[mcmyers]

So as you can see from my sig, I'm considering selling most of the gear I've purchased in the last six months, not for financial reasons so much as time reasons. Since I got into this hobby, I've spent more and more time just listening to music, and it's starting to impair some of my more productive past-times (freelance writing and radio production). I also had the experience recently of being stuck for a weekend with nothing but my iPod Nano and my Senn PX100s, and music still sounded pretty good. I started to wonder how much I'd really miss my better gear.

So if you've ever sold everything, or ever considered it, I'd be interested in your thoughts and experiences. Did you regret it and get back into it within a short period of time? Or was it a valuable thing to do? And if you ever considered it, but decided against it, what kept you from going through with it?

 

[xnothingpoetic]

only sold to upgrade so far.

 

[uzziah]

i generally have trouble holding onto gear; since i started doing some ebay re-selling to make some cash, i find myself often thinking about selling things, it gets rather silly really

i do find that with headphones, you can sometimes go back to something simple; for example, i have an ipod shuffle and ksc75's (and i doubt there's a better sound on the earth for the price), and they sound pretty good; my dt880's and zhaolu and all sound better, but it didn't really blow my mind, if you know what i mean

that something that i personally only find happening with great speaker setups, that "mind blowing" quality that takes you to another level; i just got some energy c-3 speakers locally, and they're better than anything i have; i wouldn't say they have the detail of my phone setups (seriously doubt it), but they just sound so lovely, LIVE, and enjoyable

i do find that i really don't care much about equipment anymore; i just care about the music, and reproducing it as nicely as i can


my advice to every headfi'er, especially myself, is to forget about gear for awhile and just go crazy buying some more music, trying things out you haven't heard; it's all about the music, baby, ALWAYS

 

[soundboy]

Yes, right now.

Going down the downsizing route.

 

[larryminator]

Yes. but it was a nightmare

 

[Zorander]

Yup. I already have a good idea which will be my main gears but since I haven't tried out a lot other gears (including balanced amps), I'm afraid my journey is not done yet.

Plus it's so hard to let go.

 

[SonicArmada]

Yes, I have. I'm itching to get it all back. Soon I'll be getting it all back, but it will all be better than before.

 

[Azure]

Yup, earlier this year I sold my entire headphone rig and downgraded to just using my cheap $40 speakers for music (I prefer speakers over headphones). Financially, it was the smartest thing to do as I realized just how utterly stupid it is to have a $1000+ headphone rig of all things. It worked out pretty well for a while, but then the rest of my family started complaining about the noise of my speaker rig (I prefer to listen at night), and before I knew it I had a $1000+ headphone rig again

 

[Asr]

I've contemplated it. More than once. Doubted the point of it all, of spending mega-bucks on an audio system, for who knows what reason?! I screamed, I cursed, I shook my fist at the sky! I said "why, why, WHY?"

I don't remember what happened next but that's when insanity took back over.

 

[Shizelbs]

I'm currently thinking about it. Not sure if I'll do it. I just don't spend all that much time with it.

 

[Lazarus Short]

I once went the high-end route, but over time I sold all of it but the Stax. Something always comes along, for instance, two days after I sold my very nice tubed power amp [Anthem Amp 1 w/ tube upgrades] at a loss, I picked up a JVC MX-1 for $35 [$1000 new]. It was a bit beat up, and the styling was Soundesign-inspired, but everything worked, and it sounds great. Or, I sold my B&W Matrix 805's and not too long after that, I discovered just how good Minimus Sevens are with a subwoofer.

There is so much gear out there, I don't worry about gear anymore.

Laz

 

[Kirosia]

I wanted to awhile back, but most of equipment consists of older models. The resale value wasn't worth the effort.

 

[saint.panda]

Yes and I haven't regretted it ever since.

 

[hembergler]

I've passed the thought of downgrading my Stax setup since I use my speakers 90% of the time, but each time I realize there is no way I could part with them.

 

[ricksome]

I sold 300+ cd's on ebay several years back after I put the music on a hard drive. I do not miss them. I then sold 2 Adcom amps, an Adcom Straight Line Controller, 4 Energy subwoofers, 2 external croosovers, 4 NHT 2 way speakers, 2 Sony 300 cd capacity players, and some monster interconnects. I do not miss the equipment either. I currently use an iPod with line out to a portable amp with ETY 4P IEM's. I also use a notebook computer with an edirol external usb souncard + D/A converter connected to Klipsch 2.1 GMX speakers. I get a lot of bang for the buck and do not miss the stereo equipment or CD's and have a lot more room in my house.