I opened my spreadsheet, where I keep track of what I have spent on this hobby for hardware, and the list price of the entire current system (exclusive of tax but inclusive of all upgrades/mods I may have done; and with prices as of when the components were purchased) is a hair shy of a staggering number. Are we addicted? Can we convince ourselves we are still "rational" people? Are we restless? Egotistical? Do we have our priorities straight? Is it really worth to you the amount of money you have spent? Where does it end...
Soul searching, eh? Well, I don't have any idea what you call a "staggering number" Ack, but I would take some comfort in knowing that there are hobbies out there that would probably knock your staggering number to its knees. I once worked with a young guy, nice guy, humble guy who, once I got to know him well, revealed that his dad owned some kind of "manufacturing concern" in the northeast, and his hobby was collecting restored vintage Rolls Royces.
The rest of your individual questions deserve individual responses...
Yeah, probably. Everything is an addiction these days isn't it? Surely compulsive shopping qualifies.
Can we convince ourselves we are still "rational" people?
Oh, absolutely. Humans can rationalize almost anything.
Are we restless? Egotistical?
You and your guru will have to answer the ego question. Are you restless? How much buying/selling/trading/"upgrading" have you done in the last 5 years? Can you
really justify it as "upgrades?"
Do we have our priorities straight?
Trick question. Is anything not getting funded because of your audio habit? What's it getting prioritized
above? For all I know you're a very wealthy man who can spend a staggering sum on audio without re-prioritizing anything. Not even his charitable contributions.
Is it really worth to you the amount of money you have spent?
To get a good answer to this question, you have to very carefully define the "hobby." Is the hobby music? Because I think the odds are very good that most of us here have spent many times what is required for very good, pleasant,
musical (heh, heh), even accurate within reasonable limits, reproduction of our recordings. If the hobby is music, I'm afraid the answer is probably no, it's not worth a "staggering sum." If the hobby is researching, understanding, shopping, buying, experiencing, selling, trading, upgrading and talking about audio gear, it might be worth it. But only you know if you get that much pleasure out of the gear. If you have told yourself, or are about to tell me that all of that researching, understanding, shopping, buying, experiencing, selling, trading, upgrading and talking about audio gear, in staggering numbers
is about the music... Go up a few lines. Re-read the part where I said humans can rationalize almost anything.
Where you end it.
Tim