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HiFi satisfaction and/ or Musical enjoyment

Have you ever asked yourself if these are the same or different objectives?

For me I had an epiphany after over 25 years of chasing perfection that enjoying music is different than owning the best hifi gear. This happened when I grabbed an a used Pathos integrated, BS Node and Forte IV for my second system in my open floor plan.

I found myself listening much more to my 2nd system and nowhere near as much in my dedicated treated room with a reference level system costing >25x the price of my downstairs system.

 

After I realized my behavior I began a self assessment:

A.) Lower expectations are more easy exceeded

B.) The system is less resolving therefore average to poor recordings are still enjoyable
C.) I listened to entire tracks or albums that I wanted to listen to vs what sounded the most impressive on my reference HiFi system. Damn it is nice to listen to the music that you love.

 

Does it matter how you become satisfied with audio reproduction or just that you get there?

For me it just matters that I am happy and if I can get there with modestly priced gear and in this economy be subject to far less of a depreciation hit… hey that is a win win.

 

Below are a few other things that I learned about “my” preferences

1.) I prefer high sensitivity large speakers due to their ability to create realism (no replacement for displacement)

2.) Paper cones over any exotic materials

3.) High tech cabinet materials are great but I have no issue with properly braced MDF or plywood

4.) Wide dispersion designs (look for Klippel data on a speaker that you are interested in and see the horizontal dispersion)

5.) Soundstage scale and tone take the cake for me… throw a huge stage due to #4 above and nail tone and we will call it a day

 

So what did I do about this Audio crisis of mine? Sold all of the HiFi gear and grabbed some Cornwall IVs and some used gear to drive them at a fully depreciated price. Are Cornwalls perfect? Nope. Is any speaker? Nope. Screw it I am now a man free from HiFi BS and listening to music.

xp200dr

Showing 1 response by bipod72

bipod72
154 posts
 

For those of us who haven't haunted these forums for years/decades, sometimes posting a question or observation that's been trod upon before we arrived results in olde tymers grumbling about "this has been talked about" before, belittle what has been posted, and then grumbling further why the "hobby" of hi-fi enthusiasts is dying off. Only recently, in the last 5 years, have I been at a point in life where I can upgrade my system to have a better quality mid-fi system. I don't have the luxury of $, space, or time to search for the next best higher-end components to get me to some magical point where I think/feel the music sounds so amazing but only willing to listen to "audiophile" tracks because the system reveals too much.

I'm all about enjoying my music and not obsessing about gear. So it's great that you've reached that point where you're happy with your path. I'm on an upgrade path for my speakers and a better integrated amp. After that, I won't have any real reason to continue upgrading other than when/if something breaks. I want to enjoy all my records/CDs/digital albums regardless of their master quality. 

Much like cycling, there are those (usually guys) who get seriously into the sport and spend loads of cash on high-end carbon bikes, components, etc, etc and yet don't ride any faster than they would have on a high-quality steel-framed bike. I know this because I've ridden with them. I have nice bikes but they're not exotic. I love to ride them, work on them, and upgrade bits and pieces as needed. Their purpose, to me, is to ride and enjoy getting outside for me time. It's not to obsess about the bike itself where I'm riding and thinking about "what if" upgrade options the entire time. 

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