A simpler and cheaper system has increased my listening enjoyment

[Formula409]

As the title says, simplifying my system and using more modest components has improved my listening experience.

 

This was mostly driven by having a baby and deciding to shelve/sell my more expensive PMC (Twenty5.22) speakers and seperate integrated amp, DAC and streamer in favour of a Marantz AVR with a cheaper pair of Monitor Audio Silver series bookshelf speakers. Now I have less interconnects, less devices and stream from Apple Music and Roon over Airplay. My library is all redbook 16/44 so high-res support is a non-issue for me.

 

Love the Marantz sound. It's AKM DAC is very much to my liking and imaging / detail and tone is great. Added bonus is HDMI switching and full network volume control and streaming out of the box. The integrated and PMCs had more grunt and overall the sound was much better, but I've found this to be plenty good enough for me. Rather than faffing around with devices I now just sit down and enjoy music.

 

Wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience?

Edited July 7, 2021 by TwentyFive22
Grammar

[Antipodean Brad]

I've not had the same experience, but having a child seems to affect a lot of guys - they simplify, perhaps even "downgrade".  And then they find their joy in the family and listening to music, rather than in the "stuff" they have.

 

 

[Steve M]

When our first child (and two more) came along my hifi hobby took a rest for about 8yrs. No equipment pursued, bought or sold during this time which is unusual for me. Then one day I started doing it all again.

 

Enjoy the new addition to your family, nothing is more important.

 

Cheers,

 

Steve.

[genkifd]

im actually the opposite. when we had our son my audio system is my current HT system (Primare & Elektra with MA speakers) and sounded awesome. Until i purchased my Hulgich Dukes with Audio GD components. have not listened to music on my HT system since.

[Irek]

The opposite at my place as well. HiFi is unremovable. Of course furniture/stands had to be modify and closed headphones are used more often. But...

Happy husband, happy family. Not the other way around.

[sudioz]

My system stayed stable and cheap for about 12 years. It wasnt bad , krix speakers with NAD integrated and CD player. I plugged my phone to the integrated when streaming came along. But in last couple of years with kids older i sold all of that and went into relatively more expensive stuff including streamers, DAC and tube. But now i do have time to just listen without doing anything else, so its getting some good use.

[audiofeline]

Life changes, priorities change.

Life will continue to change for you as your family grows and your lifestyle changes.  Hopefully it's all good. Maybe there will be a time when the audio interest returns. 

[RussB]

Sometimes a more expensive system brings much higher expectations of sound quality that can be hard to meet or exceed.  A more modest system can be more satisfying in this sense even though sound quality is lower.

 

For me, the influence of kids varied with their age.  Early on, I was more worried about the kids pushing the speaker cones in, and I recall taping a limiter onto the volume control at one point.  When they were teenagers the focus shifted to home theatre upgrades for watching movies together as a family, and in the high teens the kids have started appreciating sound quality for music, and my main concern now is limiting use and ensuring the stereo is not played too loud.

[TheBlackDisc]

I’m with you op - mostly because it’s me who’s more forgiving of the system.

[Kaynin]

I see how it happens, and ensuring the system suits the needs and goals is the most important step in all of it.

 

My systems were growing as a single man and then in marriage, kids came along and they stayed stagnant for the first two years, then they've taken right off.  Now my kids love movies in the movie room, and dance like crazy ion front of my monos and Epitome towers.  I had fences in front of the gear for four years, I'm so happy I've removed those barriers now and the floor space is just more room to dance.

[Guest]

I went through a major simplification here, using a much simpler and cheaper setup and never regretted it.  It has led me to think about simpler setups.

 

Far too many people take the FOMO attitude of chasing the next upgrade of a component, a cable, a power supply, a capacitor etc.  As long as you are happy listening to music in your setup, that is all that matters...

[andyr]

28 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said:

 

As long as you are happy listening to music in your setup, that is all that matters..

 

 

Whilst that is the crucial thing, Snoops ... I suggest you are not considering people's mental 'state' (by which I mean: where do they sit on the spectrum of, at one end "being perfectly happy listening to a car radio" to the other end "always churning their gear, seeking nirvana - and never finding it"!

 

I have always loved listening to the system I had at the time ... but that doesn't stop me always seeking to optimise it.  That's just the "improvement gene" I was born with; other people don't have this ... what might be called a cursed gene!  

 

Andy

 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, andyr said:

Whilst that is the crucial thing, Snoops ... I suggest you are not considering people's mental 'state' (by which I mean: where do they sit on the spectrum of, at one end "being perfectly happy listening to a car radio" to the other end "always churning their gear, seeking nirvana - and never finding it"!

 

I have always loved listening to the system I had at the time ... but that doesn't stop me always seeking to optimise it.  That's just the "improvement gene" I was born with; other people don't have this ... what might be called a cursed gene!  

 

A good excuse blaming the genes ! 

 

I suspect that, by nature, people who are satisfied with their system post less. Look at how few threads there are, like this one.  The less satisfied are chasing the next big thing, and tend to be very active here and tend to dominate the discussion.  That is the nature of the beast called Hifi! 

[Formula409]

Wow, I didn't expect the level of conversation this would generate. It's very interesting.

 

A few other things I'd also like to note:

1) I listen now mostly at lower volumes and it sounds warm, smooth and detailed. I don't really crank it up that much. At higher volumes the gulf between the integrated amp and the AVR is very apparent.

2) The Marantz SR5015 and Monitor Audio Silver bookshelves (plus centre and surrounds) would not be considered cheap system by many (I suspect the majority outside of this forum would think it not cheap) so it's all relative depending on everyone's needs, wants and expectations.

3) Irrespective of where I end up in the future, I'm now a big fan of less devices and less interconnects. So if/when I do move back to an integrated amp I'd be looking for a device with DAC (and if possible streaming functionality) built in. Maybe I'll just add a power amp to the existing setup... who knows.

 

Fortunately my little boy (now 21 months) is pretty good at understanding what he's not to touch. No issues yet. Second one due in September though... let's see what happens

 

Chris

[Formula409]

2 hours ago, RussB said:

Sometimes a more expensive system brings much higher expectations of sound quality that can be hard to meet or exceed.  A more modest system can be more satisfying in this sense even though sound quality is lower.

 

For me, the influence of kids varied with their age.  Early on, I was more worried about the kids pushing the speaker cones in, and I recall taping a limiter onto the volume control at one point.  When they were teenagers the focus shifted to home theatre upgrades for watching movies together as a family, and in the high teens the kids have started appreciating sound quality for music, and my main concern now is limiting use and ensuring the stereo is not played too loud.

I'm very much looking forward to the boys being old enough for movie nights!

 

As for expectations, I agree. You spend a certain amount and expect a certain level of performance. In my case I'm certain room acoustics have almost always been my biggest limiting factor. I'm certain many have spent money on items looking for the next level and are ultimately constrained by this. I think it's about striking that right balance for your listening environment. My acoustic treatment is whatever furniture is in the room and whatever curtains hang on the walls - putting $1000s of dollars of gear into that room wouldn't realise their potential IMO.

 

In my case I know what I have now isn't as good sound quality wise as my previous gear, but it's not that much worse and is in fact still very good to my ears.

[Rosco8]

Always on-wards and upwards for me   kids, wouldn't be without them, all grown up now, but they really slow down the available income for 20+ years but do create some interesting hifi moments, like a call at work, when teenagers .. dad there are flames coming out of the top of the amp (multi channel)  .. sadly its still dead in my back shed

[Bunno77]

Could never do a common brand avr for music again but simpler and cheaper systems for sure. 

 

I even prefer some of the 'cheaper' amps within a brand

 

For the most part I run an all in one dac streamer pre into active bookshelves. Very happy with it for music and all TV/movie watching too

[anandpkumar]

1 hour ago, TwentyFive22 said:

Fortunately my little boy (now 21 months) is pretty good at understanding what he's not to touch. No issues yet. Second one due in September though... let's see what happens

 

Chris

 

Congratulations!

[hatch]

Totally. I also reduced and enjoy the music more than before.

I think the guilty feeling of spending too much on hi-fi didn't help. You are not alone. It is about the enjoyment of music after-all. Once that becomes less, it is time to rethink, as you did.

[lemarquis]

When I was in Tokyo for 2 years all I had was iTunes via a Mac laptop fed to a pair of Edirol active desktops. No sub. At that time, in that head space, I never felt I was missing anything. 

 

Necessity is the mother or redemption. 

[Galactic Soap]

I'm chewing over this exact scenario at the moment. With Covid resulting in my wife and I both working from home, soon to be joined by my kids experiencing a second round of home schooling, my main two channel system has sat untouched for close to two months. With both my wife and I taking calls through-out the day there's no sustainable way of enjoying the system.

 

I've moved my DAC into my study which is where my Headfi setup lives, and while that's all well and good, I've got nothing more than a shrine to high-fidelity mocking me every time I walk past my lounge. That's $35K worth of TAD excellence going unused. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm more than likely going to list the TAD's, along with the ancillary equipment and spend the money on something cheaper that won't make me feel quite as bad for only being used for background listening purposes. 

 

[vinilink]

All my equipment are modest and sticking with a kind of old school system. One set for living and another for working room. 

Turntable

CD player

Pre and Power amps

Analogue tuner

Standmount speakers (may add a sub in later stage)

 

For background music when cooking or doing the housework, my type of so called 'streaming' music is using mobile phone to play music through Bluetooth speaker is sufficient enough.

[Rustee]

On 06/07/2021 at 11:09 AM, TwentyFive22 said:

. Second one due in September though... let's see what happens

 

It's always the second one you have to watch!  

Certainly in my case it was....they are 21 and 19 now and this is still the case!

Edited July 7, 2021 by Rustee

[Rosco8]

1 hour ago, Galactic Soap said:

I'm chewing over this exact scenario at the moment. With Covid resulting in my wife and I both working from home, soon to be joined by my kids experiencing a second round of home schooling, my main two channel system has sat untouched for close to two months. With both my wife and I taking calls through-out the day there's no sustainable way of enjoying the system.

 

It will pass ... and then you will want that gear ... of maybe its the chase that you enjoy   I know I do

 

[Moikel]

@TwentyFive22 I know what you mean. It became financially necessary to very reluctantly sell my system recently and the interim replacement is a basic older streaming amp and speakers set up that cost less than 15% RRP of my original.

I’ve been delighted to find that there is still joy to be had from more modest equipment and I know a big part was a lowering of expectation that freed me to just relax and ......yes, enjoy the music, instead of that creeping tendency to listen to the system and continually plot how to improve it.

For me there’s been great liberation in knowing that there’s no tweaks  or upgrades possible for a while, so nothing to get distracted by. It’s been a great palate cleanser/reality check and I’m now grateful to have had this experience and to still have “good enough“ sound to enjoy.