What you're describing is what happened to me with my ZMF Atrium + McIntosh MHA200 over on the headphone side of the hobby.
Though I am pretty accepting of a wide range of signatures, I am unbashedly a detailhead first and foremost, with my preferences leaning more towards an analytical critical-listening type of presentation. But the rich, analog, almost nostalgic sound of the Atrium pairing above just reaches into my brain and flicks off my critical listening switch. "Just listen, just enjoy" it says. It basically does this:
Thus far, I've been eyeing the Trifecta debate with curiosity. But if it can do what the Atrium does, then I might have to move it farther up my auditioning list.
Yeah, I know
exactly how that feels.
At this point, the next big thing no longer catches my eye or ear the way it used to. I find myself more attracted to innovation, or unique properties, with only tremendous leaps in traditional performance disrupting that. On one hand, that makes the hobby a little less exciting and obsessive than it used to be. On the other hand, there's more time to simply enjoy music, and that's always a good thing.
Really, how so?