Anyone else grateful that they got hooked on this crazy addiction


I got home tonight after a 12 hour day of busting my ass for the IT company I work for and sat down in the single chair in my dedicated listening room and turned on Dido’s “Still on My Mind”. As I sat there listening with the lights off, I thought about the fact that the majority of the people in this world will never get to hear anything close to this kind of sound and I get to hear any track, at any time, at any volume I choose. Please don’t think that I am bragging about my system as I know that the majority of you have systems that put mine to shame. I am attempting to express how very grateful I am that I got into this amazing hobby, especially with all the crazy things that are happening in our world today.

 

As a lurker on this forum for a couple of years, I have read the great majority of the posts. Some with a chuckle, some with great awe and some with disgust. We all enjoy an amazing hobby that allows us to escape from the realities of life right in our own home.

 

My system consists of a Devialet Expert 250 Pro, Dynaudio Contour 60 speakers, a pair of REL S510 sub-woofers, AQ William Tell speaker cables, an Uptone Audio Etherregen, SOTM ethernet cable, AQ Tornado power cords, an AQ Niagara 1000 power conditioner, GIK acoustic room treatments and an SGC i5 Sonictransporter running Roon with 5TB of hi-res recordings and streaming Tidal and Qobuz. Once again, I am not bragging, and I am not looking for any comments about how good or bad my system is or could be. My goal is to give you some perspective about how lucky we are to be “audiophiles” in this crazy world.

 

When I sit down with a glass of scotch and put on whatever it is that trips my fancy that night, I can easily put the world out of my mind in under 5 minutes. Listening to what I think is an incredible soundstage and how I can be transported so quickly to the artist’s location is sometimes beyond belief. The best is those nights when you audibly mumble “holy sh-t” after an especially dazzling track.

 

We are a very lucky group of people to be able to sit down with our system that we have built with our own hands and hard-earned money. To think how much time we have spent reading forums and reviews as well as the never ending tweaking. Who would have thought that moving speakers ¼” would make that big of difference?

 

So, who else out there is grateful that we have these amazing systems in our homes and it would almost be welcomed to be quarantined for a couple of weeks?


desert38
Surely, an affirmation of the love of listening!
This reminded me of my first love. At 6 years, hiding under the covers being swept away by Elvis, and others, coming through my precious little transistor radio. Jumping to my first “High End” system at 18 joyously combined with my moving out from under my parents roof on the college: Pacific Stereo’s $199 Niko receiver, Quadraflex speakers and, now legendary, Lenco turntable. This now comes with the realization that I truly have found perhaps my greatest consistent life love in music playback for 61 years.
Now gratefully reveling in listening ever morning and much throughout our lonely days and nights.
Certainly, a precious silver lining, wishing all our chat group folks a healthy and melodious time!
To answer your posts headline. I like good sound, but wish I didn’t go down the road of an obsession. I’m really trying to keep it simple now. I do appreciate folks that just use an elementary system and don’t fret over it one bit.
 Absolutely.  “Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST.”   Frank Zappa

Quoting Emily Dickinson and then Frank Zappa! Wow - I just felt my head snap back.

Music (via good stereo systems ) has kept me sane thru a 40 year career in business and a 42 year marriage, aiding two kids and launching them out on there own. 
Digital music is a Great Leap Forward - I get to relive college by exploring artists I forgot about -Boz Scaggs is a gift. So is early Clapton, so is Dylan, so is the new Blues - Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart - I could go on and on.

turn off the news - Happy Listening - stay safe and healthy’