Is it all about the challenge?

[magiccarpetride]

I've noticed that ever since I've acquired Stan's Bushmaster DAC (that was back in the month of June), the 'upgraditis' bug has left me alone. I've been living for three months now without the itch to try some new component, some new tweak, etc. This newly minted situation prompted me to stop, tilt my head, and say: "Hmmmmmm..."

I've embarked upon the much dreaded audiophile path some twelve years ago. It's been an uphill battle, the one where it seemed impossible to ever reach a final destination. However, as I stand today, I find myself completely satisfied with the sound I'm getting out of my hi fi, and I don't think I'll be making any purchases regarding audio components/accessories any time soon (maybe even never again? Unless, of course, I have to replace a broken component).

So is that then an indication that this entire journey was merely a personal challenge, a struggle to prove to myself that I can do it on a fairly shoestring budget? Right now I can relax and enjoy my hi fi the way it is. Gone is the need to keep up with the latest tweaks on speaker positioning, cable swapping, digital transport calibrations, linear PSU evaluations, etc. Heck, I can now even be perfectly fine with listening to my favorite music on a lowly boom box (I'm not kidding you!)

I'm healed! All I had to do is just prove it to my self that I can do it, I can really do it, and now let the chips fall as they may:) What a relief!

I will miss you, guys...

[WOStantonCS100]

That's a respectable place to be; so, if this is an exit???, I applaud you and wish you well, sincerely. I have enjoyed many of your posts.

In addition to being a musician/composer and a music lover, I also have "audio gear" as an interest. I'm finally at a place where I don't feel like I have to justify having this interest. There are those that think that "audiophilia" and "music appreciation" can't possibly reside peacefully together; that if you're into the gear than you can't possibly be into the music and vice versa. I know that is not truth; so, all I can say is that I've taken my dog out of the race. I am content to let others banter on about that. But, for me, I choose to nourish and expand all my interests to the extent possible and to position myself in those circles that help me to do that. That's why I'm here and why I don't hang out on political forums or attend political club meetings and such. I have no interest in that and it would be futile to attempt to persuade anyone there that they're in the wrong place. Life's too short. :)

Ooops, to answer the question, the only thing I find challenging is listening to John Coltrane Om. :lol:

[icehockeyboy]

Carpet baby, it's forums like this wonderful one that starts the itch going again! :)

[synsei]

Nice one Alex, it must be a wonderful feeling. I am nearly there, just a Bushmaster and a few tweaks to my Techie to go and then I too will be able to plant my flag on the peak of Mount Audiophile... :cool:

[twickers]

Carpet baby, it's forums like this wonderful one that starts the itch going again! :)

True. Magic carpets journey ends with a bushmaster, mine begins with one when i order one next month.:)

[Puffin]

I have had the same thought many times. Was I cured? Was I F......

[awkwardbydesign]

I'm healed!
Is this what all recovering audioholics say?

[Havana]

Nice one Alex, it must be a wonderful feeling. I am nearly there, just a Bushmaster and a few tweaks to my Techie to go and then I too will be able to plant my flag on the peak of Mount Audiophile... :cool:

Dave - are you related to Jackson Browne by any chance ??

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4156T%2BfgLPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://theartofsound.net/forum/image.php?u=2990&dateline=1347456129

[synsei]

Might be... :D

Nah, just kiddin'. Good pic tho in't it? ;)

[RichB]

Strange to describe oneself as cured or healed I think, for me its not an affliction...

The joy of it all is discovering new thing, or rediscovering old things, or new things to do with the old. As the owner of 4 separate systems I love seeing them develop and finding ways to improve them makes me happy.

Since joining here last year on my quest for a DAC I've rediscovered loads of stuff including vintage speakers, turntables and my most recent purchase is a tape deck. After finding myself satisfied with a one make main system I'm now looking forward to building a retro system. All good fun I say.

[walpurgis]

Might be... :D

Nah, just kiddin'. Good pic tho in't it? ;)

Looks like Mick Fleetwood!

[synsei]

Aye it does Geoff. Not sure who it is to be honest, I found it searching for summit else, liked the moody look and thought it would make a great avatar :)

[magiccarpetride]

That's a respectable place to be; so, if this is an exit???, I applaud you and wish you well, sincerely. I have enjoyed many of your posts.

In addition to being a musician/composer and a music lover, I also have "audio gear" as an interest. I'm finally at a place where I don't feel like I have to justify having this interest. There are those that think that "audiophilia" and "music appreciation" can't possibly reside peacefully together; that if you're into the gear than you can't possibly be into the music and vice versa. I know that is not truth; so, all I can say is that I've taken my dog out of the race. I am content to let others banter on about that. But, for me, I choose to nourish and expand all my interests to the extent possible and to position myself in those circles that help me to do that. That's why I'm here and why I don't hang out on political forums or attend political club meetings and such. I have no interest in that and it would be futile to attempt to persuade anyone there that they're in the wrong place. Life's too short. :)

Ooops, to answer the question, the only thing I find challenging is listening to John Coltrane Om. :lol:

Nicely put:)

I agree with you -- musicphilia and audiophilia not only can coexist together, they MUST! I'll give you an example -- although I've been listening to "Tomorrow Never Knows" my entire life, it is only once I've heard it through a well warmed-up Bushmaster that I realized how Lennon was singing it with so much venom and sarcasm in his voice. That revelation totally changed how I relate to this song now. Without upgrading and tweaking my audio system, I'd never be able to reach that lofty spot.

I must say I don't understand some people's claims that, since trained musicians are able to 'listen' to the music by merely reading the score off the sheet of printed music, they don't need high quality audio equipment. That's just pure nonsense. It's like saying that trained artists don't need good lighting when looking at a Rembrandt's painting -- they can 'fill in the blanks' in their well trained minds even if the canvas is exhibited under a poor, flickering light. BS!

The micro details in the way recorded musicians are handling their instruments/vocal cords can only be discerned once you break through the ever illusive threshold that separates ho-hum audio systems from good ones. You absolutely owe it to yourself, as a music lover, to get to that point. That's the challenge. Once you get there, your job is to recognize that you've arrived, and to then let go.

This is what I'm (hopefully) doing now. Am I 'healed' for good? I don't know. It is possible that you'll see me the very next week raving here about some newly discovered speaker or power cable.

For the sake of my bank account, I'm hoping things will not revert to that uphill battle again.

[magiccarpetride]

Carpet baby, it's forums like this wonderful one that starts the itch going again! :)

I know that all too well. I'll be like a recovering alcoholic who's still hanging out with his drinking buddies in the pub, watching them slamming those beers!

As the saying goes, it's not very difficult to prod the frog to jump into a pond.

[magiccarpetride]

Nice one Alex, it must be a wonderful feeling. I am nearly there, just a Bushmaster and a few tweaks to my Techie to go and then I too will be able to plant my flag on the peak of Mount Audiophile... :cool:

Indeed, wonderful and liberating feeling. It's the feeling one gets after reaching a life-long goal, that seemed unreachable only a few months ago.

Like, if all your life you were dreaming of owning and driving a Ferrari, once you actually get it, that's it! No more dreaming!

It's all in the mind, you know...

[magiccarpetride]

Strange to describe oneself as cured or healed I think, for me its not an affliction...

The joy of it all is discovering new thing, or rediscovering old things, or new things to do with the old. As the owner of 4 separate systems I love seeing them develop and finding ways to improve them makes me happy.

Since joining here last year on my quest for a DAC I've rediscovered loads of stuff including vintage speakers, turntables and my most recent purchase is a tape deck. After finding myself satisfied with a one make main system I'm now looking forward to building a retro system. All good fun I say.

I get where you're coming from, Richard. And I completely understand. I can relate too, because I have another hobby where I follow similar fun patterns the way you do in audio -- I'm a guitar/bass guitar player, and I like acquiring, tweaking and learning new stuff on my sexy instruments. I also like having fun with the entire feedback loop consisting of the following chain: guitar body-fretboard material-pickups-strings-pots-cables-into the amp-maybe even through a pedalboard... That's just too much fun, the variations and permutations are endless, and indeed, such journey has no finale. The reward is the journey itself.

However, with the audio system, I am of a different orientation in that I always had a final goal, a final destination in my hazy mind. And nowadays I feel that I've reached it, and I sense no additional urge to play with it. It's good enough as it is -- that is, good enough for my personal purposes.

[magiccarpetride]

True. Magic carpets journey ends with a bushmaster, mine begins with one when i order one next month.:)

I 'blame' Stan for inventing this little component that brought a much needed breakthrough to my audio system. It somehow, as if by magic, 'normalized' the sound in my system, and everything suddenly started sounding like real music.

I guess another way to put it is to say that with Bushmaster manning the digital signal I'm feeding it, I lost the ever-present digital glare that I've been constantly hearing through any other configuration. And that glare has been very grating and unsettling, deeply unsatisfactory to my ears. Get rid of the digital nervousness, and voila! -- we're talking music and nothing but music!

[synsei]

Indeed, wonderful and liberating feeling. It's the feeling one gets after reaching a life-long goal, that seemed unreachable only a few months ago.

Like, if all your life you were dreaming of owning and driving a Ferrari, once you actually get it, that's it! No more dreaming!

It's all in the mind, you know...

If you use Spotify Alex give this a listen. It has amazing production values and the Album is first class. It sounds amazing streaming off Spotify, it's so good in fact that I've just ordered the CD ;)

spotify:album:5bZIIwa458O6X5b2mgCkzU

[magiccarpetride]

I have had the same thought many times. Was I cured? Was I F......

I think same as recovering alcoholics, recovering audioholics must learn to take it one day at a time.

[Audio Al]

Rehab is for quitters :D

Seriously , if you are that happy and content with your system all I can say is well done and enjoy the music :)

[magiccarpetride]

Rehab is for quitters :D

Seriously , if you are that happy and content with your system all I can say is well done and enjoy the music :)

Thanks Allen. The way I look at it, the easiest thing in the world is to find fault. Remembering to count one's blessing is probably the hardest thing in the world. Somewhere in-between is where I'm hoping to find myself in the long run.

Of course, it would be easy to find fault, actually all kinds of faults, in my audio system. But that's not the point. You can find all kinds of faults in any, even most esoteric and advanced and refined audio systems out there. But so what?

[magiccarpetride]

If you use Spotify Alex give this a listen. It has amazing production values and the Album is first class. It sounds amazing streaming off Spotify, it's so good in fact that I've just ordered the CD ;)

spotify:album:5bZIIwa458O6X5b2mgCkzU

Thanks Dave. That CD has a semi-legendary status in audiophile circles on account of its sound quality. I see it sometimes used as a crowning argument when discussing whether there is a real need for resolutions higher than 16bit/44.1kHz. Some claim that's as good as it gets in the world of digital audio.

[wee tee cee]

I cant help but think you have a lot to offer people on the journey building they're hi fi.....offering advice and guidance, helping people avoid the bumps in the road!!!!

[synsei]

Some claim that's as good as it gets in the world of digital audio.

I don't doubt that for a second considering it sounds this good at 128kb/s... :)

[magiccarpetride]

I don't doubt that for a second considering it sounds this good at 128kb/s... :)

Yeah, with properly recorded/mastered material, one is in a complete awe when listening to the 'lowly' 16/44 playback. You sometimes can't believe how much intricate detail gets captured inside the 44 thousand snapshots per second sampling. Is going much higher (like, 192 thousand times per second) really going to capture/present us with more valuable information?

The debate still rages on...

[magiccarpetride]

I cant help but think you have a lot to offer people on the journey building they're hi fi.....offering advice and guidance, helping people avoid the bumps in the road!!!!

It's hard to generalize. Here I am raving about the Bushmaster DAC while at the same time completely respecting the discoveries of other members who found the Bushmaster to be at the bottom of the totem pole of their chosen DACs. No, it is NOT contradictory to have such claims litter this forum, because, as everyone had already learned and is now parroting the old adage, it's all about 'synergies'.

What sounds marvellous in my system may sound quite antagonistic in some other system. Building a satisfying audio system is like cooking a satisfying salmon chowder. All kinds of sh!t can go in (heck, even crappy McDonalds mustard!), nevertheless what emerges as the final product could be awesome. Or crap. Depending on the 'synergies'.

One generalist piece of advice I could give is not to buy into the bullsh!t sales pitch that you should first take care of the big ticket items (i.e. buy the best speakers you can afford, the best preamp/amp, the best source), and ONLY then turn your attention to tweaking. Nothing could be farther from truth and more detrimental to your wallet. In my experience, it pays big dividends to embark upon intense tweaking from the day one. That'll potentially save you thousands of dollars down the road.

So tweak everything, go for the easy wins and low hanging fruit as much as you can. Not only will you save money, through the tweaking/evaluating process your ears/brain will learn so much about the finer points of music reproduction. Armed with that newly won skill, you'll be in a much better position to assess and evaluate your big ticket purchases down the road.

Don't be sheepish and don't be afraid to try various outlandish tweaks (providing they're not costly, of course). Let your ears guide you. This hobby takes time above all, and a little bit of prudently spent money.

[synsei]

My philosophy exactly. I've carefully chosen all the components in my system mainly through listening to them beforehand and a few through recommendations. I've paid quite modest sums for it all (most of the items are pre-owned) and have ended up with a fabulous system that slinks into the background when in use allowing the muso's to perform... Lubbly jubbly... :D

[twickers]

Handy to know, especially in a basic set up like mine. Roll on next month.

[Tim]

Well I'm pretty much where I want to be too TBH, but I was never much of a box swapper or tail chaser. I have my system exactly how I like it now and I won't ever change my speakers, unless they go kaput, the rest are keepers too pretty much, but I will try a Leben CS-300X(S) when I retire in 3 years and can afford one, but if it doesn't kick the Rega by a lot, it will go back. The only thing I have to update now is a final build of my music server (v3.0) and I have the parts already, plus a PSU for it and that's me done. I will probably buy a Rega TT when I retire too, but that will also be a keeper.

It's music all the way from then on and every single bit of my system will have changed since joining AoS and I am getting as much pleasure from my system now as I did as a teenager with my first system, when I didn't care or think about anything other than the LP's I was buying.

I have to say its a good place to be too, music has always been the most important factor for me and I have a sound now which exceeds anything I have had previously and in many cases heard too (I don't get out much) :)

[synsei]

Actually Tim the SHL5's are probably the only speakers that could oust the DM2's from my room, but first I would have to get a bigger penny jar... :)

[Reid Malenfant]

<snip> but first I would have to get a bigger penny jar... :)
:nono:

Just get more of them :rfl:

[synsei]

I knew you were going to write that, ask Jo... :lol:

[Reid Malenfant]

I knew you were going to write that, ask Jo... :lol:
Ah, you know me too well my friend :)


:lol:


ATB fella :D

[WOStantonCS100]

Is going much higher (like, 192 thousand times per second) really going to capture/present us with more valuable information?

Having lived with it for several months now, I would have to answer this in the affirmative. In it's native form (derived from analog), it is stunning. 192K as upsampled from 44.1K ...not so much. But, as was posted previously, now there's the M2Tech Joplin 384/32 A/D converter (http://www.m2tech.biz/joplin.html)!!! :doh: And, so it continues... :)

[AlanS]

Magìc Alex

Have you got a mains regenerator in your system? If not I await your posts saying what it did for you. You arent finished yet.

[MartinT]

I think it's a series of plateaus, with lots of small upgrades and tweaks in between major component changes. The longevity of most of my equipment bears witness to the fact that I chose them well, and the small tweaks to cables etc. in between just keep the fun going and make, in themselves, some very satisfying jumps in sound quality. I am very happy with my system right now, but won't be leaving AoS for that reason as there is so much else on the music side worth discussing.