Quick update after a week.  I have gone through a lot of my jazz collection so I thought I would listen to classical in more detail.  Classical is one of the genre's that always bugged me from a sound quality perspective.  I never thought my system was up to the task of reproducing the sound accurately and in a pleasing way.  The 2A3mk4 has been a very welcome step up.  Even the most complex and dynamic orchestral pieces never seem to get lost.  I still get that overwhelmed by sound feeling from a big crescendo, but not the "WTF is this I don't know what is going on" feeling. 

I am not a classical expert by any means but I have been enjoying the little details in the instrument's that weren't always there before.  I am specifically thinking of the resonance and vibration of the strings as a note is being played.  That is one of the things I hadn't always had before and it really adds to the experience for me.  I think it goes without saying that the soundstage of the 2A3mk4 is really made for orchestral pieces so I will only briefly mention that it is in fact awesome.

I have avoided listening to music all day at work like I normally do and that has stopped the fatigue that I was getting from the treble, which I will attribute to the Sovteks until I find out otherwise.  I am genuinely curious to see how the 2A3mk2 and mk4 go down at the SF meet this weekend, not from pirates, but from the landlubber's.  As I continually discover, the beauty of this amp is in the details.

I love my little Vali, but it doesn't get my heart racing like the 60 pounds of metal that is taking up my entire coffee table.  My girlfriend came home on Sunday, looked at the table and laughed at how ridiculous this thing I had been coveting for 8 months was.  That is the joy of audiophile craziness.

A lot of the fun is chasing that next 5%.  As long as your need and desire for the next best thing doesn't take over from being able to enjoy the music I see no problem with it.  Just don't tell me you have tried 10 mid-fi DACs and they are all the same, then expect me to look at you with a straight face.  Maybe it is a recoil against overpriced crap and the hype machine.  I tend to think it is the rise of the inexperienced who don't know any better and never get a taste of the ludicrous audiophile excess.  If I had to wade through HF to try to find reliable information I would probably say "meh good enough" too.

I would love to have a local community like the ninja's to share experience's with, but the reality is it is quite rare.  My experience at the meet here was a bunch <25s with relatively inexpensive gear.  They actually did go goo-goo ga-ga for my HD800s, which was really fun...for me to see people enjoy them and for them to get to experience a taste of higher end gear.  I know a bunch of older guys in the area with high-end goodies who don't leave their houses and that is a shame for the community. 

I would love to have a local community like the ninja's to share experience's with, but the reality is it is quite rare.  My experience at the meet here was a bunch <25s with relatively inexpensive gear. 

I'm the one who organizes the local meets, but really it's small potatoes. One time we had two out of towners come by and there was quite an impressive spread of gear on the table (by my standards), but most of the meet is just guys hanging out. Sure we maybe talk the hobby for the first half hour or so, but it just veers into anything after that. I look at it as an opportunity to hang out with a group of friends that I don't see very often.

Any of my comparison stuff is usually done with just one other person as we flip between setups.

I sort of fall into the 'I'm done' pile, but I wouldn't call my still-yet-to-be-complete rig entry level either. Despite the fact that I feel I'm done, I still listen to anything I've never heard before, especially if it's new to market. At the latest Austin meet I listened to the most new-to-me stuff in one place since RMAF 2011. Chord Hugo, Leckerton stuff, LCD X, LCD XC, K812, LAu, Abyss, Liquid Cobalt, Cantata, iFi nano amp, AGD Master 7 (in a shitty setup), and many more. While it was all interesting, nothing save the LAu (perhaps) and Master 7 (bad audition) hold ground for potential future purchase. Still, it was valuable experience and it's a shame some people are complacent to the degree they don't even experiment anymore.

Sorry for continuing OT.