Is advice from a constant upgrader to be avoided

these last few posts are a good discussion, perhaps a bit unnecessarily snippy, but the debate and clarification and sharpening of points back and forth are useful and enlightening to those readers who are following, if they have the patience to do so

i would remind folks that building a good sounding system requires achieving synergy up and down the chain, so sometimes, perhaps changing a source (say a dac) brings improvement in added treble clarity in an already warm-sounding system, but maybe it is a touch too far in that direction, so there is some sibilance as a result, so then one moves back from, say a solid state line stage back to a tubed one to deal with that...

maybe another improvement integrates subs in an otherwise very nice sounding standmount speaker based system, but then the user now hears with the great deep bass brought by the subs also a touch of midbass bloat, so then he/she chooses to go from the existing tube amp to a solid state one, to grip the main speakers a touch better and lean out the midbass bloat

if one is fastidious in their approach, gaining some aspect of improvement in a system may indeed also incur a penalty in another secondary aspect of the sound, so a next, knock-on move, is needed to try to keep the gain and minimize the penalty of the initial move

so it isn’t as simple as i’m selling this piece because i didn’t like it... it is much more nuanced if you know what you are doing

and it may not be that i didn’t like these speakers, maybe i found a pair that i like more, overall... this is typical if one likes a line of speakers, say harbeths, and you save for a year, move from compact 7’s to super 5’s, then you find the super 5 super tweet brings a little more sizzle than you expected on streamed music, so you go back in the chain to ameliorate that...

@hilde45

@jjss49 Well said and I agree. It’s not a bad way to decide on medical advice. Don’t trust the loudest voices or the ones with agendas behind their advice.

lol - when my parents got old and sick with cancer, we would visit an oncologist, they would recommend chemo therapy, we would then see a surgeon, guess what, he says by far the best way is surgical resection, then we call on a radiation oncologist, now just guess what they recommended as the ideal initial treatment????

when what you have is only a hammer in your tool-belt, the world quickly looks like a giant, endless bed of nails

i know this is a discussion forum with mainly bored geezers entertaining themselves sipping coffee with background music, but let’s be serious for a minute

how do you get information and advice on anything if it is really important to you?

first, understand your source, what do they have to gain in giving you information, and you deciding one way or another? what is their dog in the hunt? are they seemingly helping you but actually helping themselves?

second, are they credible? aside from motivation, what is their experience level, their qualification for providing that info? do they practice what they preach?

third, what is the consequence to you of acting on the info and it’s actually bad info? how much effort should you make to ensure all your info is well grounded and accurate, and applicable to you?

@hilde45 wrote something to this effect early on... i'm just reinforcing...

chatter is chatter, but let’s not get carried away with the ridiculous

@cat_doorman

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

well said

@troidelover1499

you are kind, i try to share what knowledge and learnings i can, as i have learned much from others here as well over the years

and i’ll always be indebted for you in the generosity you showed me with the big spendors earlier this year :)

i am surely one of the gear swappers/hoarders, been doing it off and on, since my college days in the early 80’s

to me, there are different ways to enjoy this pursuit

first and foremost, i believe there is much much wisdom in not swapping gear much, especially if you really enjoy music (and not the gear), have limited budget, and have a system that already pleases you in how it presents music you like to listen to

second, having said the first, i do also enjoy the equipment, as wonderful tools to present music beautifully... to me, these are lovely products of human passion and ingenuity -- to make gear that in turn makes beautiful music in our private spaces, music we want to listen to, when we want to... so over the years, i have found that i enjoy learning about and finding great equipment, experiencing first hand what it does, how it does it, this is cool and fun, to then enjoy the awesomely wonderful music that results ... to me it is a high order melding of left/right brain, science/engineering, for the pursuit of art/beauty/emotional connection

my second career for the last 20 years has been designing, developing, building new/renewed homes, and it is similar pursuit in some ways - a melding of business and operations with design, functionality, ergonomics and style, hard and soft skills coming together, employing construction methods to create homes that are comforting, beautiful and that bring joy to those who live in them

so for me, it is not at all about dissatisfaction or restlessness in wanting to experience (and thus changing) hifi gear, it is about experiencing firsthand what the best of this industry has to offer, in pursuit of lovely, wonderful music...(and frankly, to a much more minor degree, to call b-s on some of the hype/marketing that is thrown out there)

last thing i will mention is that since early 2020, i dove headfirst back into hifi and related gear as a hobby, due to covid, after several pretty inactive years, and i would have to say, getting back into this hobby so much, learning about streaming, getting up to date on the latest great gear, has in hindsight been vital in maintaining my humanity and sanity over this period

anyhow, my 2 cents