Going through an audiophile 'funk'...

AsSiMiLaTeD

...and no I don't mean the kind that has me spinning extra James Brown or Tower of Power, I mean the kind that has me questioning my audiophile journey.

I think I'm starting to lose the audiophile 'itch'...

This isn't something I just woke up with this morning all of a sudden, this has been creeping up on me. Those of you who know me know that I've had my current system now for a year and that I haven't really even thought about upgrading, and those of you know me well also know that's very unusual. I know this isn't my 'end game' system yet I'm content with the sound and have zero motivation to change it.

That's all well and good, and many folks would probably be happy to be in a scenario like this where they're perfectly content with their system. But I don't think it ends there for me. I've moved from content to actually wondering if I really need all this gear and hassle to enjoy music.

Every time I want to sit down and really listen to the Maggies I have to unhook the amp from the AVR and connect the Oppo and then switch it back when I'm done, it's not the end of the world and I know I can purchase my way out of this with a good preamp but then I'm adding yet another piece to the mix.

Then today I'm sitting there listening to these little $199 Sonos speakers and thinking "do I really that last 5% of the sound quality that the Maggies give me enough to warrant all that gear and hassle"...

Personally, I choose to blame those f#$^ers at Apple and their damn obsession with simplicity and minimalism. Before I switched over to their stuff a few years ago I built all my own PCs and something like a home theater was comparatively simple and no big deal to mess with - having to futz with things in exchange for the best performance was a way of life. Then I switched over and everything is just so damn simple and seamless and all the products have a minimalist design and something like my audio setup now seems unnecessarily complicated and 'messy'. And then I hook up these damn Sonos speakers and they're 90 - 95% as good as my main rig where I have a single pair of cables that cost more than they did, and I"m like WTF???

Ultimately I'm hoping this is more just a change in my design tastes and wanting a cleaner and simpler environment and proceeding under that assumption, so don't expect any sales in the flea market anytime soon. But I do hope I'm not losing my passion for audio.
If it's the former then I can likely address that with different gear that fits the style I want, if it's the latter then I'm kinda screwed.

I will say that even at LSAF this year I really only enjoyed one or two rooms and didn't have near as much fun as in previous years listening to all the various setups.

What about you guys, anyone go through something along the same lines for similar or different reasons?

BlueFox

Interesting. I got into audio in the early 70s, and while I couldn't afford what I can now, I did put effort into getting good sound. For whatever reason, after I got my SDA-2B in the late 80s I dropped out of listening to music a few years later. In the late 90s I got involved with HT, and then spent my time and effort making that better. Around 2007 I started playing CDs in it and thought 'this sounds pretty good'. That led to resurrecting my two channel system in the living room, and I have been tweaking it ever since.

It sounds like you need two systems if you need to re wire it to listen to the stereo. Do that and you might have a different attitude, then again maybe you are just going through a phase. Take a few years off, and come back refreshed.

Earlier tonight, on another forum, I railed against the iPad. While I mostly like it, this toy OS sucks. I need to investigate the new tablet MS released this week. Like it or not, at least Windows 8 is a real OS.

F1nut

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

Dennis Gardner

I think its time to get out over the summer and enjoy life until cool weather in the fall locks you indoors again. We all need a break from our normal routine to rediscover why we went in that direction in the first place.

Let this summer be "audio casual". When I take a break, I seem to enjoy the return home.

mrbiron

Did you ever think you're just getting burned out from all the experimenting that you've done in the last couple years vs actually enjoying?
I'm with Dennis......go outside.

tonyb

F1nut wrote: »

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

Ditto, no way in hell there's that small a difference between the 2 ....and im a sonos fan boy.

mantis

F1nut wrote: »

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

I think what he means is his happiness when listening.

I get it man, I go threw a funk all the time with Audio video stuff. I've been into Audio video my entire life. I had my first Home theater seth in my Bedroom as a kid in 1980's.
I read your thread and thought of myself. There are times when I lust after the next thing , then there are time when I sit here and don't really care. What really did me in is the fact once you hit a certain level , it takes 2 to 5 times more money to get a little better. I actually have that going on right now.
I recently upgraded to a full NAD separates and a external DAC. If you look at the cost alone of the 3 pieces vs what I had before it's insane the difference in cost with not a insane level of performance. Not to mention with separates you still need to purchase Interconnects just to put them together. 7 analog interconnects between the amp and preamp and then another pair between the DAC and Preamp.
The Pioneer Elite SC-68 does all this in one box for less then the cost of the amp or preamp alone. I have had the NAD setup in my system for well over a month now and recently when Pioneer decided it was time to hang up the hat and pull out of the Home AV business, I got to thinking I should give my SC-68 a run since I have been living with the NAD gear.
Honestly I don't think the NAD is anywhere near worth it's cost vs performance vs the Elite. The amount of money I had to spend especially IF I had to pay retail would be insane for the very small differences I got. The Elite is a top performing AVR which IMO is the most musical receiver on the market anywhere near it's price point. NAD separates are extremely nice , powerful as hell and sound amazing. What gets hairy is comparing the 2 to each other in the same room on the same speakers wired with the same speaker wires and not get a huge difference in overall sound quality.
So I plan on doing a full new review as I have Jesse's MIT wire kit here that I'm breaking in and I think it breathed some excitement in me. I so enjoy doing wire shootouts and with having a full signal path plus 2 completely different amps to try, this is going to be very fun.
Sometimes man you need to walk away and do other things for a while. Take a break from upgrading, fixing tweaking and enjoy your Sonos system. Then when the weather gets a bit colder, go back. It's what I do every single year. When spring comes, I start to back off upgrades and playing with my system as much, Summertime I go full into Mountain biking and really dig deep in there. Then when fall comes my Audio video system starts to interest me again and I go full bore.

11tsteve

In the '80's and '90's, my stereo was the first priority wherever I moved.... the first thing unpacked, and the last thing packed when moving out. Eight years ago, when I met my wife and we got our first place together, the stereo stayed packed up. And I was a little taken aback at how little I cared, but she is a quiet person, I had just discovered the convenience of an Ipod and mp3's, and decided I would survive on computer audio.... and I went through probably 10 different sets of 2.1 computer speakers, culminating with a set of Bose.
And I just kept getting more annoyed with all of the sound.... the horrible sq. Constant fiddling with software EQ just trying to get something good....
The day I learned I could buy a DAC and hook a real 2 channel system to my computer.... well, I haven't looked back. Breaks are cool, and nothing to be scared of, but I honestly feel once your ears get acclimated to a certain level of SQ, it gets tougher to settle for anything long term.

tonyb

For me, once im in that realm of good sound i stop chasing those last bits. Life has much more to offer and other ways of tugging at your wallet. Doesnt mean i dont appreciate those last bits though.. I guess a better way of saying it is that i like to keep things in perspective, relative to, wants,and wallet.

Audio is more about enjoyment, whatever that means to you. Maybe mix things up, find that balance between sound quality and ease of use.

mantis

tonyb wrote: »

For me, once im in that realm of good sound i stop chasing those last bits. Life has much more to offer and other ways of tugging at your wallet. Doesnt mean i dont appreciate those last bits though.. I guess a better way of saying it is that i like to keep things in perspective, relative toy needs, wants, and wallet.

Audio is more about enjoyment, whatever that means to you. Maybe mix things up, find that balance between sound quality and ease of use.

I so hear you dude. I have a few hobby's that take a pretty good deal of money to do. I try to spread it around a bit not to mention having a family 2 kids house 2 car payments etc etc etc really eats up the funds. Saving for vacations and all the other fun family stuff is also more important then the latest speaker I want.

gudnoyez

Yeah maybe it is time for you to take a break, the simplicity of using the sonos system cures your itch as the weather has changed and you have more things to do than messing around with your gear. I myself have enough gear to put together 3 decent 2 channel rigs and a couple of decent HT set ups. I have other hobbies, mountain Biking is one of them I have 3 decent bikes the Wife has one, and I just bought my grandson one, believe it or not with all the bikes we have I'm looking to get another, then there is fishing and all the gear associated with that, same with hunting, I have enough stuff for all my hobbies but always want more.

I guess it would be best for you to keep it simple for A while and enjoy what you have as I'm sure the obsession will come back and you will be back to your old ways so enjoy your brief time off from the Audio OBSESSION!!!

gudnoyez

Yeah maybe it is time for you to take a break, the simplicity of using the sonos system cures your itch as the weather has changed and you have more things to do than messing around with your gear. I myself have enough gear to put together 3 decent 2 channel rigs and a couple of decent HT set ups. I have other hobbies, mountain Biking is one of them I have 3 decent bikes the Wife has one, and I just bought my grandson one, believe it or not with all the bikes we have I'm looking to get another, then there is fishing and all the gear associated with that, same with hunting, I have enough stuff for all my hobbies but always want more.

I guess it would be best for you to keep it simple for a while and enjoy what you have as I'm sure the obsession will come back and you will be back to your old ways so enjoy your brief time off from the Audio OBSESSION!!!

AsSiMiLaTeD

F1nut wrote: »

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

I'm not referring to an objective measurement system, because as far as I know one does not exist, I'm speaking to how much I get out of the listening. Reading my post it comes across that way, but since there's no way to objectively compare and have a finite numerical ranking system that's not what I meant.

I feel 95% as fulfilled or happy when I listen to the smaller speakers as I do on my main system. The most obvious question is if my hearing is going south, but some of the guys at LSAF this year got a showing at how freakishly sensitive my hearing is, you put the recent gold certificate from that Philips hearing test I posted about a while back and I'm assuming my hearing is just fine.

There's nothing broken with my System, and the dozens of people who heard it at LSAF a few weeks ago can attest to how good it sounds. This is not a matter of my system being good enough or me chasing that last little bit of the performance, it's actually the opposite of that with a side of me not really caring...

As for the comments about getting out and enjoying life, that's not an issue. I'm happy, healthy and active. This is something specific to audio and all the associated gear and hassle, this is not some kind of mid life crisis...

heiney9

F1nut wrote: »

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

True Dat!

A ridiculous statement for sure.

I find myself also having peaks and valleys in audio, but it's more from just being busier. I still enjoy what I have and strive for incremental improvements as the mood fits. Haven't bought a tube in months................I already have more than a person could use in a lifetime...lol. But the urge will strike again.

H9

AsSiMiLaTeD

heiney9 wrote: »

True Dat!

A ridiculous statement for sure.

I've already corrected that statement, maybe you should try reading the whole thread before just simply piling on. In case you missed it, it's in the post directly above yours...

Zentish

Music and my stereo has always been important to me, ever since I scrimped and saved to buy my first Technics receiver with my fast food paychecks back in the late seventies. Over the years my passion has taken several different turns including enough gear and home made cabs and x-overs to DJ dances at the local hotel ballrooms, bi-amp-ing my apartment home theater rig back when "dolby pro-logic" was the best you could get.

After I got married my priorities changed a little and I tried to simplify the set up. The power amplifiers were put away in storage and I hardly ever DJ'd any more.

After my child came along I had to change things again and put the eintire rig, including the Polk 5B's out of reach of toddler lest she poke her little fingers through my Polks (as it were).

Once she was grown up a bit (she's 16 now) and we had some money the I rebuilt the home theater rig, but still tried to keep it simple with no power amps or any crazy extras. I actually find simplifying the rig difficult since I refuse to drink the apple cool-aid built my own HTPC. The Harmony smart hub turned out to help a lot with that.

Recently I got a little upgrade-itus and re-engaged on these forums. Purchased a pair of RTA-8TL's and am actually considering adding a power amp to my rig to drive those a little better, but to be honest it's more to scratch an itch than anything else.

So my advice it so knot sweat it - get out of the hobby what you want. My hearing isn't what it used to be but I still love to share my passion for good sound and pounding movie tracks. My interest has peaks and valleys, and my rig has remained static for many years at a time - maybe not nirvana but it did the job for me and my family.

michael1947

I agree completely. I'm just tired of fixing and re-rigging, had a lightning strike nearby 3 wks ago and nothing came through my Belkin or my aux suppressor but did find it's way into the CATV's HDMI route and toasted the input board on my Panny plasma and my Onkyo rcvr. Purchased a Yammy RXV 2700 on the Bay, waited a week only to discover the main pre-outs and center speaker terminals are inop. My TXNR 708 is about 6 months out of warranty but the plasma is covered and the Geek Squad is on the case. My $500 deductable will cover my actual loss so no help with insurance but the endless hours are putting me in a very bad mood...may just get a sound bar, sit in my chair and drool out of the corner of my mouth....OH< there was a guy on the forum who seemed to be able to fix the Onkyo line-up a few weeks ago, anyone remember who it was?

BlueFox

Zentish wrote: »

So my advice it so knot sweat it -

LOL. iPad?

AsSiMiLaTeD

You may be on to something there Skip, maybe it's just time to move on to another speaker that lets me enjoy a larger portion of my music collection. I hadn't thought about it much, but I think part of the reason I like the little Sonos speakers so much is that I can actually listen to ANY of my music I can't listen to half of my music collection on the Maggies because they just shred the bad recordings, great recordings sound superb but it'd be nice to sit down and listen to any of the hundreds of albums I have that are so heavily compressed and/or recorded poorly...

AsSiMiLaTeD

I probably need to sit down and spend some time with the Ushers. I know they're regarded as a great speaker but they just don't seem to do it for me personally. I'll ping you offline and see if I can get some alone time with your setup, hard to judge in that room at LSAF and with a bunch of people around.

txcoastal1

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I can't listen to half of my music collection on the Maggies because they just shred the bad recordings, great recordings sound superb but it'd be nice to sit down and listen to any of the hundreds of albums I have that are so heavily compressed and/or recorded poorly...

This is the reason i don't mind spending time listening to my lil' garage rig while I'm working. When I spend to much time with my other systems I get bored trying to pick the songs they make it shine because a lot of music just sounds like crap.

Danny,
You have spent a lot of time over the last couple years evaluating everything from home and portable headphone rigs, 2chl systems now even personal music systems like your Sonos you are running running out of audio classes to buy toys.

So how about some vinyl ;-)

nooshinjohn

F1nut wrote: »

If the little $199 Sonos speakers are truly giving you 90-95% of the Maggies I'd say they are either broken or they're not as good as you thought they were.

This... I sell Sonos and cannot stand them, and I had Maggies and found them to be damn good at most things.

scottyboy76

Ok perfect, you guys keep talking him out of his funk and you are gonna screw me out of a chance to steal some maggies cheap from a momentarily bored audiophile, keep it up.

AsSiMiLaTeD

nooshinjohn wrote: »

This... I sell Sonos and cannot stand them, and I had Maggies and found them to be damn good at most things.

Wow, you guys just keep piling on without reading the thread...geez

nooshinjohn

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Wow, you guys just keep piling on without reading the thread...geez

No need to read the entire thread when we have Uncle Jesse's Cliff-Notes version.

cfrizz

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

You may be on to something there Skip, maybe it's just time to move on to another speaker that lets me enjoy a larger portion of my music collection. I hadn't thought about it much, but I think part of the reason I like the little Sonos speakers so much is that I can actually listen to ANY of my music I can't listen to half of my music collection on the Maggies because they just shred the bad recordings, great recordings sound superb but it'd be nice to sit down and listen to any of the hundreds of albums I have that are so heavily compressed and/or recorded poorly...

For me this is the bottom line. I want to listen to and enjoy ALL of my music whether it's on cd/mp3 player through my system or on my pc with my TL3 speakers.

Life is simply too short to spend half of it exhausting myself constantly looking for and spending money looking for the perfect sound.If I'm 95% there then it's not worth it to me to go looking for the last 5%. I'm much rather sit back and enjoy the tunes.

The question you have to ask yourself is, Do I want to spend the time looking for something else, or do I just want to enjoy what I already spent good money on and I am enjoying it already.

Just follow your instincts. If they are telling you to enjoy what you are enjoying now then do that, if they tell you to keep looking (and you can affordto do so) then do that.

Also realize that posting the question here will have the majority telling you to spend even more time & money when you just might not want to.

WLDock

IMO, I think you are realizing that its all about the music! Sometimes analyzing over gear can take away from the enjoyment.

My first experience of this was in middle school. A few band mates and I were practicing as we were putting together a small jazz/funk band. Our bass player had a crappy bass guitar that we used to give him a hard time about. However, this day a parent picking up his kid came by and was enjoying our practice. He just happed to be a bass player and we asked questions if he could help our guy tune his bass or what ever. Man this guy did a couple of tweaks and then went straight Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller, Bootsy Collins,Larry Graham on that bass!!!!! We had never heard those sounds out of what we thought was a crappy instrument. The parent handed the bass back and and said: "There's nothing wrong with that bass!"

Sometimes you'd have to stop stressing over gear and enjoy the music. Break out and go listen to some live music. Go listen to a new band or artist. Go listening a venue you have never been to. Go listen to an outdoor concert. Go support an amazing music organization. etc.....

Myself, I like to try to make it to a jazz festival and a Drum Corps International event every summer. Both are amazing chances to enjoy music outdoors. I advise every music lover to go to at least one DCI show in their lifetime. These young folks put in a ton of work and put on an amazing show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zcDVTxBMvQ

Find a show near you this summer:http://www.dci.org

Dawgfish

I know what you're saying. I've found that I've missed out on to many beautiful days here in the north GA mountains staying in and listening to music when I should of been outside fishing, hiking, boating, or hanging with friends. I don't feel as alive when I do this as going outside so I started making a concentrated effort to only stay in and listen to the stereo when its dark and/or bad weather. Some days I don't fire up the rig at all. That would be unheard of a year ago. I really appreciate the rig more now after taking a few days or so off. Take a break from it, however long you think you should. It will probably come back to you in due time. Then again maybe it won't. Thats for you to decide and just as long as you are happy doing what you do, it's all good!

Phatattack

............ sad but true, a middle ground isnt possible for an audiophile.

marvda1

DANNY, I just know you would love these dalis I have in the closet.

steveinaz

Some people listen to the equipment, some to the music; you sound like a music listener to me. Nothing wrong with that. I can listen to a transistor radio and enjoy the music.

My cheeseball patio rig (Yamaha receiver/Energy bookshelves/toshiba DVD player I paid $20 bucks for) is quite enjoyable--and I don't feel it necessary to try to compare it to my main rig.