Taking time (and time outs) to enjoy the ride...

One of the positive things about a hobby is that it asks for us to do things, to interact with things, problem solving and experimenting. That is not "nervosa" but engagement. The aspiration to lay back and just listen is a good one but humans are active beings. "Just enjoy the music" oversimplifies what human beings are. Sometimes restless nervousness is our disease -- but not always.

Yes, there is more to any hobby than the end result. 

I’m so new to this. Its been years since I sat or layed in front of the music just listening. For the past few months I’ve returned, but thanks to so many here, much better equipped than back in the day. I too find myself awakened by the music, stopped in my tracks, mesmerized by the wonder of it. I have now started listening well outside my former comfort zone trying music I never would have consider before. That is because of the equipment. But the equipment provides the stage, the mikes, the instruments.  The music is what I came for.  Which,  has already been said so well here, what it’s all about. I started my return with Hard Bop jazz, wonderful. But tonight it’s Yes', "Relayer" vinyl LP.   Incredible. Never thought I’d I ever say that.

The way to stay happy as an audiophile is just to accept that often "good enough" really is the point at which trying out audio equipment and the experience of listening of music is at its best.

I'm listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd on an iPhone this morning via an AQ Dragonfly Red DAC. You know what...this stuff rocks & it's setting the right mood for a pretty sunny Spring morning in Seattle. That's the feeling that makes all of this audio nonsense worthwhile to me. 

On the other hand, I've been building up a digital streaming front end, so I have been dong a lot of 'critical' listening which gets to be a PITA after a while. I just learned that running a Qutest DAC off of a car battery jumpstart pack makes a substantial difference on the clarity (lower noise floor), smoothness, resolution and sense of flow from the Qutest. I'm getting a Denafrips Pontus II soon as well to compare.  I didn't love the Qutest with the standard power supply, but using the battery is a big transformation in sound quality To me, it's interesting to compare equipment...for a while. But getting things to sound "good enough" in order to be able to get back to enjoying music that consistently sounds good is "priceless". There will always be some piece of audio equipment out there that is "better". Accept that, but forget about it and you'll be much happier.

I've noticed that there are two directions in this hobby. There are the equipment guys with almost no music collections other than maybe a hundred audiophile recordings in their coffers. Then there are the music lovers with the huge record and CD collections who came into the hobby in order to get closer to the music. I'm in the latter group.