I have never viewed the hobby as a roller coaster ride because I have always used a systematic process for making improvements. The systematic process involves a number of steps that I have posted before. First, and most importantly, listen to live music, especially acoustic music, to develop your “ear” or impression on the sound of individuals instruments in a live environment. This requires you establish critical listening skills to discern nuances you consider important to you, such as the ambience of the venue, how the leading edge of the sound develops, dynamics, the sound of the body vs the string or reed of an instrument. The second step is to critically listen to your current system and set a goal for improving the sound of your system to make it closer to your impression of live music. Goal setting is critical to not getting on the roller coaster ride. It is the simple psychology of gratification. By achieving a goal, you are more likely to be satisfied. Third, is research the literature to identify potential equipment within your means that may achieve your goal. Fourth is auditioning the equipment to validate the reviews you read and determining if your goal is achieved. I have been successful in using this process and making substantially satisfying improvements in SQ, and not changing my system often for the sake of change. Another important attribute to develop is to be able rob have a critical listening mode and a musical appreciation mode of listening. The critical listening mode is important for equipment evaluation but it can distract you from appreciating the composition or performance. The musical appreciation mode lets you focus on the composition and performance without distractions from critical listening. Learn to turn off the critical listening mode and be immersed in the musical appreciation mode. Finally, it is easy to get addicted to media hype regarding the next best thing. This is often termed the fear of missing out (FOMO). In psychology behind this, in part, is termed hedonic adaptation where the initial satisfaction with something fades quickly, and we seek new experiences to feel happy again. It becomes cyclical. In my situation, I attribute not being afflicted by FOMO to my goal setting process and being satisfied long term after goals were achieved. This requires realization that there will be something better beyond my means, but that will not produce a substantial increase in the benefit/cost ratio.
a rant
after 30 years of being so enamored with stereo equipment - im ok now just listening to music
im no longer chasing - whenever i have bought new equipment it never sounded as good as i think the reviewer thinks it does. maybe 5% sounded really good and the other 95% - im still waiting for them to break in.
My fantastical brain wanted every piece of equipment to sound incredible. i think the key word is "chasing".
See, now tube amplifiers are all the rage again - it was class d about 3 years ago - it was solid state about 6 months ago - whenever i have tubes - i want solid state, whenever i have solid state - then i want tubes - then ill try class d in the meantime
Im just saying - this hobby is the "space mountain" of roller coasters - ya think!