New Music vs. New Equipment


I assume that many people are like me in that we are always looking to optimize our audio systems. Unfortunately, to do so can require spending thousands of dollars. Furthermore, when all is said and done, the system sounds better, but it's never going to sound like real musicians playing real music. At what point is it better to leave the equipment alone and instead purchase more music? As an example, will I be better off spending $2,500 on new bi-wire cables, or should I buy 125 (@ $20 each) new albums? The new cables have the potential to make the 2,500 albums I already own sound marginally better, yet 125 new albums should yeild some great music. Which way should I go?
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Showing 2 responses by raguirre

Another possibility (other than new HW or SW) is actually leaving the sweet spot and seeing some live music. I tell you, the soundstaging is great, the tone accurate, and it is very involving. It's odd to me the kind of megabucks some of us throw at our systems in an attempt to get close to the real deal when for the same money you could see a live concert every day of the year.
Albert - as usual you make an excellent point. I love that I can listen to a lot of reproduced music that for whatver reason I can't get to live. However, I do think that tons of exciting music is being created today, even if it's not as good as legendary performances. I know that it'll be hard for me to find anyone matching Bird's manic brilliance, but I still preferred seeing Dave Liebman live to staying at home and listening to Charlie Parker CD's. I've never had a CD sit at my table during the break and have a conversation with me about music. I got into this hobby through the music and a desire to get it closer to a visceral experience (Jarret's intro in The Complete Guide articulates these ideas better than I ever could), but I'm always aware that it's a second place to actually being there. But that's just an opinion.