[ken36]

For me, it started when I began listening to the music, instead of listening to the gear.

 

[LFC_SL]

When you enjoy the sound?

Bar trying out more expensive equipment from someone else and being converted on the spot, I think we should all stop after a reasonable outlay. Unless money is no object, or we must have *that* (mainly talking custom IEMs and electrostatics here). Thats why I have no problem with people enjoying their iPod with stock iBuds. Its about the music. Way more important than the audio gear. I remember a thread from a new member asking about UM2s. Turned out he only had one CD in his collection...

 

[jirams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it started when I began listening to the music, instead of listening to the gear.

This absolutely the case - spot on

 

[stewtheking]

When you think thoughts like "okay, so my main rig is done... but my computer looks like it could...." or "right, that's CD's sorted, I wonder what records are in tha box in the attic, maybe I should get a...."

It never stops.

 

[Quint]

It can always get "better," but when you come to the realization that you've done the best you can with the resources you have, and when that itch to change (notice I didn't say upgrade) has receded into the background and you're enjoying music more than ever, that's my definition of nirvana.

 

[chris_ah1]

I know I've reached it when I go tingly down the back of my neck and I feel my whole nervous system/spine on fire. I also completely forget what I'm doing, that I have headphones on and have no desire to stop the music.

As with every physiological response it fades though so you will always need a new way after a while once my initial nirvana fades.

I am also a mechanical watch lover and own a zenith movement.
I am also into photography and perhaps a bit of a gearhead when it comes to the technical side of it all in getting the right shots - and that includes lenses (less the body).
I am also a techie and love computer hardware and do computer sciences as a hobby.

I got tingly with most of my music when I first got my sony earbuds (51s i think).
I then got tingly with HD-595s. Once it faded I made th erelative mistake of getting sony MDR-sa5000s.....less tingly although better for monitoring the sound rather than listening.
I then got tingly again with asio.
Finally I got tingly last night. It was the perfect audio setup. I sat in the sweetspot. Great singers, awesome orchestra, perfect instrumental seperation, so transparent and airy but with just the right amount of bass. The brass section was slightly mudy and some of the vocals did get lost during the choruses, but it was sweet. Best I've listened to in almost 3 years....yes, I was at the royal opera sitting my favourite spot listening to donizzetti's la fille du regiment with alvarez and dessay.

Last time I got that from a live performance to such an extent was terfyl's don giovanni over three years ago there.

That's the beauty of being an audiophile - it can never end because we are always striving to that nirvana when you get an awesome live perfect performance and hear it naturally. We try to reproduce it unnaturally and so by definition we will always fall short. nirvana is a vanishing point which we tend towards inexorably and impossibly. We are doomed.

Much like photography and watches. Cameras are never as good as the eye. And mechanical watches are never as good as the earth naturally revolving around the sun.

 

[aryaah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it started when I began listening to the music, instead of listening to the gear.

Well stated!

Thanks for all the comments/responses.

 

[nsjong]

I think half the people on this website has their rig completed.

It's just that they want to try new things and thus the reason why people buy more headphones, amps, sources, etc. Not to upgrade. Or that's how it is for me.

 

[micaela]

When my husband says absolutely no more buying (for a few months!) and I stick to picking up new cd's because I can get by with that

- then I fully appreciate what I have instead of thinking about what I want next.

 

[nightfire]

In my case, it was when I was able to sit down in my laz-y-boy, throw on some tunes, and at no point over the hour wince at some annoying property/event that distracted me from the music.

And it's not even big things like an instrument sounds totally unrealistic, it's little things like the tiniest (unintentional) distortion on a bass line, hard sibilance, wrong color or wash on a crash cymbal..

It sounds terrible, I know... instead of searching for a particular sound or something that I appreciate, all I want to do is eliminate what I don't like.

I think I'm pretty close to this point, but I'm sure in 5 years (hell probably in one year

) I'll look back and laugh.

The only thing left that's still bugging me is bass extension, and I'm working on a sub to hopefully solve that.

 

[smeggy]

When your cables cost more than your stereo and your stereo is filled with bits of paper.... it's a sure sign that you've come to the end.

 

[bigwormie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it started when I began listening to the music, instead of listening to the gear.

Wisdom speaks.

 

[sbulack]

If, when you reach a place you think may be Nirvana, you have to ask if you're there, doesn't that kind of let you know that where you are isn't quite there yet?

 

[silverrain]

O-o-o-o-o-h-h-h-m-m-m-m.....

 

[brandonink2001]

It comes in small bits for me. When time, place, mood, and music all combine for the perfect listening moment(s). It might be nirvana for a few passages, or a whole song. It might be a whole listening session.

It can happen in my car on a sunny day, sunroof open, Bob Marley improving my mood dramatically as my cares evaporate in the plunky riffs. It can happen in my home set up, with the right bass line or piano or vocals that take me back to a place in time.

It can be my portable rig when I realize that symphony of sounds have totally removed me from my airplane seat.