Apart from catching it, my work has been totally normal through the lock downs etc. It's just that I look like Neil Armstrong going about. Had I been on furlough perhaps being at home for months may have sparked some hi end interest in my portable units but I have only needed to bump up my can's. If I don't have the time to enjoy them, why do I need to get a new Dap and dac/amp, a new laptop with a cd drive etc, what I have now is just fine. Just the ability to socialize is a tremendous blessing, and more than enough.

I think the ability to socialize will give exactly the perspective you mention. When that's happening, one doesn't necessarily think too much about upgrades. On the Thursday before last I spent a couple of hours on a phone call with a friend from church which moved to Zoom at her suggestion. She sent me the client, which I installed, and we continued the conversation that way. It ended up being a jam session of sorts, as we listened to tracks from her streaming service and my iTunes. She's a musical omnivore, and I was a bit amazed that she's a metalhead! (I'm not, but I may try to listen to some metal now).

But my new Transparent Premium power cords are here, as of yesterday. While I wasn't excited exactly, I did have a sense of anticipation. I connected the Premiums, and putting on my Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague Bu-ray, I noted the occasional bit of detail I hadn't heard before, such as attack and decay of a piano note, crisper-sounding transients on marimbas, and a perception of greater dynamics on the bottom, especially during the "Man of Steel" track. These are not earth-shaking differences, but I noticed them; and enough to make me wonder if moving from my Transparent Plus ICs to Super would yield any further benefits. Just as I know the Premiums are a stopping point, so would the Supers be. What yesterday's experience has done is revived the IC upgrade notion, though the Plus ICs are fine; Transparent rates the Premiums as compatible with either IC.

I need to live with what I have for a bit before going any further; spending more money isn't ideal at the moment. Perhaps I'll learn to appreciate this new combo of Plus/Premium; even more so if I can have company, which will take my mind off upgrades for a while.

due to the pandemic I spend a lot of time home. work then home, mostly because my wife is a nurse and has to deal with it everyday. she believes by staying home and avoiding people that aren't smart enough to stay home when they are sick is the way to go, i agree. in doing so i have a chance to listen to either one of my rigs daily. both 2 channel setups and both setups have been completely changed from the days i started to put them together. i think in this hobby there is always something bigger, better, faster, so to speak. but at some point you just have to sit back and smell the roses, i guess that's the point I'm at in the journey. if something fell into my lap i couldn't resist, i guess i'd pull the trigger. but at this point its just listening and enjoying. at this point its more about discovering new music than chasing better equipment.

I do the same job, and espouse the same philosophy. Two days off soon, and then I shall play dear old radio 3 and it's world music and jazz podcasts. I can hear the little blighter now. Mid fi for the wake up call only now, it lies bereft.

A minor milestone this week: I paid off my turntable. Now, can I show it some respect and appreciation by playing it more? We'll see.

It's sad how those of us with so many great audio devices cannot truly appreciate how fortunate we are to have what we have. 1/2 of the 8.2 Billion on the planet live on less than $3.00/day
https://i.imgur.com/PwIbbjO.jpg

As I get older and life moves forward, perspective changes. I'd like to think it will be ok to retire in 2 or 3 years, and have begun to think about what I'll do with that. Probably not obsessing over some of the things I do now.

Having squeezed in a couple more hours with my system recently, I realized I was, again, engaged with what I was watching (another blu-ray). And I wasn't paying particular attention to the sound, but to the music. That tells me what I have is good. I was experiencing the music, not just listening to it. Fortunately, I can't afford to go off and spend tons of money on things that might be an improvement, but even if I could, there's an underlying sense that what I have is good and should be enjoyed. If I just couldn't help myself, I might revisit the Super ICs and the Salamander racks. But because of my first paragraph, I'm in no hurry to go there. These are first-world considerations, surely, and I have more important things to attend to, life things. I'm hoping to place the focus on what is necessary, and let everything else fall into place behind that.

Your Mirage M3si speakers are hidden gems in todays audio world.

Interesting thread. I think the question of appreciation of your system is a really important one. Lack of draw to a system may point not to your mind set or point of view, but a system problem. Overall we are an analytical group that have developed and used highly specialized skills to evaluate and put together systems… I’m guessing many of us over many decades. I now think we may have been our own worst enemies. That skill of carefully identifying little nuances of sound that deviates from “perfect” in itself. Carefully tuning each facet one by one may in fact have driven the music out of the system. I remember coming home from work most nights an trying to squeeze in an hour of listening. I would close my eyes and take great satisfaction as the venue was painted in unbelievable detail. It seemed I really enjoyed my system. But when I retired and had more time to listen… I would sometimes listen for an hour… that’s all. My system wasn’t a magnet like it was when I was stressed out from work or craving time to appreciation my creation. It was not drawing me to it.

Let me cut to the chase. I figured out there was something missing… it was the musicality. I changed nearly my entire system to a warmer less analytical sound… I got the music back. It is still detailed, but it is not in my face… it has tremendous rhythm and pace. I now spend two or three hours a day… and never have enough time, never. The moment I have a minute I run down to listen… and it isn’t to listen to my system, it is to listen to the music.

Yes, and I know I'm not getting everything they're capable of because of the room they're in and the system setup that necessitates. They're the second-oldest part of my system (the first is the SME 309 tonearm on the turntable). The soundstaging isn't as deep and 3-D as I heard at the original audition; that could frustrate me if I let it, but I try to not focus on that. Other than Definitive Technology, I don't know of anyone who's making bipolar speakers. I like the concept. I hope the Mirages last quite a while longer.