I once had more money than brains and thought that cost = quality and had over $500K invested in my 2-channel system. Then I had a balloon mortgage payment due on the house and not enough cash to pay it, so I sold everything at a significant loss and paid the house payment. My next system was far more conservatively priced and I kept finding myself using it more and enjoying it more. My mantra these days is I don't care what something costs I care how it sounds. I like good sounds. I like music. I am not "into" the gear - it is a tool to meet the goal of the music (or the movie.)
What a salutary tale Ableza! Thanks for sharing that.
I am still reeling from the thought of $500k on a 2-channel system.
I also like music and occasionally need to remind myself that the gear is only a means to an end.
Your post set that out pretty graphically.
My love of music started when I was 6 or 7 years old,
Back then, our family owned a 1950s 'radiogram' which incorporated a record player, AM radio and small valve amp.
It was of course, mono.
Until my early teens, when I had saved enough to buy my own small stereo record player, with two speakers (!), the radiogram was the only playback option.
From 7 inch '60s singles, to my father's Jazz albums and my own small collection of LPs, I spent thousands of hours enjoying music.
That old radiogram certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment or dampen my enthusiasm for music one bit
Access to high quality audio gear has never been so good, but despite my enthusiasm for Schiit products, and any well-engineered audio gear, for me, it is all about the music.
I remind myself just how lucky I am to now have an almost infinite music library on tap, with Qobuz, and a system which makes much of it sound almost real.
