the way of spontaneity, non-interference, simplicity and so on and so forth. However, as described in the Dao Teh Jing, the Dao that is named is not the Dao. To make a long story short, to live the Dao you have to be one with the Dao and to be one with the Dao you have to be no-name or no-being or no-thing, nothingness.

Zen, not saying is a concept derived from Daoism and Buddhism, yet it probably borrowed its beliefs from them. As I am writing this, I think Zen have more similarity with European philosophies as well, such as phenomenology and existentialism. I am too tired to explain this, I didn't sleep lastnite. As you know I started this thread because I can't sleep: I have insomnia.

Anyhow, Mu is the concept of this:
1) Nothing is the only eternal truth.
2) The only way to understand Mu is to experience it through personal experience, or as close to it as possible, such as the phenomonologist or existentialist.

What does all this mean? Man does not go off in search of nothingness. The nothingness comes in search of him.

The nothing is personified as the journeyman, the missionaryman, the jingoist, the thing that claims to be the everything by being itself, the nothing. It is an component of the main idea from where it is derived, and it is the component of the main idea where it gives birth to its origin.

It is the nothingness that carries the sword and consumes his enemies with the purity of his mundacity.

It is not I who must find my way, but it is my way that must find me.

But does this mean I will never upgrade? Hellz Nah!!