Burned out Audiophile - Trying to Find some Zen

It reassuring that I am not alone. I have taken some baby steps. I have boxed up my Stereofools and Absolute!. While I am still on Audiogon, I mainly just read the forums. I think you can still be part of the community even without the strong urge to upgrade. I rarely go to the ads anymore. It sure looks like others(Panderso, Danlib1 etc.) are futher along the Zen road than myself. But, already it feels good. As yes, I agree, audio as with anything in life, must be engaged with balance. Guess, sometimes the weighes on our personal scale changes, which causes us impliment action.

music live and or recorded is the answer to burnout.change your emphasis to software. go back to the music when you were in high school. dance a little. finding a great peice music is every bit as good as a new peice of equipment. go to a night club or a symphony. don't worry we'll be here when you get back. get an ipod!

Hi All

I have more or less stopped buying--even as I look at this webpage 1 or 2 times/day. I think that I know the sound I want--live--and I do not think that I can get there regardless of how much money I might spend. Like my system very much. Listening makes me more than content, it makes me happy.
Can't really ask for much more.

After 35 years or so at this "hobby" I went crazy when I first discovered Audiogon. It was great fun trying out new gear every few weeks. Things I thought I'd never buy such as DACs and $200 (list price) interconnects were in and out of my system. I actually had three fairly expensive DACs in my possesion at the same time trying to figure which one I preferred.
That ended nearly a year ago. I've still made a few changes but not like the madman I was. It's great to be off the treadmill and back on solid ground. Listening is a pleasure, that is where the reward is. Good luck.

I'm with Newbee--it's really a matter of looking at this as a hobby. Try this, try that and learn something new. I started out in hifi when Stereophile and TAS were not in bed with the equipment manufacturers (at least not overtly). Then you could at least count on an interesting technical piece to learn something new or grow to know and understand the listening preferences of a small stable of reviewers who shared their assessment of different products in an unvarnished fashion. Now the mags are only good for the pictures--every piece of gear is the next best thing and you, dear reader, just got to have it. So now the hobbyist must rely soley on experience to develop any kind of expertise. The joy is in the journey, not finding some final resting point of perfect sound.
One other thing that keeps me in the game--the secondary market that has been created by Audiogon allows you to track the depreciation of your audio assets on a weekly basis. It's like watching the stock market move but you know it only goes in one direction--down. For those of us with limited means the only answer is to turn over equipment to preserve the value it represents on the market. If I were to hang on to the same gear for 10 or 15 years it would be worthless at the end of the day and I would have to start over. Who has that kind of capital?--not me. If I buy smart (low) and sell right (before the depreciation scale begins to head south) I can continually "upgrade" my system without putting in significant funds. I'm a teacher with a paltry income. My teacher friends marvel at my audio system. In the rare case where they ask how much everything cost I tell them first what it would have cost if I paid retail ($13K) and then what I actually paid (6K). Then they want me to put a system together for them for the same money. It took me 15 years to get here--it didn't all happen overnight. So, to conclude, there is no holy grail--just different sounds from different gear. Yeah, the hobby is fun. I've learned a lot over the past years. And, you gotta be on the merry go round if you want to enjoy the ride.