Anyone here in constant upgrade mode? Listening to the same choice records or CDs over and over again after some new change in gear? Unfortunately, I find myself in this mode far too often. Eventually this becomes a way of life. Music becomes secondary to the latest tweak. As a retired musician, theoretically, this shouldn’t happen to me. But it does. I should be listening to new works and comparing performances. It’s a dangerous trap!
@rvpiano Come back to the classical music thread you started a while ago. People will re-start posting recommendations of new stuff for us to listen to.
Discovered Alan Maher Designs some years ago (power treatment solutions). At first I went along with it because I could tell after trying it that it was apparently a great way to enhance the sq of my setup...he makes various different filters for different apps and I simply never ran across a purchase from him I didn’t like.
After a few yrs of this and after a few thousand bucks however, the total effect was beginning to talk to me in unexpected ways. I kept finding myself torn between buying the next upgrade component and buying the piece of AMD.
A couple yrs ago I reached a new conclusion about it that I wasn’t expecting. After deciding to go with AMD for a while, just to see where that might go, I hit several musical performance breakthroughs with it. Enough to inescapably conclude for myself that, pound for pound, note for note, dollar for dollar, AMD was actually BETTER than upgrading! Yes, I just said that. Prior to that, did not know that anything could be better than upgrading. Had always been a tweaker, but any one single thing better?? Never had a clue that there even was such a thing.
Well, now that I’ve spent more than 10 grand on just the AMD, I have catapulted everything into several orders of magnitude better. That’s a helluva lotta cash, even if it has been spread out over the last 11 yrs. But, it made all the difference on my staying well off the marry-go-round, I have to say.
But, none of that would be worth a damn if it didn’t connect me with the music. This is Not everything I’ve ever been looking for, but it’s all that and much more than I ever dreamed I’d be able to afford or could ever expect to attain period. I have a $7.5k system. It easily added another zero to it’s value, at the very least.
But, I mean, I don’t dream anymore about what it would be like with something better. I don’t close my eyes and try to listen past anything anymore. There is nothing there that shouldn’t be and there is nothing missing that should be there. And everything in between is all-engaging, and is continually putting a smile on face, and has been doing so without fail for the last 2 yrs or so.
Between Audiogon forums and my dealer John at Audioconnection, I get plenty of leads on new upgrades. Thankfully, each of these 'upgrades' has yielded a positive enhancement to sound reproduction. I now find my system is at a level that I would find hard to enhance (well, without spending a small fortune), so I will probably be slowing down on the tweaks. bob
I don’t find myself in constant upgrade mode, but I love to compare cables and amps to what I have. I submit I don’t know what I don’t know...meaning there may be something in my price range that provides better synergy with my speakers, but I won’t know unless I’m open to hearing other components. Moreover, listening to other components allows me to learn, grow in this hobby, and provide better advice based on actual listening.
I’m trying to remedy the condition. I don’t really have to know if the 2nd trombone player passed gas in measure 128. I’m trying to listen to the music first and the sound second. BTW, if you do that, you get into the sound better anyway.
The advantage of inexpensive tweaks is that they give you something to agonize about for a while, thereby postponing the need to make that next big purchase...
I give myself a certain amount of time for that. Then that is all, because I can see myself upgrading to kingdom come. After my time is up I just enjoy why I got all this weird stuffola.
Just visited a friend’s house to hear his new equipment. Now feeling completely miserable about my system because of how good it sounded. Feel the need to upgrade big time. Here we go AGAIN!
Music first, sound second. However, improved sound quality does get one closer to the music. No more upgrading equipment for me. Just tweaks that work from now on.
Basically, there were two parameters that impressed me. 1. Front to back imaging with RCA Living Stereo records — very impressive. 2. Bass response. His new speakers (GoldenEar Triton 1) have built-in subwoofers. I have none. Again, very impressive. His music room is a hole of a basement surrounded by thousands and thousands of CDs and records.
After the shock has worn off, I’m listening to my system more calmly and don’t feel so bad, thanks to your question.
A lot of us completely understand your experience rvpiano. That’s why we are here. If everyone was simply satisfied with what they have and at the end of their journey, much of the conversation here would evaporate.
It reminds me of a passage in a book that made waves in popular culture years ago (and I can’t remember the name) in which the author was trying to explain the nature of men to women. To paraphrase:
A man can be sitting happily on the beach during a tropical vacation, cool drink in hand, under a perfect sun, beside his bride, thinking "all is perfect. This drink, this beach, the sun, and I’m with my wife-to-be. I’m just so totally and happily in love."
And then he spots a gorgeous, sexy, bikini-clad woman emerging from swimming in the sea, and he immediately thinks "My gawd how I’d love to have sex with her!"
It’s just the way men are wired.
Same with gear hobbies like high end audio. Many of us are just fascinated by the gear, and we wouldn’t be here if it were really only "all about the music." There are tons of music forums that would meet that need if that were the overriding concern.
I’ve been amazed at how I can sometimes sit in wonder at just how beautiful my system sound, and yet if my mind goes there, like the bikini-clad vixen emerging from the surf, I can imagine better...and also know that I have HEARD better in one parameter or another.
We get a charge from the performance of a new piece of gear. That rush can be addictive in of itself, and when you adapt to the sound you have, you can want to experience it again. Hence the upgrade itch.
Some audiophiles *claim* they no longer face the desire to upgrade. But very often this is coming from people who are still in the throws of a relatively new piece of gear they think is so awesome "well, that’s it, done! I’m satisfied." And then you see them upgrading in a few years.
Personally, for this reason, I don’t put a lot of stock in to many of the claims that an audiophile here is off the merry-go-round....UNLESS we are talking about a truly long period of not upgrading.
I have been using the same Conrad Johnson amps for about 18 years. And still I occasionally ponder upgrading ;-)
Yes. I think upgraditis begets upgraditis. You get a new component, you're on that endorphin high, and you crave more. If you can hold on, it will level off, and you can stick with the status quo for a while, but then some trigger will come along, like hearing someone else's system, and you're back on the roller coaster.
How many here have upgraded two or more components in close succession, followed by a relative period of calm?
Yeah, I'm that way with the Verdi Requiem. There are approximately 40 different performances, with varying orchestras, choruses, soloists, conductors and venues. Have only spun eight of them on my (relatively) new BCD-3 and am panting to hear and compare the remainder; however, I'm probably on my last CD player - - difficult to top perceived perfection. BTW: My latest purchase of the late Beethoven Quartets (Lindsay String Quartet) is a problematic keeper.
Again, I submit that scratching the itch does not soothe it but rather only serves to exacerbate it. After recently buying yet another Mahler 4 (Ivan Fischer this time) I found myself seriously contemplating rounding out the already substantial collection with enough versions to permit the writing, if I wanted to, of one of those completist comparative review-articles you find in magazines. Ay!
I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I went thru about five years of "upgraditis" and I think I'm pretty much "done" from the hardware perspective. My system is definitely in the "diminishing returns" category, in terms of return on investment with further improvements. As well, all my equipment is now broken in and dovetails really well with the listening room. I've been spending my time, money and energy on educating myself about classical music, enjoy this phase of the journey very much.
Speaking of classical music, there’s a really great streaming site I just found. It’s called IDAGIO. Amazingly comprehensive and user friendly for a classical music lover. I can’t recommend it highly enough!
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