A few months ago I had built the system of my dreams, utilising many black boxes, much racking and so many cables that i struggled to keep things neat and tidy but found I was enjoying the music, but not spending as much time as i would have liked just listening rather than the normal day to day, looking after the kids or tidying the endless devastation they leave behind them so sold everything with the intention of listening to music on my trusty Shure headphones, fed from my Macbook or phone.
Then I started to look around again, and found myself looking at system builds that i might contemplate in the future. Along the way i've looked further into the ATC SCM50As i heard a while ago at a demo, at the options something like Devialet presents and at some of the esoterica that I haven't yet enjoyed in any of my own systems (Ref 3A and Karan became a focus for a few evenings of research....)
Now i wonder if I enjoy the endless tweaking, upgrading and component swapping more than I might enjoy building a system which produces the very best quality possible (for the moment at least, until family life is a little easier)
So, today, i find myself looking at a NAC72, NAP180 and a pair of SBLs, and i might just take the plunge. i've already started looking at what is involved to go active from there and my interest in hifi is suddenly burning bright again and i wonder where this journey will end......
Am I alone in enjoying the process of system building rather more than i should?
Posted on: 09 September 2018 by Harry
We love music. We got to where we are through whatever the prevailing circumstances were at any particular time - needs, wants, priorities, etc. In order to feed our music addiction, we've always tried to have the best system we could afford, within the prevailing priorities. "Afford" being the operative word. It varies. It tends to be more as you get older. Usually.
If I could have started at the top and done it all in one fell, pools winning scoop, I would have. But that doesn't rule out stopping for good if you want to stay abreast, as in the ND555. Which we do here, because in this house our music addiction is as big as ever. Which takes us back to the question of needs, circumstances, affordability and at the end of the day, inclination.
Posted on: 10 September 2018 by Bruce Woodhouse
HiFi is just a tool to me.
I can enjoy music through a car radio, an ipod or my £££ system. My NDS has been off being repaired for months but I have been still enjoying (and buying) music.
I've never sold stuff off and started again, I have never not been happy with an upgrade. My system has built slowly and incrementally over many years; when funds and curiosity trigger the next step I do that but I'm never unhappy with where I am at any one time. I almost never 'tweak'. It does not bother me in the slightest that fiddling around with my system installation might give another scintilla of performance.
There is a spectrum of people in this place; in simplest terms audiophiles vs musicophiles. For many the pursuit of a technically satisfying system, a close-to-perfect blend of performance, enjoyment and exploration of new technologies and new ways of conceiving their system etc is the key pursuit, and by definition it is always going to be a journey that never quite arrives. They still have great fun doing it (despite periodic soul-searching such as in this thread). They also keep HiFi companies alive!
I guess I am fairly opposite that. I enjoy the music. I enjoy what an upgrade brings. Each year I buy more music and explore new artists or even genre. That for me is the journey.
Bruce
