This materialism is drilled into us. In North America we are products of unadulterated marketing and addiction to the glitz and unobtainable satisfaction. Break away from the craziness and just enjoy the music and especially the people in your life. Keep up the good work here and thank you for a voice of reason.

A collection can become hoarding. A passion can be obsession. Unhealthy.

Man, you're so right!

All things relative, the more money you have, the more expensive stuff you buy. And it is possible to be a happy balanced well adjusted person regardless of your material wealth. We can all be vulnerable to addictions. Some are more harmful than others. This is the human condition.

I know it's different for everyone, but for me the upgrade carousel stopped (or at least slowed down greatly) when I started with DIY. Which really perfectly ties into what you said, "The magic is in the work that we're not willing to do." If i understand it and put the work into making it, I am less likely to be wowed by the magic that gear has. I would say these days understanding why great gear sound great is as or more important than owning great gear. My amp and turntable are still purchased (used), but I feel the more you learn about how gear is made, the more careful you are when you purchase things.

years ago i spent £500 on a RUSS ANDREWS SUPER PURIFIER for the mains,i still use it today i beleive it makes my system sound better i could be brainwashed,since then the biggest improvement ive found is speaker placement away from the back walls with toe in,with the right set up 2 channel stereo is still the best nothing quite like it,i will say this though alot depends on the actual source recording wheather its vinyl or cd,a poor recording even on a 10k system isnt going to sound any better

Thanks man, this one really hit home. I’m on the path to recovery (and this isn’t audio related) and you coming out there and sharing your experiences is a breath of fresh air. Sometimes life makes you stare into that abyss to figure out the why and the what next. On a lighter note your content is such a pivot from the typical audio reviewer stuff, which gets stale after a while..end of the day for many this is a box to dig ourselves into to avoid facing the true challenges in our lives.

I’m sure I’m done. I haven’t bought a thing for my system in the past three weeks. I love the sound of my system. Done!

Recently I had a relative knock my one of my totem bison speakers over, and I sent it in for repair. In the meantime I'm using my dad's kef q150s, and yes for a minute it sounded like a downgrade, they're clearly cheaper speakers for a reason. But after about a day they sounded perfectly fine, the brain adjusted and it makes you think that with every upgrade or downgrade it's a very short-lived feeling when you get that new component in until it becomes normalized. Makes you think why even bother.

I havent yet attained what most folks have so for me, stuff is mainly about being complete. I bounce between either my home hifi or my car stereo, and when the thoughts get a bit much, I have my motorcycle for that : ) I tend to believe just being grateful and enjoying what you have can help attract the other fulfilling relationships in our lives. I could always be wrong though.

Mirror neurons get the best of us.

you have helped me out in the past

Thanks Doc. I'm going to the HiFi shop.

I’m glad that hifi is my current obsession that I’m nearly done with. My last two upgrades, I added a Sophia Electric Aqua II tube and a Schumann Resonance Generator (uses a 6J1 tube). For my SRG, I needed to add silver cabling. With only a week of burn in, my system sounds the best I’ve heard it. i’ve achieved full detail, textured movement, holographic imagery, depth and even more blackness. I still need some upgrade tweaks to push my source that increases my resolution an audible peak. I really don’t see any desire to go further than the sound I will likely achieve. My goal is to excrete every bit of goodness out of the thousands of miles of dirty energy behind my wall outlet. I just need to shut up cable deniers with frugality, finality and proud ownership.

Thanks!

Happy Memorial Day Audioholics Don Dunn Playlist 2024 Qobuz 😊

Give the hifi a rest , you may appreciate it more in the future. ❤❤❤

I’m doing better..just traded some speakers for nice tube amp. I didn’t have to spend more or borrow. And the amp has a smaller footprint. Success

Real talk

Right on

Why? Separation: achieved w high resolution speakers 🔊 Clarisys Auditorium Plus ➕️

Did you cancel your live for tonight at 10:30?

Thanks !

Thanks!