Hi Fi burnout.


Are you a victim of Hi-Fi burnout? A friend of mine who is "Into hi fi" recently called me to tell me he was selling all of his high end audio equipment! He was simply tired of keeping up with all the latest and greatest equipment trends. In his quest for the "Ultimate sound" he had upgraded several times at great expense. Sales people were only to happy to sell him what he "Needed" to "Really" improve his system. I think all told he accumulated some 150k in equipment!! What he forgot and lost sight of in his quest for the ultimate stereo, was to listen to the music!! Instead he would take pride in how great his speakers tweeter's sounded, and the the pages clipped out of various audio magazines that showed charts on his equipment and it's performance. He now owns a little Sony do it all portable stereo, and says he's happier for it because he's not so stressed about keeping up with all the new equipment. It's easy to see how this could happen. I look at my stereo equipment as a tool made for the extraction of music from vinyl or cd or tape. The music IS what matters and shall remain with us forever. In this day of hi tech accomplishments and super materials, you have to be very careful not to get sucked into the equipment junkie bottomless pit. Otherwise you could be spending some time at the Betty Ford Centre for recovering Audiophiles. What say you?
nocaster
Been there!Done that! In fact I am just emerging from my latest case of burnout. The cure for me was live performances, a sony walkman cd player, and a small scale yamaha system that I constructed from Best Buy.
Happened to me at one point....almost sold it all...but then I started to listn to music again...and...decided it is important to me to have a system that "I" enjoy listening to. As I am a young audiophile of a few years, it took those few years to find what "I" like in terms of sound. Now that I have, I am rapping up my stereo for a while and to steal someone elses quote, I plan to "Enjoy the music." This hobby should not stress us out (although sometimes it does, myself included).

I say good for him! It's important for all of us to step back occasionally and realize that music is the reason we listen, not to hear the results of our latest upgrade. Something else I think that's helpful as well are limits. What I mean is, I am not a wealthy man. I make a good living but nothing spectacular, but I'm happy. Because of this I have to think long and hard before getting new (used) gear, and it often means that I have to sell/trade something before I get anything new. Though I sometimes wish I could just get anything I want these natural limits make me appreciate what I have even more. I think that is a great antidote to burnout, when you have to spend months of saving, scheming, and planning to get that new piece of gear it will likely mean more to you than if you walked into the local hifi emporium brandishing a platinum charge card. At least it seems that way to me, which is good because it's the situation I must live with!
I say you have to give up this website "cold turkey".
It's hard to pass up all the goodies that constantly come up. ;)