Begin long rant>>>
Before entering this addict driven website/community, I had absolutely no clue as to how much I'd be investing into this hobby. For the first year it took a lot of experimenting to be able to find out what I liked best and in what price category it was going to be in. Viewing this from the outside, it seemed that I had a very bad case of upgraditis. But quite the opposite was true. Being that the majority of headphones are hard to audition outside of meets (which are few and far between), it takes time to find a can that suits ones personal preference. One must learn to undertake the ability to be able to control patience when entering this hobby (the same goes for any other hobby), which I've learned to do very well throughout the last 1 1/2years
I'm going to take the side that says this goal we all try to reach will never end. This personal opinion of mine is based on long term or life long audio goals that we all seem to inevitably aim for. The day it all officially ends is, well, when we "kick the bucket." As of now, I don't have the desire to upgrade for various reasons. One being money...it will be a very long time before I can afford something like an R-10. Because I will most likely remain in this price category (HD650/Rega 2000/HR Cosmic price range) I only see any change as being exactly that, a
change rather than an
upgrade. For instance, going from a HR Cosmic to the soon to be released Ray Samuels portable amp, is what I see as a change and not an upgrade. The only time I've seen a true upgrade in my system is from going to all my previous headphones (V6/MDR F1/ATH-W1000/HD600, which were all changes and not upgrades regardless of price IMO), to the HD650 with of course a better source. Before all that, it was simply a matter of trial and error. And with all those previously owned headphones, I could tell within a month or so whether I liked them enough to permanently keep them. Despite all of them being good in their own ways, I could always concentrate on one aspect that I didn't like, and that obviously bothered me...not enough to cut out the music, but enough to want to explore other options. With the HD650, I honestly cannot identify anything I do not like about them. Sure there are things I wish they did a tinsy bit better, but there's a difference between the negatives out-weighing the positives, and the positives out-weighing some
extremely slight negatives. Simply put, I'm very happy with everything about my rig. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss...which I might have to put into use when attending the next meet. Another detering factor about upgrading from the point I am currently at is the diminishing returns rule. Spending 4x's as much as I've invested in my current setup just to acheive very slight improvements, does not attract me one bit. It is only when I have the money to more freely spend that I will begin to disregard and overlook the "laws" of diminishing returns.
Right now, all I can think about in terms of improving my audio system is to be able to buy more music. I am at the point in which all I need to do in order to become satisfied/blissfully happy, is immerse myself in the music. If I am ever going to consider an "upgrade" it will again most likely not be an "upgrade," but more accurately, a change of pace. Being able to afford anything along the lines of an R-10 or high end Stax is so far ahead into my future that it is not even worth worrying about.
But since there is always that possibility of running into a butt-load of money (whether by winning the lottery, or by receiving an anonymous check in the mail
), I am forced to chalk one up to the "never ending spiraling vortex of terror" category. Luckily, as I've already pointed out, I am the type of person who doesn't really worry about stuff too far down the road.
