@amir_asr I'm sorry you feel that way; the fallacious comment that is
Just for some context, I returned to HiFi following a 25 years or so hiatus. There were a couple of reasons for doing so. I came back in 2021 once local dealerships reopened, as this was in the midst of the pandemic.
I work in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), working in a large Mental Health Trust in my local region. In the Summer of 2020, at the most impactful (scary) period of the COVID pandemic, I was diagnosed with a rare blood condition (basically a blood cancer) only curable via bone marrow transplant, but mitigated by certain meds.
From a sense of duty to the NHS and my little corner of it, managing 1500 people and being co-responsible for clinical staffing in our mental health wards, I carried on working. By the early Summer of 2021, the stress levels for all of us working in the NHS had reached critical levels, affecting my own and my immediate team's mental health. I needed some kind of distraction or release, hence my decision to jump back in to the hobby.
Music has always been a passion since early childhood; in my younger years I was a singer/song writer, sound engineer, venue manager, had a small band management company and organized small music festivals. So being too old for these activities, plus being committed to my regular job, I decided to distract myself from my condition and workplace stress, which was the most upsetting.
Many people died during worst of the pandemic; staff, patients, colleagues and their families, so being able to finish work for the day, kick back and lose myself in my music through my hastily put together system was an excellent,very welcome distraction from the carnage occurring all around me; extremely therapeutic and cathartic.
Apart from the actual virus having now dissipated to a large degree, the aftermath it left within the NHS has been disastrous for staffing; my job is to perform damage limitation. Basically the same stress, but without the Spectre of the virus hanging over our heads.
So you see, when I fallaciously sit down, kick back, throw some tunes on, I'm not really thinking graphs, charts, measurements, or how I can be saved from nasty audio manufacturers. I'm just trying to keep my sh*t together so I can get up the next day and do what I need to do for my NHS Trust, for my team, colleagues and most importantly, the patients under our care.
I wish I had nothing else to think about other than sitting around measuring bits of hifi, but my sense of public duty, and service to the public under our collective care, for me is part of my belief system, hence where I work.
As I started the post; I'm sorry you feel the way you do re: fallacious comment, but from where I'm standing, in the greater scheme of things and the real world issues I face every single day, both personally and professionally, how I listen to music; the stress relief it brings, the joy it brings, it's therapeutic value I benefit from ......priceless!
Good luck, Amir
