The cost is time
Nov 22, 2015 at 1:23 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 5

Yubacore

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I apologize in advance for a slightly philosophical post, given the inherent materialistic nature of this forum.
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How many hours of work did you have to put down to get your most expensive rig? That is, how many times would you have to multiply your hourly salary, minus taxes, to arrive at the cost? For the purposes of this calculation, disregard investments (unless you're a day trader I guess) and other income, just calculate it based on your regular job income.
 
Is it worth it?
 
I guess a metric that all audiophiles and/or music lovers can relate to, is listening time. That time when you tune everything else out, take a drink or do whatever you need to, and just close your eyes and become one with the music. How many hours of bliss are you sacrificing for that next upgrade? Is happiness really just around the corner?
 
This depends largely also on your line of work. Some people have jobs they absolutely love. How I envy you! I have a job that's merely acceptable as an activity, I translate movie subtitles and earn around $35 per hour. It's not a job that makes me enthusiastic or gives me any kind of energy, but I don't complain, things could be a lot worse. I can more or less decide how much work I accept since I'm a freelancer.
 
On one hand, I love gear, but I also find it hard to justify spending 100+ hours working to upgrade some gadgets. That's a lot of hours taken from my finite amount of time in this world! Wouldn't I rather do something that I enjoy with my family, or just go for 100 1-hour walks with my current portable setup, or even just play a good computer game? Generally speaking, I've made decisions in my life that value time over material goods. I've sacrificed a high standard of living for more time with my daughters, and for them in turn to have more time to enjoy their lives when they grow up. I reached the conclusion that luxury is relative, and you quickly get used to higher standards - so I choose to work less and have more time with my family and for my hobbies.
 
 
 
What about you? Do you love your work? How much is your spare time worth to you? How do you feel about the entire time/material balance, if you ever stopped to think about it?
 
Nov 22, 2015 at 11:21 PM Post #2 of 5
I'm not sure about how long in work it took me to get my gear - given I do odd jobs, chores, and flip stuff since I'm still in school.
 
I've always gotten the best I could in my budget and then sold to get to the next level. Repeated this for 3 years until I got to my endgame. I've gone through 15 headphones over that period until I found the one I loved (HD800).
 
I did some math, and it works out that my rig has costed me about $1.20 an hour for music (8 weeks, $1600). Foobar has about 8 weeks of playtime - and that has been reset a couple times so the $1.20 estimate is probably <$0.99. Worth it IMO. 
 
Nov 23, 2015 at 2:09 PM Post #3 of 5
That's another way of looking at it I guess.
 
If I buy the new Shure electrostatics, just as an example, and use them one hour per day on average for 5 years (both somewhat conservative values), it would cost me 1 hour of work to listen for about 20 hours. Or, to put it another way, I'd have to work 1.5 hours per month to have it, given a 5-year lifespan.
 
Nov 23, 2015 at 9:52 PM Post #4 of 5
I make $15 an hour which is probably half of what I should but I'm helping a startup.
 
Since I have few expenses (no girlfriend, family) and I work behind a desk all day and good music helps me concentrate (lucky me) I spent what I had to (160 hours) to get the equipment that will make me happy.
 
I feel so sorry for you guys who have to own multiple headphones / DAC / amps.  It's well well worth it to me to spend what I need to get the ultimate enjoyment out of my music.  But I don't have the money, time or desire to go too far down the rabbit hole.
 
I use equipment to enjoy my music, not music to enjoy my equipment.  

P.S.  Go to southeast Asia or India - you can save most of your money, live in balmy weather year round, meet amazing people and see some crazy **** if your job is location independent.  It is a massive waste to not take advantage of location independence if you have it :)
 
Nov 23, 2015 at 11:18 PM Post #5 of 5
If the cost is time then time is money. And all I can think of is "I'm running out of time to get it on with Olivia Wilde and Amanda Seyfried" (literally the only things I was thinking of when I caught this on HBO).
 

 

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