I'm stopping "Tweaking"

PinkFloyd,
I am older than you. If you think you can tweak and upgrade you back to the good, old days you have made a mistake. You must find a new balance in life and understand that you cannot return back. This doesn't mean that your musical experience must be less intense, but probably different. Equipment is a means but creates not this experience. Once, you have found a new perspective, I think you will revive moments of the old. They will come sometimes but not at will. For me the old musical experiences are important and I can sometimes feel nearly at place, but as if I were there now and not when 20 years old.

Stop tweaking and just buy a whole new system!

You know how you were going to retire at 65 and move to florida, well just retire at 70 and move to Alaska instead...

Biggie.

Pinkie,

I know exactly what you are saying. I remember before the Internet and before these Forums; I only used 1 pair of headphones and listened to them through my Receiver for years!! and Yes, I did enjoy my music!!

But, on the other hand; since discovering Headphone Amps and better quality headphones, the "Sound" has definitely gotten better.

As far as the "Tweaking" goes, I do agree with you. For me also, I find that the tweaking can really drive me nuts!! I'd rather just stick to 1 amp, 1 source and maybe no more than 2 or 3 pairs of good headphones.

I think what you are saying is that HiFi Audio is no longer your hobby, and you are somewhat sad about it, but you are looking forward to spending your money elsewhere. Am I catching your drift?

You belong in an asylum (If you know what I mean).
http://www.audioasylum.com/index.html

Re: I'm stopping "Tweaking"

I know what you mean. I remember coming home from school (elementary and on) and listening to my Father's records on a turntable that he had bought at the Goodwill. The music, for lack of any better words, touched my soul. Fast forward about 12 or 13 years when a co-worker introduced me to hi-end audio. At first, I couldn't imagine enough improvement to justify the cost. Fast forward 2 or 3 years and the thought of spending many thousands of dollars on a single component wasn't so horrifying. Tweaks such as cones, shelves, bladders, racks, sorbothane, etc. had found a special place in my heart. I had found the Audiogon, Head-Fi, HomeTheaterForum, HeadWise, SoundStage, and StereoTimes web-sites and I couldn't help visiting each of them several times a day! Glowing reviews of components and tweaks abounded. I'd read a review and afterwards listen to my system in disgust that it couldn't perform comparably after I'd spent thousands of dollars. The equipment become an obession. The music had begun to lose its magic. But, there was light at the end of the tunnel.


Oh, I don't know about that. At least for me anyway. I believe that I have been successful in recapturing at least the sense of wonder and joy in listening to music. Perhaps it is with different genres than in my youth - that is to be expected since we, hopefully, change in our expectations, attitudes, and knowledge with age.

That light at the end of the tunnel I spoke of was a financial crisis that resulted in my selling nearly my entire audio system. I managed to save only a pair of headphones, my SACD player, the audio rack, and a pair of cables (plus a few sets of cones). Reduced to listening to music at work on my computer's CD player I began to realise that this whole journey should have been about the music, not the equipment. As you can see from my profile I was able to assemble a modest headphone system. To be honest, I no longer have to same fire to upgrade endlessly and often. That isn't to say that I don't, or will never, upgrade. But now, I always think about how much music I could buy with the money I would spend on *any* upgrade. The result is that I have bought more music in the last three months than in the prior 2 years!

I don't know what it will take for you to recapture the "goose pimples", but I know I can happen. Well, I'll stop rambling now. I hope this makes sense and provides some hope.

Your on the right path now, Pinkie! When the gear becomes more important then the music, your not enjoying your system. My suggestion- start digging out your favorite tunes, and get back to the music.

I have had this same discussion about five years ago with the infamous Rupert Neve. I told him I now have trouble listening to music for long periods of time. When I was young I would come home from school and listen to hours of music from Alan Parsons Project to Frank Zappa, and really enjoy every minuit of it.

He said that he had heard the same story many times, and believed it is a result of PCM encoding. At the time he thought that when we reached 24 bit/192khz the problem would go away. I had all of my LPs stolen from a storage facillity several years ago, so I have not had the opportunity to confirm his opinion.

The bright star on the horizon could be DSD. According to reviews with top studio engineers on Direct Stream Digital, we may get our ears back. One said that he got a headache the first time he listened to a CD and now that he has been working in DSD the headache has finally gone away. I for one hope he is right

I have always enbraced the digital technology for it's low noise floor, great seperation, and non-existant wow and flutter, but something has definitly been missing. Just maybe we CAN have both.

Brad Harper

Pinkie,

I've never changed the Valves in my X-Can v2 and they sound fine to me!! I also don't understand why most people think the stock valves are crap?? I don't hear crap!! I guess it's the "Tweaking Syndrome".

Not to say that a different pair of Tubes could not make make an improvement; but I don't think the originals are as bad as most people say.