Building my current system was a highly personal experience for me and I think to some degree I didn't want it to be over as I've been working on it practically daily for the past two years and it just feels like I'm letting a part of my life go now that I've stopped upgrading; it's the empty nest syndrome but without the children.
I've hung it up for the time being because (1) the system now has achieved the goal set for it (relatively accurate reproduction of music that allows me to both enjoy all types of music and when appropriate, evokes a proper emotional response); (2) to some degree, I've hit my personal point of diminishing returns where buying a new $20K electronic component is unlikely to significantly improve the performance of the system; and (3) while the process was very enlightening it's all for naught if I can't sit back, not think about components and experience the joy of music.
I've hung it up for the time being because (1) the system now has achieved the goal set for it (relatively accurate reproduction of music that allows me to both enjoy all types of music and when appropriate, evokes a proper emotional response); (2) to some degree, I've hit my personal point of diminishing returns where buying a new $20K electronic component is unlikely to significantly improve the performance of the system; and (3) while the process was very enlightening it's all for naught if I can't sit back, not think about components and experience the joy of music.