If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly upgrading your gear

No I don’t. I don’t upgrade anymore. Music doesn’t get any better than this. I have my end game setup.

Or, to say it differently the next upgrade is so much money and inifinitesimal diminishing returns that I have absolutely zero urge to make it.

Yes.

Rule #1 is never buy a speaker you can’t pick up by yourself

My advice? Go see a live, full-sized symphony orchestra in a large metro area. That’s end game. And if you’re willing to make a few compromises in certain areas (like output and/or bass extension), you can get surprisingly close.

It’s like the law of infinite halves. You can never reach it.

Some people are. I did for some time but realised pretty quickly that it would probably be a never ending process. Having finite resources helps, meaning you can’t buy x speakers or y amplifier.

At the end of the day, it’s about enjoying music (for me). I have a hifi that makes listening very enjoyable, so I’m content with what I have, but am well aware that there is probably better audio out there. I don’t have the money to find out though. My system took a few years to get to it’s current iteration and took several rounds of buy amp and speakers, then upgrade. That gets old quick especially if you’re in a situation that makes resel difficult (as I am when it comes to large things like speakers).

It’s funny because I am a bit of a shopaholic, but I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that there will always be something else to try, so why bother if you’ e got a good system? I recently checked out some new products like the Eversolo streamers and Kef R3 Meta etc, simply out of boredom and wanting to watch something different on youtube. I quickly realised this is a bad idea lol. It’s fun for a brief period to watch the latest hifi show in Munich or wherever, but gets old quickly.

i started flipping audio gear back in like 1997… until recently had never spent more than $400 on anything… eventually i got to where i’m at now… i replaced my DAC recently and that was pretty much the last piece that i had been “wanting.” my preamp and amp are keepers… as are my speakers. i’m pretty much “done” for now… who knows? a few year down the road that might change…

Simple… Enjoy your music enjoy your gear, there’s listening to music and listening to speaker, if you being technical about it, if you constantly looking for flaws in your gear, trust me you will and you will find flaws in it even if its 20 grand gears those Genelecs and those high end brands that even an average audiophile can recognize because they’re crazy expensive you will find flaws even if its not big of a deal, its in your mind, there’s no perfect gear, if your constantly looking for it you’ll always see it, you’ll simply wouldn’t enjoy this hobby .

I know what perfection sounds like, I have heard it, I am short about a million dollars for the equipment, and then I would need to get a bigger house to fit it and then treat the room for its arrival. In the meantime, I think I have my endgame speakers and amps, will eventually change the pre amp, and will need a better turntable and phono stage.

to a point I enjoyed listening more when I had a lesser system. Yes music sounds better now, but some of the music I grew up on (punk rock) sounds terrible on an audiophile system and I usually listen to that on my wifi speaker, or if I do play it on the big system I do not sit in sweet spot, I just tool around and listen, but not intently like I do when listening to what we would call the masters.

Audio hardware is not convenient at all. It is expensive, heavy, takes up space, and the more there is of it, the more likely something breaks or is not working correctly and damages the playback quality in some way that may be difficult to notice. It is also virtually impossible to guarantee that any change you make to the system will actually improve it, as that requires understanding where your most important problem point is and fixing that, rather than randomly changing some piece of equipment for another and hoping that it improves anything.

I find the inconveniences associated with equipment to be considerable, and so my tendency is to minimize it and stick to some known-good configuration that is vouched for by a reputable manufacturer, such as any active speaker that is a singular integrated box. For added peace of mind, you can just go ahead and measure the performance to observe that it delivers what is promised, so you know that not only did manufacturer promise a certain level of performance, what is actually delivered in your room by your total system is pretty much exactly what they said it would be.

This does not 100% eliminate the desire to “upgrade” your stuff, but a measurement/data-minded approach should focus your attention more towards where there might be actual problems. For instance, based on measurement, you may realize that your listening room is severely damaging the flatness of the audio spectrum in your listening seat, and that your room’s reverb time is excessive, and so you start to look into ways to add diffusion and absorption in the room, which are then genuine upgrades to your playback experience that don’t even involve changing anything in your audio hardware. You can also tell, in the end, if your realized in-room response is not appropriate, and you can fix it by simply equalizing it where there are problems, fix bass boominess issues, and even impart deliberate tonality changes such as some 5 dB extra bass below 100 Hz to make it sound warmer and nicer.

Yes

The most important link in the chain that most folks overlook- THEIR OWN EARS! The quality of your own hearing is vital in appreciating any music/equipment. Although we don’t like to admit it as we age our hearing like our eyesight degrades. The irony is that we usually have a bit more money to spend on our HiFi once the family have grown and flown the nest- just when everything starts to fall off, fall out and fall down…

There is no endgame, there is the journey and enjoyment

First time to realize this in a hobby?

My home stereo now is based on a late Nineties Yamaha receiver and Bose 5.1 bookshelf system I inherited so… 😬 I also use Klipsch Sixes and a 10" sub which I got before that, so that really helps the top and bottom. But the Sixes were a bit harsh (mid scoop) before I added the Bose IVs in. I love it, but I know I’d get hate for it. Most normies are blown away by it though.

I’m pretty satisfied, but I’d like to add room treatment to give a bit more control to the subbass which I think isn’t as tight as it could be. And I am looking into potentially recapping my speakers and/or receiver.