I have never felt the urge to spend huge bucks. I only have two IEMs over $200.
Today I would recommend Olina SE and the QKZXHBB, and might stop at that point, or pause for a bit there.
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You win on prettiest workplace, granted you are doing the work to make it look that good.
You make me want to give up writing software, and enjoy the green a bit more.
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Yknow? Iâve always considered this side of the âhobbyâ as a means to an end, not as an end unto itself. Maybe Iâm weird that way.
I guess what Iâm trying to say is; music, movies, games, I just wanted to /hear/ my media better - a LOT better. I upgraded my monitor and vid card, I upgraded my tv, I wanted my ears to be as enriched as my eyes, but, as with anything, there are trade offs, sacrifices, choices, and a learning curve. Sometimes that learning curve can get expensive and frustrating.
Take some time off from âthe hobbyâ. Enjoy where you landed, and spend some time just being happy and satisfied with the sound youâre getting whenever youâre listening to music, or watching a movie, etc. big cinematic scores are so much more filling when youâre really able to hear them. Intimate jazz performances take on real texture and personality.
If you need a reminder of how far youâve come, just try playing a big cinema movie of your choice through the speakers built into your tv, or listen to some great music through a pair of âmultimedia speakersâ plugged directly into your pcâs front 3.5mm jack. Either way, youâll get a solid reminder of why you went down this road to begin with. Then, put your system back into play, and listen with a big olâ grin knowing that you won - you definitely won, since you have this grand sound on tap while the rest of the world simply listens to whatever they were given and doesnât think twice about whether it could sound better.
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We have this saying âit aint a hobby at all if it does not take all of your money and timeâ
So lol this audiophile thing is a great hobby in that sense. Cars also, perfect.
Still if the bank balance aint gonna tip and bills get paid. Try boats or ships. lol
Good way to avoid all of this is not to watch any of them. 
Might be harder for the YT-gen people and people new in audio. Specially in headphone realm.
Reason also why cause they cheap in one way, easy to âpushâ for more.
One - two headphones every now and then aint going to crash the bank. Maybe same with amps and dacs and so on, In to the 9 circles of audiophile world.
When you actually find the sound or music characters you enjoy. Stick with that.
Then maybe, if something actually is two or more steps up in with the same characters you enjoy. You could improve that and not change just for change the to the ânext thingâ.
âHoardingâ cheap gear is also bad.
It kinda stops and can be limited to few items when you find the enjoy of music with those.
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Not going to lie, I am in that current stalemate right now when it comes to this hobby as well, and it is okay as well for itâs really not necessary to get the most recent IEMs, Headphones, DACs, AMPs, Tube Amps, etc. for at the end of the day, as they said, itâs all about enjoying the music and I have been enjoying it with my simple set of Airships, BTR3K and ifi Zen DAC.
I have other hobbies as well besides this one where most of us do anyway. That would be working out for I want to improve my physical and mental health, not only that for I also wanted to be fatigue resistant as much as I can as possible for calisthenics have been there keeping me in check and consistent on what I do, also I have no excuses to not workout for I know I donât have a gym membership and you donât need a damn gym to workout. Also I play pickup basketball as an another hobby and a good hobby as well when I have like a couple shoes that are yet to be used, therefore a good reason to play ball so those shoes I have wonât be wasted.
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To me buying new stuff all the time has nothing to do with being an audiophile
If you need to buy new stuff all the time you just have an addictive personality which i guess many of us have including myself.
I would call myself a HI-FI enthusiastic music lover with an addictive personality but would not call myself an audiophile because I simply don´t like how this word is used so often to bloat one´s ego.
If you are not addicted any longer that´s fine!
I slipped into the hobby during winter time when there was not enough light for photography.
I always loved music and good sound and watching and reading reviews about audio stuff is just a nice âwaste of timeâ which often leads to spending more money on the hobby which is somehow a problem.
It´s a vicious circle!
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I buy stuff to make movies and music entertaining and live vicariously through the youtubers reviews.
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Have bought enough. Now I make my own cans. Might make 1 or 2. Then that should be it.
Will be getting more into doing other stuff with my 3D printers.
I realized DIYing is more a thing of mine than being an âaudiophileâ which Iâm not - âbudgetophileâ at bestâŚ
So lesson here: #diversify.
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This stuff isnât just for consuming media. If youâre like me, having the right equipment to critically listen to what youâre producing, and reference tracks youâre using as a model, is very important.
Even then, I canât justify headphones over a few hundred bucks or even a standalone DAC. For all they do, audio interfaces are the best values in sound.
People just like collecting shit, which is cool, but that shouldnât make you feel like youâre not âdoing it rightâ.
Like others have said, enjoy the music. Take the time to make memories with what you have, and if later on something looks promising, add it to the chain if youâre so inclined.
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Do you not like music anymore? This my favourite/only hobby. I am VERY happy in mid-fi and am currently trying to sell several items and will probably buy one or two more. I am now in a happy place and there is not a single amp/DAC/headphone that I donât enjoy, in my home. I am just going to thin the herd over the coming months. I am also curious about whether the OG Clear is better than the Elex and what the new Grado X series sound like? But no rush, I will get there eventually.
As @MON used to ask me when I asked him for buying advice, âWhat is your current item (DAC/Amp/Headphone) not doing for you?â Now my answer would be everything is just fine.
Bottom line isâŚDo you still love the music? Everything else is just about the toys. The golden rule for any hobby is donât buy more than you can afford. If itâs not pleasurable, then itâs not a hobby.
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@Ohmboy @pk500 and @ShaneD made really good points and gave really sound adviceâŚI agree with what they all saidâŚ
I have another twist on thisâŚI also think it depends on your age and what part of life you are inâŚJust follow me on this and see if it makes senseâŚI was born in the mid 70âsâŚAs far as I can recall back as a child my parents always had music playingâŚThey had a nice set upâŚIf my dad was playing records it was mostly Motown,other r&b, and he loved Jim CroceâŚIf my mom was playing something it was the Beetles,Fleetwood Mac,Queen or her favorite Elton JohnâŚI would go to my grandparents same thing except classicalâŚI was always around music growing upâŚ
I continued to listen to music through my teens and into college but after college is where it all changedâŚMy fiance and I got married,we bought our first house,we had our daughterâŚWe were working full time alsoâŚThe hobby took a back seat to life in generalâŚI still loved music but Iâll be honest I couldnât afford a lot of new gearâŚWe made due with what we hadâŚFast forward twenty years it is a different ball game nowâŚThe daughter graduated from college,she and her fiance have their own place and she is workingâŚI have the time now to sit down and enjoy music again, but have the expendable income if I want to but something new or usedâŚI still love my used dealsâŚlolâŚ
Sorry that was so damn long windedâŚJust remember the new or high end flashy gear is nice and all, but it is about the love of the music.
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something on the other end, my parents never really listened to music other than trips in the car so I never really heard much music, come high school for me youtube started getting popular⌠I got hooked on music lol
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That is the difference in generations alsoâŚGrowing up we didnât have the internet until the mid to late 90âs,we didnât have social media or camera phonesâŚThat is why it was an awesome time to be aliveâŚZero evidence of anything 
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Iâm thankfully reaching this stage of my life, too. Married 31 years to the love of my life, oldest out of college and has a successful career, middle kid a senior in college and youngest kid a senior in high school.
Still need to be frugal to pay tuition for youngest, but we have enough disposable income that I can buy some nice cans and gear USED on the audiophile resale market.
Plus my wife and I, both of whom still are tighter than tree bark, now understand itâs OK to spend some well-targeted extra cash on experiences that make us happy. For me, thatâs listening to great music with a glass of scotch and maybe a natural intoxicant 
on nice headphones at night and just chilling.
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- Do what´s right for YOU
- Donât care about what other think as long as #1 makes sense
- Donât spend money you canât afford on any hobby
- Donât rush it, or you will for sure violate #3
- It is okay to find inspiration online, but remember #1-4
- Remember to have fun also
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