Yorkshire Mouth
Major Contributor
It’s clear that, whilst we’re all here for similar reasons, there are quite distinct sub-groups.
I always raise a mental eyebrow when I see the term ‘hobby’, as it doesn’t appear to apply to me, or at least not in the same sense as it does to others.
I’m a music lover who wants to listen to his music in the best quality which is both practical and affordable. So I tend to go through phases when my kit is getting old, or it breaks, or the technology necessitates it (who’d have heard of a streamer 20 years ago?). Or maybe if there’s a sudden and large change in the quality available.
So I buy a hi-fi set up, and that’s it until I need a new one, or new components. Certainly, I like to read, and keep up-to-date, as I find that if you tune out for two years, when you return, you haven’t got a clue what anyone else is talking about.
But I’m flummoxed by people who research, test, audition, discuss, save up for, and eventually buy a hi-fi, then immediately want something else. I saw a video on YouTube yesterday, there’s some bloke and he found and bought his ‘end game’ amp and speakers, and he’s sold them; not through dissatisfaction, but pretty much because his hobby entails constantly wanting to try out new gear, and that trying out means living with it for a couple of years.
Then there are people with several DACs, headphone amps, and dozens of pairs of headphones.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in de gustibus non est disputandum. It’s your time, it’s your money. It’s your life. It’s your ‘hobby’, and I’m not here to criticise.
I can only offer my own perspective, that it’s a modus operandi which appears to bake in dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Not to mention cost!
I have been reading and researching at these excellent forums for a couple of years or so now, and I’m on the brink of buying/finishing a new set up. I’ll start a separate thread on it soon, and I’ll post my thoughts, feelings and perceptions as I start to live with it.
But after that I’ll be happy to live with it (unless I find I’ve made a glaring error), until the situation dictates I need to change. As I say, I’ll keep reading, and maybe asking the odd question, just to keep up to date. But if my new system is everything I hope it will be, I’ll not be looking to change anything just for a ‘hobby’.
But I got to wondering, am I the odd one out? Are there just a small handful of us? Or are most of us like this, and we just hear more from the terminal upgraders, because they’re constantly upgrading, and like to discuss that, so they appear to be larger in number?
I always raise a mental eyebrow when I see the term ‘hobby’, as it doesn’t appear to apply to me, or at least not in the same sense as it does to others.
I’m a music lover who wants to listen to his music in the best quality which is both practical and affordable. So I tend to go through phases when my kit is getting old, or it breaks, or the technology necessitates it (who’d have heard of a streamer 20 years ago?). Or maybe if there’s a sudden and large change in the quality available.
So I buy a hi-fi set up, and that’s it until I need a new one, or new components. Certainly, I like to read, and keep up-to-date, as I find that if you tune out for two years, when you return, you haven’t got a clue what anyone else is talking about.
But I’m flummoxed by people who research, test, audition, discuss, save up for, and eventually buy a hi-fi, then immediately want something else. I saw a video on YouTube yesterday, there’s some bloke and he found and bought his ‘end game’ amp and speakers, and he’s sold them; not through dissatisfaction, but pretty much because his hobby entails constantly wanting to try out new gear, and that trying out means living with it for a couple of years.
Then there are people with several DACs, headphone amps, and dozens of pairs of headphones.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in de gustibus non est disputandum. It’s your time, it’s your money. It’s your life. It’s your ‘hobby’, and I’m not here to criticise.
I can only offer my own perspective, that it’s a modus operandi which appears to bake in dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Not to mention cost!
I have been reading and researching at these excellent forums for a couple of years or so now, and I’m on the brink of buying/finishing a new set up. I’ll start a separate thread on it soon, and I’ll post my thoughts, feelings and perceptions as I start to live with it.
But after that I’ll be happy to live with it (unless I find I’ve made a glaring error), until the situation dictates I need to change. As I say, I’ll keep reading, and maybe asking the odd question, just to keep up to date. But if my new system is everything I hope it will be, I’ll not be looking to change anything just for a ‘hobby’.
But I got to wondering, am I the odd one out? Are there just a small handful of us? Or are most of us like this, and we just hear more from the terminal upgraders, because they’re constantly upgrading, and like to discuss that, so they appear to be larger in number?