Progressively better equipment is not increasing my enjoyment. Time to downgrade a bit?

Buy some of the music that's playing in your head and listen on your system. If you don't like it better; then you are cured. Or at least in remission. Send me your address and I'll pick up your nasty equipment and free you of that burden.
PS: What have you been doing in that 6 hours that you have the house to yourself?
 
this happened to me years ago. there were years I didn't turn things on.

I have most of the classics (AJA, DSOTM, Beatles, Rolling Stones, LED Z, etc) and
Jazz, and female crooners (patricia, Diana, etc) and all the wonderfuls (Denver, John, Frankie,
banana and peanut butter, etc)

then I got tired of them, how many times can you listen to Aja, Take 5, Kinda Blue? for me
it is now only about once every year. the second time I'd need a drink, third time the
whole bottle. bad habits die hard - no offense to Bruce.

I used to travel a lot internationally. instead of the fancy restaurants I'd go to the
food courts. I would get in line at the longest. this was wonderful outside the US.
In CA the longest lines are for Panda Express.

then I'd wander into the large public courtyards, subways if that city had them and listen
to the buskers and buy their demo CDs. then if the city had an annual hifi show,
I'd buy their yearly show demos.

my input is try different music and not another one from your teenage years' favorite bands,
nor yet another copy of the usual (aja, DSOTM, beatles revolver/butcher, Take 5, Kinda Blue,etc),
nor any indie rock local to you that your peer-pressure friends tell you is great but only after
5-10 beers. and definitely outside your normal genres.

try classical (Schubert's C major - the Great), Japanese new-age (Azuma), Chinese
female vocals (Shirley - the CD with her smoking a cigar, or Teresa Teng in any
of 6 languages she sings in), Australian native/rock, European (nightwish), etc

to ease in, any classical piece using rock instruments or played like Rock,
try Mozart Heroes playing some metallica piece, early ELP, etc I used to
love the innovation - rolling Stones cowbells, xylophones; mott the hooples
mandolin, etc

I now explore classical - 600+ years of music versus 60 years of rock. mostly
tired of the rock and have only done about 10% of classical - only 90% to go.

Bottom line; need to break out of mid-life crisis. then you can enjoy the music.
 
As some others have already pointed out, I'm not certain that the OP's ambivalence is SQ-related. If it is a system he previously enjoyed, then hanging onto it for awhile seems advisable. Why make audio buy/sell decisions when you are out of the mood? At least give it enough time to find whether mood/behavior is the causation.
Ambivalence. That’s the word that escaped me .
But the rest is important too. Moving gear out that you once coveted sometimes leads to sellers remorse . Moods should not determine this
 
I think maybe a few of you are misunderstanding.

In spite of some minor hearing loss problems, I'm still perfectly capable of hearing the differences between mediocre, good, better, etc. equipment. As mentioned I can often hear the difference between tubes, cables, power cables, etc. So I don't think my hearing is dragging me down so to speak.

It's just more of a situation where spending more and getting better equipment is not providing me more satisfaction or leading me into listening more.
Sounds like you're chasing thrills. You're more into the wow of something new rather than the actual listening. I would bet that a great many here are doing the same thing. They have rooms full of equipment as they're constantly chasing something better, yet they simply aren't listening for the enjoyment of listening anymore. In my case, I think age has something to do with it. I'm like you in that I always have music in my head, but I simply don't listen now (at 50) like I did 20 years ago. I started adding equipment a few years ago, but it hasn't changed my listening habits. I still totally appreciate great sound systems, but I have come to realize I'm becoming more like a car collector who doesn't drive his collection.

My original intention was to catch and release as I found something better. I have great patience and have a knack for finding good stuff cheap. I was supposed to buy low, sell high, and constantly improve my system until I got into really high end stuff. Right now I have a basement full of stuff I bought for low, but I haven't moved any of it out. I've come to realize I'm not really interested in getting to that level where I get into that limited production, really high end stuff. I'm not interested in sitting down and truly enjoying music like I used to. I'm more driven by the get. It's all about finding that $50 pair of speakers that sell for $800 on eBay.

After seeing this thread yesterday, I decided to fire up the equipment that I had used for 25 years before embarking on this journey. I definitely heard a difference from what I've been using lately. I initially didn't care for what I was hearing. My ears adjusted after a few songs, and suddenly I was enjoying listening to that equipment as much as anything else I've acquired.

Perhaps it's a combination of all of these factors. Our ears adjust to pretty quickly to anything we listen on, so we hunt for the thrill of something better/different to try to capture that feeling of something better. Unfortunately, our ears quickly normalize the new stuff and we continue the cycle. Add to it that perhaps we're not into music like we were when we were younger, or that we're more interested with the hobby itself than listening.
 
and 600 hp.
I’m not a car guy . Drive Accords . Once owned a Camaro . But a few years ago my boss who is a Mecedes Benz nut took me for a ride in his 2003 AMG 2 door with 535 hp. Went from 0 to
85 in about 3 seconds . I needed to get out lol .
 
Folks tend to confuse the "sound" of a system and the emotional response to that system when it is playing MUSIC. The forums, the audiophiles, the gear heads are all caught up in "sound" - but folks respond to the "emotion" of the MUSIC - not the sound of the system.

To wit;

The truly troubling aspect of this oft-repeated observation is not that people react differently to the same musical stimulus---that's only to be expected. But when several listeners each play music they like on the system, their reaction should be more uniform. But it isn't. What irks me is that, while we seem to be able to agree pretty well on how a system sounds, there seems to be no consistency of emotional reaction to this sound, even though reaction to the same music played live would probably be reasonably consistent. Putting it another way, there is no easily ascertainable relation between component sound and emotional response.
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/features/203/index.html#88ExbAqVFf27DxTt.99

Go to the link and read the article - not more blabbering about gear silliness - actually in an interesting investigation into what we, emotional beings that we are, are actually responding to.
 
I’m not a car guy . Drive Accords . Once owned a Camaro . But a few years ago my boss who is a Mecedes Benz nut took me for a ride in his 2003 AMG 2 door with 535 hp. Went from 0 to
85 in about 3 seconds . I needed to get out lol .
Sounds like when I drove my client's 911 Turbo. I had joked with him about bringing it to work on a day I'd be around so I could performance test it. The freeway was right by their office. He had me punch it going down the on ramp. It scared the crap out of me! I didn't even drive it hard after that and just gave it a few rather brisk accelerations here and there. That initial launch messed me up. Then he took the wheel and drove it like I wouldn't dare. When I got out of the car, I was trembling. That car exceeded the threshold for me. I like to drive a car to near its limit, but that car's limit was stupid.
 
Just one of those things that hit me lately.

I was sitting in the family room last week, looking at my equipment. Then it strikes me.... when did I last fire up my system? It's been at least a month..... maybe two. Maybe longer? Lack of time is not an excuse as I'm retired and have the house to myself around 6 hours a day .

So.....what gives?

My 25 year old self owned 'lesser' equipment but I was always listening. Fast forward 40 years, and even with having upgraded equipment and more source material..... not so much. In fact not much at all.

Like many others my hearing has gone downhill somewhat. But in spite of that I can still listen to a system and hear subtle changes, differences between tubes, cables, hell even power cords. So bad hearing isn't an excuse.

Now this is not saying that I'm lacking music in my life. For whatever reason, most of the time, I have music playing in my head. Sometimes things I've heard, other times music that my brain seems to have created. Sometimes a mix of the two. Occasionally it's so prevalent that I can't 'shut it off' and get to sleep. It's playing as I type this.

It's really got me thinking. If the newer (to me) and better equipment is not increasing my desire to listen or my listening enjoyment, maybe I'd be better off selling a bunch and dropping back to the level I owned back in my 20s?
Back in the 80's and 90's I had a nice system with ESS AMT 1B monitors bi-amped with a Hitachi Class G 200 WPC amp for the woofers and Hitachi 100WPC Mosfet for the tweets. The low end amp blew a channel back around 2000 and I just threw it in the trash, no questions asked (yeah, that was a mistake). I still have the rest, except for the speakers, but have also acquired all sorts of seventies separates since those days. I will swap them out from time to time.

I still use th ol' turntable, and amps which run a pair of mini-Advents I picked up at an estate sale, and a KLH subwoofer I picked up at Costco for $99. I blew it's 10" speaker but had an old 10" PA speaker laying around and it seems to work fine. And this whole setup sounds just fine to me.

No, I didn't suddenly have to sell anything. I just got out of what we musicians call "GAS" (Gear Acquisition Syndrom). I'm 64 now, and really don't need to have the absolute best Hi-Fi now. In fact, a good analogy of what has happened to me is what happened with my Scion FR-S. I put the stickiest street legal tires on it I could find and am driving 150 miles every workday, about half of it on beautifully maintained backroad twisties. And I don't even think about cops, if you get my drift. I've been through seven sets of tires in my 142,000 miles, but have yet to replace the factory brakes.

But all the drifting, etc. has just gotten boring. I just want to enjoy the scenery more than enjoy the driving. I've mentally moved on. Give me an old chevy that is reliable and gets good gas mileage and I'll be happy. I know, because sometimes I drive my first gen Scion xB with severe deer damage to work and it's absolutely fine.

And the same thing has happened to me with hi-fi. I've just sort of lost most (but not all) of my inner audiophile and am more into what music/sound is being played through it, rather than the quality of the system itself. As one ages, priorities change. And frankly, I've always been one to really get into a hobby and eventually move on. It never goes away. It just becomes something I enjoy for myself in a deeper, and less flamboyant way. This includes:

Car racing
Bicycling
Softball
Photography
Bass playing
Hi fi
Motorcycling

All of those things have been the single most important extra-curricular activity in my life at any given time, and eventually became less important, but never fully went away - and never will until I stop breathing. I think you are experiencing the first hint of it regarding Hi-fi.
 
I'm in a similar situation.

I started years back with a single receiver and fell in love with the sweetness of vintage marantz.

Now I have a multitude of receivers, amps, etc in a tri-amped with an active crossover. Its a lot of work now to just listen to music. I have multiple power buttons to turn on, I have to manally plug in my dbx pa2 crossover. I just want to go back to a simple, passively crossed ver setup with just one power button.
 
Ohighway
I'm glad to see everyone chipping in with advice an encouragement. I believe you have summoned some reservations in all of us , whether it's admitting to ourselves this hobby "collection" has gotten out of control or that we don't get the same thrill that we used too. An that's ok, so don't stress over it please. We can all burn ourselves out on something very quickly without ever knowing so. Just remember your music will always be there; on your stereo, in your mind, whenever you want an however you want it. It's yours for the takin. Now I mean this with all due respect an only in a positive way, but might I suggest even taking a healthy break from AK or any audio forum for that matter? I know for me I can stare at the screen and get lost in threads for large parts of the day and then in the evening when I'm bored I pickup my phone to look some more! In disgust I don't and put the phone down or whatever. I love music and I love vintage audio but my eyes and mind can only take so much of it at any given time. Just something to think about, we certainly don't ever want to lose you but you certainly need to take some time to yourself to relax an ponder with no distractions or influences that may or may not be biased my friend. Take care and good luck on your journey!
 
After playing around with much equipment, I have settled on my Sherwood S8910. Lesser compared to McIntosh, Sansui, Pioneer and others. Back where I started, with Sherwood. Give it a try.
 
Sounds like you're chasing thrills. You're more into the wow of something new rather than the actual listening. I would bet that a great many here are doing the same thing. They have rooms full of equipment as they're constantly chasing something better, yet they simply aren't listening for the enjoyment of listening anymore. In my case, I think age has something to do with it. I'm like you in that I always have music in my head, but I simply don't listen now (at 50) like I did 20 years ago. I started adding equipment a few years ago, but it hasn't changed my listening habits. I still totally appreciate great sound systems, but I have come to realize I'm becoming more like a car collector who doesn't drive his collection.

My original intention was to catch and release as I found something better. I have great patience and have a knack for finding good stuff cheap. I was supposed to buy low, sell high, and constantly improve my system until I got into really high end stuff. Right now I have a basement full of stuff I bought for low, but I haven't moved any of it out. I've come to realize I'm not really interested in getting to that level where I get into that limited production, really high end stuff. I'm not interested in sitting down and truly enjoying music like I used to. I'm more driven by the get. It's all about finding that $50 pair of speakers that sell for $800 on eBay.

After seeing this thread yesterday, I decided to fire up the equipment that I had used for 25 years before embarking on this journey. I definitely heard a difference from what I've been using lately. I initially didn't care for what I was hearing. My ears adjusted after a few songs, and suddenly I was enjoying listening to that equipment as much as anything else I've acquired.

Perhaps it's a combination of all of these factors. Our ears adjust to pretty quickly to anything we listen on, so we hunt for the thrill of something better/different to try to capture that feeling of something better. Unfortunately, our ears quickly normalize the new stuff and we continue the cycle. Add to it that perhaps we're not into music like we were when we were younger, or that we're more interested with the hobby itself than listening.
I see a lot of myself in this post.I will say though that the music is still very important.
 
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To be perfectly honest I have no idea what sound im looking for. I saw Rush doing their 2112 tour in 1976 at the Allen Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio I have been hearing impaired since. I think its time to pick what equipment has been truly trustworthy and sell the rest.
 
I'm of the sell two buy one methodology. and upgrading if and only if there's a sonic
benefit. then consolidate (do you need 100 copies of AJA?), digitize, and store
on the upcoming portable DAPs with TBs of storage almost enough for (one copy only)
the entire recorded classical music to date.
 
As other have said, interests also change, and I have discovered the joys of an electric mountain bike which has kept me out on the trails way more than the old bod would have allowed with my old bike.

I was going to try that, but couldn't find an extension cord that was long enough.
 
A couple of posters have brought up the subject of automobiles as a comparison to music. I can relate to this.

I've had some nice vehicles in my time. A Corvette, a '73 Cougar convertible that was a real beauty, and others. But I enjoy driving my Chevy truck (a bit on the old side) a lot more.

The other vehicles were terrific, but my truck is more like having another friend. And don't get me started about my old tractor! I feel the same way about my current stereo.

I've had high dollar Denon, Marantz and others. Also had expensive Paradigm speakers along with other more expensive speakers. But my Onkyo tx-8050 (bought cheap as a refurb from A4L) and Craigslist PSB alpha B1s (bought for a cool $100) bring me more pleasure.

There is a real "comfort" factor at play in both cases.
 
If better gear does not increase enjoyment, then you listen to MUSIC and not GEAR.

I listen to MUSIC and GEAR and as such derive enjoyment from both.
 
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