My goodness, we are going down a rabbit hole!

Money has meaning, because if I want certain items to be part of an audio system, so that it can produce a standard of SQ which I'm happy with - the purpose of this thread - then if I'm a reasonable person I won't march into some place where such exists, tuck them under my arm, and walk out without 'negotiating' with someone about my right to do that. Exchange of goods and other things of value, to the individual, has to work under some mechanism; otherwise there is every chance of chaos ...

The criteria of comparison I use for deciding whether the "quality" is there, is that I find that the listening is satisfying - if it's not, and worse, aspects of what I hear are irritating, then it's a fail. Money is a means to an end - if the goal isn't reached, then irrespective of what value other people put on it, to me it is of little value - what those failed items can do is provide a means of 'negotiating' with others, to allow me to acquire items which I believe can do better ... you know, the whole concept behind money, .

You are in a rabbit hole, but there is a way out.

Care to describe that rabbit hole ... ?

Chasing a standard of SQ you would be happy with, for example. There are others too.

Ah, so the point is to put up with whatever standard of SQ you happen to have, and learn to be happy with that, yes? So, if I replaced what you have now with something I picked up for $50 at a yard sale, you would be content with that forever, correct?

9 hours ago, fas42 said:

Ah, so the point is to put up with whatever standard of SQ you happen to have, and learn to be happy with that, yes? So, if I replaced what you have now with something I picked up for $50 at a yard sale, you would be content with that forever, correct?

What is there has appeared in perception. What is -- is, there is no way to change or replace anything. Many years ago I had a tube reel-to-reel tape recorder in a wooden case, very inexpensive. I listened Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums copied from other people reels. Right this moment I'm listening to Les Arts Florissants streaming from Qobuz on a system which sells for thousands dollars. The world of forms is in endless change, nothing stays the same even for the briefest of moments. I am, unchanged, always and everywhere the same. 

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore ...

Home! And this is my room -- and you're all here.

I suspect you don't understand that working towards a goal can make you at least as happy, as being content with what you already have - if that weren't the case then, say, you might as well eliminate the Olympic Games; everyone should be perfectly okay with how their body performs, right now, without putting any effort into making it work better ... or, it's not about the destination; it's about the journey to that place ...

That's exactly right, thank you, I really don't have the slightest interest in the Olympics, which are little more than a parade of nationalisms and a contest between the latest advances in the chemical industry. 

How could such activities interest a liberated man? As Zen master Kodo Sawaki remarked: "It seems that human beings don't wake up unless we're compelled to compete for prizes. We're not ostriches; why must we run races? We're not seals; why the swimming contests? We're not kittens; why scramble for a ball?"

None of this is about understanding. It's all about knowing. We've been home since the very beginning and all the time, and we didn't really go anywhere. And only the restless mind, caught up in illusions and chimeras, keeps calling us to go somewhere.

44 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

How could such activities interest a liberated man?

Are you referring to yourself as 'liberated' perchance?

Yes. Every one is liberated, and you as well. Unless your mind tells you otherwise.

But that doesn't compute when brought alongside the Olympics. If the Olympics had zero interest across the globe then it would make sense. As it has greater than zero interest, there's a contradiction.

I note that this deep inner peace has come about but recently - only a bit over a year ago you said, in a post,

Quote

I don't remember the quality of the audio worrying me on vinyl days. Everything sounded quite natural. And only a few CDs could come close to that simple but hard to achieve analogue standard. The digital is inhumane. Yeah, pops and clicks were upsetting. It's a question of taste and the ability to adapt to natural wear and tear. Rubbed jeans are preferable to nylon pants, imho.

This sounds a bit more like it, ... liberation must have burst forth in a golden shower, over you ... not that long ago ...

It so happens that people do not know that they are free. And so they seek freedom, and they believe they're missing something, therefore they set goals to achieve. And they seek freedom where it does not and cannot exist -- outside, aspiring and fighting for things over which they do not and cannot have control. For instance they're trying to achieve "better sound".  Diseases of the mind have many different forms and manifestations.

3 minutes ago, fas42 said:

I note that this deep inner peace has come about but recently - only a bit over a year ago you said, in a post,

 

 

This sounds a bit more like it, ... liberation must have burst forth in a golden shower, over you ... not that long ago ...

It is useless to keep track of what happened to whom and when. In my case, it probably happened late, so many years wasted in the pursuit of mirages. In any case, thank you for following my posts so closely. When I forget everything I wrote before, there will be someone to ask.

I guess it escapes me what you mean by a golden shower. My experience of such things is nonexistent.

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 For instance they're trying to achieve "better sound". 

So you're saying those of us seeking 'better sound' have no control over the sound we get? Zilch, nada, null ?

3 hours ago, opus101 said:

 

So you're saying those of us seeking 'better sound' have no control over the sound we get? Zilch, nada, null ?

I say something else, but - yes, we don't have control over the results of our actions. For example: we can make a whole sequence of different changes and upgrades with a clear aim to make a serious improvement, but the end result will be a sound that will be less satisfying after all. 

A truly liberated individual has no need for distractions such as music nor the noise of sites like this.

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

I say something else, but - yes, we don't have control over the results of our actions. For example: we can make a whole sequence of different changes and upgrades with a clear aim to make a serious improvement, but the end result will be a sound that will be less satisfying after all. 

Yes, but the lesson here isn't inaction but non-attachment to the results of such actions.

2 hours ago, kumakuma said:

 

Yes, but the lesson here isn't inaction but non-attachment to the results of such actions.

You are entitled to want whatever you want and do whatever you do, but the outcome of your actions is not in your control. Аnd you even don't choose to be attached or non-attached to the results of these actions. There's no choice.

12 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

You are entitled to want whatever you want and do whatever you do, but the outcome of your actions is not in your control. Аnd you even don't choose to be attached or non-attached to the results of these actions. There's no choice.

There is always a choice although your mind may be telling you that you have no choice.

40 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

 

There is always a choice although your mind may be telling you that you have no choice.

Quite opposite, mind tells there is a choice.

4 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Quite opposite, mind tells there is a choice.

Yes, the mind is tricky.

Yours is telling you that you have no choice.

Mine is telling me that I have a choice.

The reality is that both and neither are true.

That's what I'm talking about, the mind is living an illusion. But I am not a mind, and neither are you. I know undisputed truth and you know, but in your case it is veiled by restless mind.