Do Audio Hobbyists Commonly Fail to Fully Utilize Their Systems?

My own experience taught me that many people if not most had not the faintest idea about how to improve their system.

They think about buying "better" and costlier...

They talk cables and better dac , buying subwoofers etc...

Nothing bad about buying subwoofers or cables or dac...

 But before doing this it is mandatory to learn how to control vibrations/resonance, electrical noise floor and  acoustical spatial qualities and timbre performance of the speakers/room..

No sellers of gear will say that...

The race to always costlier gear is up to your budget level availability...

For most people this is impossible and anyway in my opinion illusory in many case...

How can we judge our system  potential if we do not control it ?

I believe I have not made many mistakes because I have done my homework prior to each upgrade, first reading professional journals on equipment within my means, then carefully auditioning the equipment.  I always looked at compatibility by comparing specifications and published measurements even though I believe the latter is not that useful because they are most often taken in an anechoic chamber and not a real life environment.  As technology improved over the years, and my spend increased, every system improvement produced noticeable SQ improvements.   I did make one setup error when I first moved from a PC server to an Aurender.  The combined voltage output of the server and DAC overload the input of the preamp causing clipping distortion.  It took me a while to research the problem, blaming the Aurender at first   My quality engineering background told me to tolerance stack the specification and I found the problem which was easily solved by lowering the voltage output of the DAC.  Also, I do not make system changes often. I become comfortable with my system and enjoy the music. One professional reviewer whose name and journal I do not remember stated some audiophiles have the FOMO (fear of missing out).  While I know better is out there, I am happy where my system stands and I do not suffer the FOMO   

I believe I have not made many mistakes because I have done my homework prior to each upgrade, first reading professional journals on equipment within my means, then carefully auditioning the equipment.  I always looked at compatibility by comparing specifications and published measurements even though I believe the latter is not that useful because they are most often taken in an anechoic chamber and not a real life environment.  As technology improved over the years, and my spend increased, every system improvement produced noticeable SQ improvements.   I did make one setup error when I first moved from a PC server to an Aurender.  The combined voltage output of the server and DAC overload the input of the preamp causing clipping distortion.  It took me a while to research the problem, blaming the Aurender at first   My quality engineering background told me to tolerance stack the specification and I found the problem which was easily solved by lowering the voltage output of the DAC.  Also, I do not make system changes often. I become comfortable with my system and enjoy the music. One professional reviewer whose name and journal I do not remember stated some audiophiles have the FOMO (fear of missing out).  While I know better is out there, I am happy where my system stands and I do not suffer the FOMO   

Mistraks happen but they are only mistakes if you don't learn from them

OP Do Audio Hobbyists Commonly Fail to Fully Utilize Their Systems?

No. A’philes aren’t failing to fully utilize their systems. Rather, they put too much effort to their incapable equipment.

Has anyone achieved the fully satisfactory audio system in audio history? Yes. There are 2. One is me. Another is mahgister.

I’ve improved my audio system constantly and I can’t improve it anymore and it has stopped improving. However, I am not satisfied with it’s sound. Why not satisfied? I found all recordings in the world are bad. Whatever the audio system anyone has, the reproduction audio sounds always bad with bad sound recordings.

Why all recordings are bad sounding? Because all microphone in the world are bad. All best mics are from 1930’s~40’s. The sound of mic is getting worse. Not getting better. If you don’t agree, I won’t argue.

The mic and speaker is basically same topology. When mic sounds are getting worse, the sound of speakers is getting worse. Same goes with audio equipment. A’philes put too much effort to their incapable audio system and the system can only produce veiled and unclear sound.

All speakers in the world sound like the left speaker in below, except my Wavetouch speakers. https://youtu.be/IHf_FSa8amE?si=s2rOqYytKE_7Z-uy

FYI, hi-fi audio sounds don’t blend with the natural sound such as dog barking, washing dishes, wife’s voice, blower sound, water flowing sound, etc. That’s way your audio sounds the best when you are alone and quiet. And your brain and ears have to process (converting bad sounds as if they are not, tricking your brain) those harsh sounds that your brain gets the listener’s fatigue.

Buying $20k power cords and $ million speaker won’t change your system’s sound like my system. What you’ll get is just a different sound. It won’t be meaningfully better because it still sound like the left speaker in above video. So, don’t put too much effort (money and time) to the incapable audio equipment until the quality of recordings are better.

My system: Wavetouch audio sound

Alex / Wavetouch audio