Have any of you done this

i think it's the realization that regardless of what components we buy the difference between listening to recordings and hearing the instruments directly is so great that the best stereo system is often disappointing.

in addition, today's high end, highly reolving stereo systems reveals so much of the flaws of recordings, one becomes aware of the dubious quality of the recordings and the reult is also disappointment.

what's the answer ?? probably better quality recordings and more musical, yes "colorful" components. unfortunately, designers don't cooperate. i just returned from ces and will post my observations. in a nutshell, much of the sound was poor to mediocre. with the exception of a handful of stereo systems, gross timbral inaccuracy was the rule, not the exception.

Walking away is great, I have been out of town most everday for a couple weeks and the time away makes it better when you listen again, so walk away for a bit here and there....your gear will be there when you return.

That's funny, I've been thinking the same thing myself. There's tons of days I'm here and not listening to my system. I think it's just a reflection of your/our love of the hobby and the equipment. It's part of the hobby.

I think it's time to try out some new/different upgrades.. Now that would be normal audiophile behavior.

Not me, I'm never on AudiogoN. 60% of the time I'm on AudiogoN 0% of the time. :^)

I was doing the same thing. My computer/music server is located in an office 20' from my listening room. I was using my main rig for background music. Life changed when my Son needed a new laptop for school. We bought a Macbook w/wireless which he uses only one day a week. The rest of the time it is sitting on a table, to the right of my listening chair. Having a computer in my listening room has tripled my time with my rig.

If I'm connecting from home, I'm almost always listening while I'm on any audio forum. Away from home, a different story.

Regards,

I spend a lot of time on the web, my system and computer are in the same room...I'm always listening while I surf.

Before the internet, I was usually reading while I listened...pretty much the same thing.

Dave

I think we all go through stages where we stop listening for a while. Maybe boredom with the system, cd/record collection, or maybe just interests drift to other things.
These forums can be fun and/or informative and maybe somewhat addictive. But before you comb the pages for a therapist go buy some new music or clean your cable connections and see what results you get from that.