Have you reached your end point with this addictive hobby?

There is always another level. However, I do think I’m starting to get to the levels where diminishing returns are definitely a factor. I have my headphone set up near the 99.9% and my home theater and 2-channel. Audio is definitely in the 99% For what most people would consider. However, I’m among people that are very sick like me with severe audio addiction and spending 90k on equipment is easily done. 

I’m just finishing building out my latest rounds of equipment and it is all coming together very nicely in the next few weeks. Then at that point it will be time for me to enjoy the music and the movies and not worry about the upgrade bug. 

I work in consumer technology so I’m always dealing with the latest and greatest technology and it’s very hard for me to avoid the upgrade bug. But I tend to go in spurts. So I definitely will be chasing more upgrades in the future. My addiction will never be cured as long as I’m alive. The only thing that will cure it is a bank account with no money and even then I have a hard time with priorities.....lol

Time to work on some of my other hobbies outside of music for a little while, but I’ll be back again when the bar has been raised and I get to the FOMO!

Happy with what I have; now servicing it to keep everything going.

Other then the CD player everything is from 1990 or older

Just returned from Axpona and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of companies displaying more affordable, albeit still costly equipment, that sounded incredible. A lot of what I heard I could live with and be happy with and call it a day. But then again I would still need to attend a support group regularly to fight of the temptation to relapse and buy another last component. 😂 

If I’m unable to afford any further upgrades (am currently in the midst of acquiring new power cords), my modest system is good enough, as is. It draws me into the music. I could live with it just fine. 

If possible, I’d like to explore other speakers and after that, DACs. However, my recent, starkly-underwhelming experience with a highly regarded DAC has left me wondering whether I really want to go down that rabbit hole.

I believe I have my system right where I need to be now. After returning from Axpona over the weekend and listening to my system again I think I’m on par with 95% of what I heard there. Was thinking while I was listening to PS Audio Fr30 speakers at Axpona that I need to get these but listening to my Focal Maestro EVO’s tonight makes me realize I’d be downgrading if I did. I might just be at my end point!

 

This is a hobby that people listen to equipment and not musiic. Or is a hoarder and want to collect every nice looking equipment out there. I fall in hoader category.  But love to listen to music with the different sound signatures equipment have to offer. Blessed to have the options.  For me, Yamaha equipment rocks as its so musical and it does not cost as much as one would think.

Yeah, I'm done.  I've gone as far as I care to.  I have a 7.2.4 system that works perfectly fine.  I've had brands such as Marantz, Rotel, Parasound, PSB, SVS, Elac, Outlaw Audio and Emotiva.  

I don't care to upgrade and spend more, that money can be spent elsewhere.

Almost done. . . I just returned from AXPONA and had a fantastic time. It’s a tradition for my family to go each year and love every minute. We heard many amazing expensive systems and it was really exciting to hear the flagship Magicos along with gear well worth over $2M in total. I never thought I’d see a unicorn in real life, what a great experience.

I’ve walked away each year thinking about the system I heard that really surpasses mine and get home and play the same music and actually prefer my system because I have all the dynamics, staging, and musicality I critically listened to and more. For the first time I have no upgrade itch, except to add BACCH but even without it I’m thrilled with my system. I would challenge anyone to A/B my set up with anything I heard at AXPONA. Money doesn’t buy perfection; being thoughtful, deliberate, and informed can lead to exceptional results. I’ll keep the search on for great recordings and new artists to listen to :)

- Steve 

To answer the OP:

No, I'm not at the end yet, but I am part of the way there, and all of the gear that I have gone through has given me clarity about what kind of sound I like. 

Very close.

I've thought so, several times.....

Each time I must be getting a little closer to nirvana, the gains are getting smaller and costing more. Time to play some of the less often heard recordings and enjoy what I have.

It’s technology that keeps me edging forward. I’m not an early adopter but time marches on for all of us. So what started as just turntable, tuner, and reel-to-reel sources evolves to add CD, DVD, streamer, DAC ...

I actually think the areas where I haven’t hit the end point are things that can improve what I already have. Example: record flattening device for my LPs. 

I think the Tariffs are going to dictate whether a lot of people stop buying and brake the habit of constantly upgrading their equipment. Once people break the habit it will be hard to jump back on the upgrade path.

@hiendmmoe Yes I think you are right. 

Years ago, I had.  
I had a wonderful JRDG preamp paired with a Cary CAD-280 tube power amp.  Wonderful remote controllability married to 2/3 triode and 1/3 ultralinear EL-34 sound. 

 
The sound from my ML CLS speakers was so musical, so seductive, and so beguiling. I wished for nothing.

 

Then when a tube (or tubes) would start to go bad, the expectant anxiety would begin.  Ruining my bliss. 

Then we moved. I put it all in storage, saved up my nickels.
When we finally settled, I had enough saved up to buy an endgame set of SS Pass monoblocks.  Warmish but no tube noise.  No anxiety. 
 

So now, I’m not really on the endless treadmill of upgrades.  Just doing some long-needed tweaking of power cords, etcetera. 

 

 

I’m done.

 

I am 61 and spent a very zealous 30 years in the hobby, obsessed as any other audiophile.

Life circumstances mean that I can no longer devote funds or more effort to this hobby.

But ultimately, the timing is good because I’d essentially finished anyway.  I had a bunch of fun money several years ago and I used it to go on a very wide and extensive search for new loudspeakers.  I’ve got a long thread on the many loudspeakers I auditioned.  In the end, I settled on my Joseph Audio Perspective 2 speakers, which size-wise make the most sense in my room room, and which are also incredibly high-quality in finish and materials - something I can spend the rest of my life being happy looking at.

Sonically it’s probably the most refined sound I have had in the room.  As well as fun.  It plays every type of music I love wonderfully.

Around the time I bought these speakers, I pruned away a bunch of other loudspeakers that I had collected over the years.  I was finally able to let go.  But I kept my Thiel 2.7s because I also love those loud speakers, and having around a second pair with different qualities also keeps the upgrade itch away.  

Around the same time, I also got into tube rolling with my CJ Premier 12 monoblocks, which have powered my system for about 24 years now and aren’t going anywhere.  I discovered new capabilities of those amplifiers in tube rolling, and I gathered quite a stash of tubes that I can happily play with for years.

I have the turntable, arm and cartridge of my dreams.

I have a friend who reviews “ ultra audio gear” for soundstage, and so I still get to hear all sorts of fun really expensive stuff at his place.

And yet I can come home from hearing eye bleeding expensive gear and still feel my system keeps up, while I love the sound far more than anything else I’ve heard.

So I don’t think I could ask for more.

Since I got back into records several years ago, I’ve accumulated almost 1000, and so my attention has been and will continue to be occupied with listening to those records and adding to my collection.

The only two issues are:

Affording a new cartridge once my current cartridge needs replacing.

(I’ve become used to very high-quality sound).

Also… I had an incident that horribly exacerbated my tinnitus, to the point, I’ve been unable to listen to music for over a year now :-(

Feels awfully cruel to have gone all this way landed on my final dream system, and then I can’t appreciate it.   Hopefully that situation will change at some point.

 

 

 

@prof 

Sorry to hear that. Hope it improves.

I just completed my last upgrade to my system with a new SACD player and consolidating my electronics into an integrated amplifer / pre amp as well as some cable changes and simplification.  I don't plan on any other changes unless something breaks where it's not fixable.  That being said it was also an improvement in the overall sound.

@markalarsen 

 

Which transporter turntable did you buy?

I own a Transrotor Bob S turntable, With an acoustic solid 12 inch arm

And a Benz micro ebony L cartridge.

 

I couldn’t be happier…Truly, my endgame turntable, and a pride of my system

 

I'm right there with others on settling down and enjoying what I have. I think we place too much emphasis on the equipment not the recordings when something doesn't sound right. Most of the time we should lay blame on the recordings when we feel the need to fix something which seems to never end. 

 

Yes but only because money’s too tight to mention. I feel fortunate, however, because my system has never, ever been better. So the break from contemplating “what’s next” has been an eye (ear?) opener. I’ve been forced to deeply consider what I’m hearing and how I go to this point and what, if anything, I would have done differently. That’s opened up a lot of things for me. Weird how life works like that sometimes.