@Jim_S @audiotron VERY good advice! I agree, though I find it hard not to A/B, lol. I do switch headphones and devices, sometimes just plugging my ksc 75 into my laptop or kindle…and often just take a day or two off with no listening at all, just to give my ears and brain a break.
PS Good timing, as I have been trying out new USB cables!
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I would definitely second this. In the past I would compare new things to death to try and make a quick decision. I was obsessed with buying, trying and then selling products that did not WOW me immediately.
Current example: I got a set of pads for my Elegia’s and wanted to immediate start A-B’ing with my Beyer T5’s. After a day or two they both sounded inferior. Going back and forth quickly I just kept noting what each headphone was missing compared to the other. When I stretched that out to a full day, the differences, and my preferences became crystal clear.
I have been so obsessed with buying the last three years, I haven’t really given the gear room to breathe before moving it on. And it is coming back to bite me now. I should have given my last two tubes amps more time to breathe without constantly comparing them. After losing money on reselling those, I am now looking for another tube amp. This one will get a Long time to settle in.
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A few things I recently finally understood, a bit more specific this time:
Focusing on what you are after and consolidating is more rewarding than having a larger variety of less focused/capable things in the long term. (more happy with my setup now that it’s closer to a few single chains, rather than when I had a wide range of options that weren’t as focused)
The digital source is much more impactful the farther you move up the dac ladder. (realized how much I was missing out on things by neglecting it with recent dac upgrades)
The real hassle with tubes doesn’t come from actually using and maintaining them, but instead the FOMO when swapping and trying different options, along with the mental nag of lifespan concerns, both of which aren’t really that big of a deal in the end, it’s just a mental hurdle to get over. (changed dacs and not having those thoughts come up anymore is nice)
As much as I like and appreciate 2ch, I still use headphones much more often and still really enjoy what they do. (which is why I’ve ended up focusing more on headphones rather than 2ch with recent upgrades)
There are so many damn designs and ways of going about things, and most of them have merit, it’s all in implementation. (even though I already knew this, I recently got caught up in thinking one tech was clearly better than another, had that quickly broken again with more experiences lol)
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Oh even on the “budget” end(under 500) I find that the dac is still a extremely big factor contributing to 25% of the sonic character if I were to put a number. Getting a dac that fits your listening habits is very important even though it may be a “cheap” 100 or under dac.
Then again it may be because I’ve stepped into looking at kilobuck stuff that I retroactively know what listen for even with the cheaper dacs.
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Yes it’s really hard to understand without what’s hearing what’s above, but once you realize and see what’s up there it really gets to you lol, hard to ignore after that
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if you dont live near a hifi shop you’re doomed… recommendations almost never work
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this is almost true…but you don’t come away empty-handed as you just gained some knowledge and experience that will aid you on your quest to the end game.
also, posted it earlier and it won’t hurt to do it again…I’m always right and when I am, remember I always am 
MP3 320 is not so bad.
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I´ve learned that I am not earning enough
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And just as you say that, on the same exact day, I start itching real bad for an Edition XS, after being a happy camper with the 400i for years. 
I guess the thing this highlights for me is that because I set my “endgame” in terms of price, not quality, after a number of years it’s likely that something newer will drop within range that will be so compelling an upgrade that I will immediately “come out of hibernation” yearning to get it, despite previously thinking I was done for life.
(To be more precise on the threshold level, I’ve latched on to the price of my most expensive smartphone as the top number I’m willing to go to for any gadget that’s not a basic necessity of life, and that’s served me well in keeping my gadgetry expenses way down so far. Of course that was in combination with being a big fan of custom Android ROMs which void your warranty, which meant there was never any point in getting phones new, at list price. Always went second-hand and much lower.)
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I can’t fix bad audio gear with EQ or ANY other audio effects. If it is bad, it is bad. if it has bad technicality, it is suck no matter what.
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I need to stop testing “snake oil” claims because they keep ending up not being snake oil and costing me more money!
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it’s okay to be poor, good audio is available at every price point now!
edit - let me rephrase that.:“you don’t need to be rich to have good audio, it’s available at ever price point!”
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I’ve actually not found this to be the case. It’s just a matter of figuring out what your own personal preferences are, and then taking the time to dig through forums to see what multiple people are saying about a given product, or finding someone with a wealth of experience who you trust that’s willing to share their experience. Or better yet, both.
Obviously, that’s time consuming. But personally, spending the money I’ve started spending, that time is a sacrifice I’ve been willing to make, since I’m in that boat.
I hear what you are saying, man. I really miss the days of being able to walk into a shop and just look around. To be able to see, touch and yes, even hear on some level the gear was so cool. That is all gone now, and it’s a damned shame. It took a lot of fun outta this hobby for sure.
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One thing I will say is that while everyone loves getting new stuff etc, one of the funnest things I have done to date was cobbling together the system that now resides in the bedroom. This thing came together from a pile of old “stuff” that I was preparing to E-waste. As I looked at each piece, something just told me to give this stuff one last chance, maybe there is something here. The build began, and it ended up like this:
Pretty funny, but man, this AVR-2808 still kicks major ass! Honestly this hodge-podge system sounds great! It’s amazing how everything is synergizing. And I am not done with it yet, there are still a few tweaks I want to make. So the lesson, I guess, is never just give up on the old stuff. There could be a lot of good life left in there that is going untapped.
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If something ever TRULY sounded good, that doesn’t go away. Sure, sometimes technology moves on and can make using older stuff unrealistic or impractical, but gear that sounds good doesn’t suddenly stop sounding good because manufacturers have created a new model. Keeping that in mind can save us a lot of cash when the FOMO bug starts to bite, trying to convince us that the newest model must sound the best because otherwise they wouldn’t have made it…
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So true. The 2808ci was well reviewed when it came out in 2008 and was regarded as one of the best mid-range receivers for that time. So I did have a solid foundation to work with. But I don’t think I would have been satisfied running just that alone. The collective efforts of these pieces working together has created this great system, which I lovingly call the biggest headphone rig on the planet! 
It turned out to be a great surprise and something that makes me smile big every time I use it.
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Not an audio-audio thing I’ve learned, but close enough: I recently asked Hidizs how their company name’s supposed to be pronounced and they said it’s /haids/, so like the English word “hides”. 
Welp, not gonna hold my breath for reviewers to start calling them “hides” even if an official memo were sent out to everyone about this, but at least now I know. One more brain bug squashed.
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Haha! Those are as bad as earworms!
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