Peter,
This is such an essential concept of our hobby and one that is rarely, if ever, talked about. Over time we generally buy components that are always supposedly better than the last (or else we wouldn't buy them, right?) But then it may occur later, we come to the uneasy awareness we took one step backwards or sideways rather than one step forward. And that, as we all know, is frustrating as hell. The main reason these mis-steps occur is expectation bias that the new purchase is surely better, and that is not easily overcome. Indeed when it finally occurs, we slap ourselves in the forehead and say "idiot, what was I thinking?".
Ah the joys of our hobby.
Thanks for reminding me I'm not alone here.
Marty
or, we own stuff very long term, and.......then......we upgrade within a brand and even then not in any knee jerk fashion but with much consideration. since we are not changing from a position of dis-satisfaction.
it seems it's more typical that after a period of exploring; most of us settle into our gear groove and then fine tune and tweak. the exception being digital and arms/cartridges. speakers, amps, preamps, tt's......typically long term choices.
lots of circular action finding our grooves, finding our reference, but then mostly linear directions. maybe there is a separate pathway for some who are wedded to brick and mortar dealer upgrade rhythms......but i'm not personally around much of that.
backward and sideways i think relates to a struggle to establish a clear reference/preference. or maybe trying to get a room to work or overcome some limitation and it not quite working.
at least among the audiophiles i interact with this looks like what happens. as far as tweak miss steps.......i'd agree most of us have a tweak drawer that hold lots of retired stuff. and we often re purpose those items. i see that as normal to the process of personal system optimization. as our systems are dynamically interconnected there is a trial and error method. or we delegate these decisions to some superior entity who clearly knows better.
and the most dynamic variable is, of course, ourselves. our expectations and even musical preferences evolve and adjust based on our feelings and exposure to new ideas.....or even lifestyle changes.
we try something, or move away from something, based on an outside influence.....then we reassess and maybe revert back to where our own feelings had brought us. this takes time. Peter's long and winding road.
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