You’re experiencing diminished returns. As your system constantly improves, any upgrades, regardless of price, aren’t going to give you the delta in sound quality those earlier upgrades were likely to have. You’re running out of headroom and at some point you have to realise it’s a losing game in terms of cash splashed, hours wasted researching and gains achieved.

You sound like you’ve gone way past the ‘sweet spot,’ so why not be happy with your exceptional system and just enjoy the music?

I haven’t been in store but I got a great deal on a brand new pair of speakers from Nintronics online and they are good people to deal with. Feels like they cater to enthusiasts and offer trade-ins, equipment auditions etc.

https://nintronics.co.uk/

I buy the odd CD if I can’t obtain the music in lossless file format, and failing that a vinyl to rip.

Lemodie 15th Anniversary Edition by Ochre.

Pair of Revel M16s - off because they look better.

Yeah I’ve got about 300 Gig of FLACs. Recently I went from “play from folder” to a proper music organiser app… man that kicked off a lot of work fixing all my tags, getting album art where possible and filling out gaps in my collection.

My wallet is hurting a little but I can finally say my collection is ‘complete.’ Of course you always find new stuff but no long standing wants.

Personally I like owning all my music and not relying on the internet. I ripped all the physical media because it’s more accessible from a hard drive.

Good question. I had an old air rifle that cost <£100 for a few years. Sold it and got a really good one for >£400 that was superior in every way, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the old one. I think the perception that you got a bargain can play into your enjoyment of something you own.

I’ve got my CA AXA-65 and a pair of Revel M16s which I got a decent price on and I couldn’t be happier. I honestly feel like if I won the lottery I wouldn’t want anything more.

I’m guessing. Is there a sub Reddit dedicated to this particular subject ?

I feel like people who would hang out on that kind of Reddit would be sadder than the individuals they’re calling out. The latter are enjoying a hobby they are enthusiastic about, as misguided as they may be in some respects. The former are wasting their time laughing at others they feel are inferior.

I had a cap blow in an old monitor and short out, and **** me it was a loud bang.

Can’t you send them back? The connectivity issues sound like a legitimate reason for returning as defective.

If you think the DAC in a Mac Mini is going to outclass a dedicated DAC engineered to a much higher budget by a well respected Hi-Fi audio manufacturer, you’re a fully paid up member of the Apple hype train.

I hope Apple is not applying their usual marketing strategy “we invented the DAC.”