This is a follow up on My Hi FI journey
I just want to share the status of my current “Hi Fi situation”, and maybe start some reflexion on our hobby (or life) in generel. Thank you for reading.
(condensed resume) Until now, or until I startet looking for new gear a few years ago, I bought a Hi Fi system (integrated amp, cd player and speakers) in the early 2000’s that worked perfectly fine. I tried a few different setups back then, and settled with what sounded best to me. This setup “lasted” probably 15+ years or so. What happened then, you can read about in the thread in the link above.
I couldn’t help it, and have since my “thinking period” purchased an integrated amp and a pair of speakers. I first found a as new 2nd hand Hegel H190 and secondly a pair of shop demo Monitor Audio GOLD 200. I paid well under half of the SRP in total for both items. When I got home with the speakers, I said to myself: “no more watching endless hours of reviews and reading tests online”. This is a sure way to get a nasty case of buyers remorse.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to dedicate som time to just listen to music. At first my mind kept wandering around with “what if…” thoughts about my new system. What if I bought the wrong speakers… What if I bought the wrong amp… What if _____ … You probably now what I’m saying. That went on for maybe 10-20 mins. Then something interesting happened - I startet listening to music. I noticed that all of a sudden I’d listened to 2-3 albums, without thinking about my hardware. I just wanted to listen to more music because everything just sounded so wonderful. My system made me want to listen more music. Then it hit me (it may be quite obvious in hindsite). It’s all about the music (or whatever hobby you might have).
When I was a teenager I listened to music every waking hour of the day. I did not have a fancy Hi Fi system, but what I did have or was getting, was the joy of listening to music. I had what I had, and got the most out of it. I think my experience yesterday taught me, that you can keep overthinking listening to music (or whatever the topic may be), or just do it and listen to music, go for a run, sail a boat or whatever it may be. Just do it instead of overthinking it.
I was introduced to an acronym the other day - JOMO: Joy Of Missing Out. It’s the oppersite of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which seems to be on top of the agenda for most people nowadays. Should I care what new DAC is released next week with a 0.1% increase in SINAD, or what new speakers hits the market with 2% better performance compared to some theoretical response curve? Nope. I should definitely not spend my time on such nonsense. What I should do is, spend time on whatever gives me enjoyment in life. I get zero to none joy of researching gear and tech. Only stress and buyers remorse. The only reason I do it, is because “what if…”. What if I bought something today, that would be worse than if I got this instead? And what if I did this instead of that? The list and stray thoughts goes on for an eternity.
What I’m trying to say is, that if I enjoy what I have, then I should stop seeking for the next best thing. There will always be something better or different than what you already have, but what you already got is adequate, then adequate is good enough. Or actually it’s not just good enough, it’s perfect.
Thanks 