PhilNYC Wrote: > I also believe that small differences (say 5%) can be the difference > between something that is totally fatiguing and something that is > totally enjoyable....
Phil, I agree about "fatigue", but I think some of it is psychological, and could be filed just as easily under the term "audio restlessness". After tweaking a system so much, you kind of get used to the tweaking itself, and start to find more and finer faults with the system. I know I'm guilty of this, as well. My brother and my best friend have both accused me of being crazy for spending the amount of money I have recently on my stereo. Here's a thought experiment to illustrate my point. Imagine your original system, let's call it X. Now, you and a non-audiophile friend listen to X and form some positive impression. Your friend X goes out of town for six months, but leaves you to work on improving the system in the meanwhile. So, you go about making some upgrades, changing the DAC, amp, whatever. Now, let's call the upgraded system Y. Six months goes by, your friend comes back and listens to your system, and his impression is "Wow, that's great! How much did that cost? Oh, $10,000. Well, I guess it's worth it. Nice job, man". Indeed, you made some significant improvements, and your friend was impressed, but a little shocked by how much was spent ($10,000!). Well, your friend goes out of town again for several months, and leaves you with system Y, but you are still not satisfied (sound familiar?). There's still something bothering you, maybe bass is a little too thumpy, highs a little to edgy...This must be fixed, so you go about making some more tweaks. Upgrading to an even better DAC, amp, changing unbalanced outputs to balanced, changing cables, etc. Voila - System Z! Your friend comes back after several months, and listens to system Z, and his reaction, "Hmmm...Yeah, I think it sounds a little better. Hard to say, really. How much did you spend this time? $50,000!!!! OMFG, that's insande, dude! You are the man!" Well, needless to say, he couldn't really hear that much of a difference, but unlike you, he hadn't been living with the system all that time. So, the point is, sure, there are differences to be heard, but your "fatigue" may just be a natural pyschological tendency akin to simple unease or restlessness. Some people work out a lot to deal with that excess energy, some continually tweak their stereos. Does it make a huge difference to an outside observer? Probably not, but to you it does, and that's what really matters, I suppose. It's like when I was a kid and my mom would ask me how I liked her new hair-do, and I'd reply, "Oh, I didn't know you did anything to it, but, now that you told me, it's great! Now gimme some more of that ice cream, please..." I know this was truly too long a reply, but I wanted to get this rant off my chest. Flame away if you must. -- ezkcdude SB3->Derek Shek TDA1543/CS8412 NOS DAC->MIT Terminator 2 interconnects->Endler Audio 24-step Attenuators (RCA-direct)->Parasound Halo A23 125W/ch amplifier->Speltz anti-cables->DIY 2-ways + Dayton Titanic 10" subwoofer He's not hi-fi, he's my stereo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ezkcdude's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2545 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=22301 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
