Is this a hobby or an obsession?

My DAC journey moved in multiples of five. The Eversolo A6 Master Edition at about $1,000, the Rose RS150 at five times that, then the MCD12000 with a Rose transport and interconnects at five times again. That is 25 times where I started.

Then the obvious question: what happens if you go five times again? So I auditioned the dCS Lina, the Varese, a quarter of a million dollar system, and the $100,000 MSB Select. I sat there comparing them with what I suddenly called my cheap $25,000 system, and that sentence alone tells you what the multiplication does to you.

They were extraordinary, the closest thing to analogue master tape I have ever heard. But not 100 times better than the Eversolo; at that level it is not about a multiple any more. For my own digital chain, diminishing returns hit around $25,000, and everything beyond was wonderful, special, sometimes even magical.

That is when I had to ask it. Is this a hobby or an obsession? I asked it in public, and I will not pretend I have settled it.

My digital chain stops at $25,000 today. The word today is the most honest answer I have.