Got Ears?

I thought gold was a good conductor.
Why toss the golden ears out ?

Getting rid of good quality gear and settling for inferior gear because you are a music lover first and like to brag about the lack of quality gear, is no different than someone who brags about how great his gear is and how good it sounds.

In the end it's all about the music,but the gear is still necessary evil.

For me, settling for a cheap system but able to afford better,is like having lead ears.

With me the old days are still the same. It was'nt and isn't nearly as much about detail as it is about the quality of what is being presented. However, it seems the higher the quality/realism, the more detail there is as well. They seem to go hand in hand. But it is uncanny how similar to a musician's ears an audiophile's ears become trained. You may not be listening for the same things but you're listening the same way.

What is important to me is hearing as much of the music as has been recorded.

Unfortunately,the better more expensive systems just seem to do this better, and I've never experienced listener fatigue with a quality system.
My ears have shut down on lesser systems.
This isn't elitist snobbism, just a fact of my audio life, and no, I don't own a system consisting of the best cost no object gear.
But it is a system, tweaks and all, that's evolved over the years to where it's giving me a more enjoyable musical experience than some systems I've owned that did cost more.

I do have on occassion access to a marvelous High End system all the better to tune my ears and give me some insight into how much further I have to go to get to that sonic nirvana-the sound of just the music and not the gear.

I've gotten much closer in the last year, but wouldn't have had a clue without the infusion of audio realism I get from a friend's system.

So, for me, to take any system up a few notches, if that's what you desire-(but then isn't that what this hobby is about?)you need to expose yourself to systems that are different and if possible better than the one you own.

If you restrict yourself to only your own set up,you sometimes just run around and chase your own tail.
You spend money moving sideways and backwards and seldom forward if you've never experienced a really good system and learn what it does that your's doesn't.

If you want to play like a pro, go listen to a few pros before you take up the instrument of your fantasies.
Only then will you know just how far it can go.

Fortunately in audio at the moment there are a number of very fine components that really do great things for not a lot of cash.It wasn't always this way.

It's too bad a lot of music lovers are so put off about the prices of high end gear that they avoid any such items like the plague and never even go to where they are displayed.
Audio shows are OK, but not perfect places to listen and make a judgement.Upscale audio salons are becoming harder to find.
So seek out audiophiles in your area thru forums like this.

I'm sure there will be many who would graciously allow you to have a listen and perhaps give you a few tips.

It's really not an elitist, audio snob society at all.