As others have said, there are two sides to this - the "quest for sound" (the experimental hobby) and the music. You are apparently not positioned well for the experimental quest - so it all comes down to "do you enjoy the music?". If so, do so and let the sleeping dog lie. Maybe scratch it behind the ears.
I'll relate a story. I design high end electronics on the side and have for 30 years; so i get the equipment bug and sometimes lived a life of critical listening and swapping as a business... required not optional. First, its hard work and sometimes gets in the way of enjoying the music. But also, you forget that its easy to be happy with something that's truly "good enough" - not harsh, not boring, not opaque - but maybe also not the ultimate.
Since i am refurbishing my house. i moved out to a much smaller apartment. I was loathe to move my huge, fragile speakers. So i didn't; I took my older pair (smaller, cheaper, but very very good). I decided then, just for fun to only move a balanced system - - my "B" team - my 2nd DAC, 2nd best prototype preamp, old prototype amp, 3rd string Turntable/arm/cartridge, etc.
Guess what? Its great fun and sounds like music. I'm pulling out and enjoying lots of music i have not heard in years because, when i moved, i found those old LPs!
By the way this has always been my metric of how much better something is. Not if it sounds better when i hear it, but whether i miss it when its taken away. Was my "big" system better and will i relish it when i move back? Absolutely. Do i miss it and wish it were here? Almost never. Now off to listen to 7 different performances of Chopin's "heroic" on Amazon Prime (which folks, in high quality, through a bitperfect chain, with low jitter, sounds better than most give it credit for). and its free to prime members which is most of us.
I guess you are in the countryside?
G
I'll relate a story. I design high end electronics on the side and have for 30 years; so i get the equipment bug and sometimes lived a life of critical listening and swapping as a business... required not optional. First, its hard work and sometimes gets in the way of enjoying the music. But also, you forget that its easy to be happy with something that's truly "good enough" - not harsh, not boring, not opaque - but maybe also not the ultimate.
Since i am refurbishing my house. i moved out to a much smaller apartment. I was loathe to move my huge, fragile speakers. So i didn't; I took my older pair (smaller, cheaper, but very very good). I decided then, just for fun to only move a balanced system - - my "B" team - my 2nd DAC, 2nd best prototype preamp, old prototype amp, 3rd string Turntable/arm/cartridge, etc.
Guess what? Its great fun and sounds like music. I'm pulling out and enjoying lots of music i have not heard in years because, when i moved, i found those old LPs!
By the way this has always been my metric of how much better something is. Not if it sounds better when i hear it, but whether i miss it when its taken away. Was my "big" system better and will i relish it when i move back? Absolutely. Do i miss it and wish it were here? Almost never. Now off to listen to 7 different performances of Chopin's "heroic" on Amazon Prime (which folks, in high quality, through a bitperfect chain, with low jitter, sounds better than most give it credit for). and its free to prime members which is most of us.
I guess you are in the countryside?
G