It’s like fishermen who don’t really fish to catch fish or relax, they just love the kit. Also cyclists with super bikes that weigh nothing. If you want exercise, get a 70’s racer and push the pedals…
I get to see these people all the time, and then I see a kid on a tricycle or a kid with a stick, string and hook having the time of their lives…
Each to their own but there is a plot out there 
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My mate told me to F off when I pointed out his “get fit” bike would really be better off without titanium and carbon fibre.
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Bedroom guitarists are bad for this. Agonizing over the differences in picks, strings and everything else. They also buy pristine pro quality instruments they then proceed to play badly. A subscription to Guitarist magazine is mandatory for these guys. 
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I know, the musicians who can play them, can’t afford them… that’s the final irony
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Have you ever been on a roadbike for more than 100 miles, even 50 maybe? There has been a tremendous progress in comfort, power transfer and geometry since the 70’s. Getting fit is not the same as punishing yourself.
As with all hobbies, be it audio, fishing, biking, hiking or collecting stamps for that matter, fiddling around with equipment is part of the fun. An audiophile telling a biker he is spending too much on his hobby bying unnecessary equipment, any idea how strange that sounds?
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You get the drift of my thoughts, just having fun as people often go too far.
On the bike front, I have a friend who is recovering from Cancer and has taken to cycling in a big way. The joy on his face as he showed me his almost new condition 70’s racer he was given to save it from the dump.
He was doing 50 miles a day on that thing and feeling very proud, like vintage Hi Fi if you like and he attracted admiration from the super bike crew
Horses for courses…
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A master photographer was holding a workshop on fine art printing. A roomful of people all sitting at their laptops, hands quivering over the mouse. Tell us, o master, what settings we should use for best color management in Photoshop. He said, I want you all to stand and hold your hands up. They did, a little awkwardly, like a revival meeting. Ok, now put your hands down, and sit on them. Now look at your picture. Think of its message, its purpose, its destination.
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That’s great. As a pro photographer, I see a big issue with amateurs now that the consumer cycle has sped up. It’s impossible to get any consistency, or learn how to get better, if one is changing out their gear every six months. Similar to constantly tweaking your audio gear - yes it’s fun, but one can easily lose sight of any sort of baseline.
Many moons ago I dated a woman who fancied herself becoming a photographer. She was leaving for a Mary Ellen Mark workshop in Mexico and all she had was some consumer zooms. I loaned her a 35mm 1.4 manual focus lens which she accepted hesitatingly. When she got there, Mark took one look at her equipment, told her to leave the zooms in her luggage and all she would be allowed to use was the 35. It made her better (and she dumped me on her return). Most often simpler is better. That Taiko server is totally overkill - much better suited for processing photos or video than serving up an audio file and even then, much better options for a lot less $.
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I remember a renowned photographer being interviewed on BBC Radio 4 some time ago, name forgotten… but when asked what would be the best camera to use, he replied… The one you have with you.
I sometimes take snaps on my phone as I’m out and about during this lockdown and post them on a local Facebook group page. The response I get is phenomenal from people who remember the places or can’t get out etc.
I would do more but I have to acknowledge every reply in some way and that is time consuming.
Some fancy phone you may ask? Nope £180 Motorola G10 Power.
Now I know these pics would not stand scrutiny if enlarged etc but they do what’s needed in the nature they are delivered, and as already said… the response is startling to me.
Horses for courses
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This is another bugbear, enthusiasts going over and over with tweaks to hear a slight improvement (sic) on brothers in arms or whatever test disc is in vogue.
So many of these albums have been so overplayed as to lose any of the impact or joy they ever had.
There is so much great new music out there and all these musicians have lost all their income recently, so for the cost of some of these (so called) improvements and tweaks you could do yourselves a favour and spend the money on new music, follow new artists get involved with promoting them and get a break from the tired and tested.
You can always go back to them but if you take my advice properly, you will rarely want to. Also, you will realise your systems are absolutely perfect and they always were…
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When the Leica M9 came out, the high iso quality was disparaged and many users said they would never dare to shoot over ISO 640. Of course with every firmware upgrade there were users who swore the higher ISO’s were improved despite Leica insisting no such changes had been made. In large part I think that was due to the fact that users would then ‘test’ them after the upgrade and discover that in fact it wasn’t as bad as they had been led to believe. I had no problem using them all along - in fact I once showed an ISO 2500 shot to a Leica rep and he couldn’t believe just how good it was!
Also, we are now in peak allergy season - I know if I rub my ears the sound is suddenly improved. Q-tips or a trip to the doctor can be cheap upgrade (well, the Q-tips at least). Also, cut out the dairy, sugar and booze and one can extend ones’s listening pleasure - potentially for years!
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@Charles_PetersonYou lost me at giving up the booze.
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LOL. Yeah, that can make ANYTHING sound better.
Great idea to split this topic off mods, so when I hear of the Uber price tweaks people use and the perfection we chase, I like to remember, we came from here…
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But even then you would chase a Nakamichi 
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And these …
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Tried them out, but stick with Chrome cassettes 
Dirk
I have a friend who still uses Chrome Cassettes for his recording (Home Studio) I look out for them in Charity shops etc, buy them for very little and donate to the cause. In return he digitises vinyl for me if I ask. Win/win
He likes his vintage gear and keyboards
This one completely restored and tuned by Roy Gandy at Rega He like noodling or Fettling
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I always hated compact cassette. I couldn’t ever dream of affording a machine that didn’t utterly butcher anything replayed on it. Later on I was able to pick up a cheaper twin head Nakamichi for virtually nothing because the owner was about to move house and skip it. It sounded OK and recorded quite well. My mate has it now, he has a vast cassette collection and hoovers up metal tapes like they were “his precious”!
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