Oooh... kind of wish you started this thread in the new place because the topic deserves a longer life than the few remaining days left here.  Please redirect me if you did create one at SBAF.

I think most of us here can relate.  WRT the hardware, one of my favorite sayings has always been: "You can get to the point of diminishing returns quickly in this hobby - quite a few start out there."  (-Uncle Erik)  It seems almost common knowledge at this point that in the headphone world, something like HD600/650 + Schiit Magni/Modi (or even O2/DAC) is 95% 'there'.  I also think that many people (self included) are in it for the toys and we shouldn't be too ashamed to admit it- as long as you do admit it.  Attempting to go too far beyond the HD600/650 might be viewed as irrational by some; which means that even though you might say "I've had enough" at this point, there's a very good chance that you'll be back.  Personally, I've sort of hit that top end of the interest curve and I'm less inclined to buy new things.  And it's not a bad place to be.  But I'll always keep one eye open to see what's out there and be eager to try things out if it's convenient.  Anyway, enjoy the rest of life and music- we'll be here when you come back.  ;-)

I was part of admin there, and boy, did I learn a lot. I feel that there's a similar thing going on here too unfortunately.

I'm not leaving or anything if that's what some people think. I just pretty much found my forte or so to say that I can live with rest of my life finally so to say. I know there is better and still will audition stuff when I can but, for buying stuff, I'm pretty done. After getting my altecs it has pretty much nailed the coffin for trying to achieve ultimate bliss in fidelity.

I love amps lot still and still will probably look into that stuff..but, for purchasing, only way I need an upgrade is for power requirement reasons but I think my current upgrade to my crown xti 4002 providing reasonable output of 2400w@8ohms mono and 3200w@4ohms mono is all I need for now and it works well under stressful and sagging power line conditions. The switch mode power supply design is well done enough to work adequate on sagging power voltages and still maintain full output. I'm also sucker for old school use of t03 outputs( that's why I went with crown again) and it has plentiful of them under the hood so, I'm good for now. It also provides good clean sound and I like the band manager features so, my time of amps has dwindled and have everything I need.

I still will look at stuff here and there and will enjoy it. Just stuff been same for me lately so been bored with it.

rexaeterna ever think about trying a passive preamp?  I upgraded to a nice power amp with passive pre and it made a big quality difference
edit: passive pre with stepped attenuator I mean, not pot

Haven't tried that yet but, maybe in near future. I was thinking of them before but, the amount of voltage headroom at the inputs(especially very weak sources) can sometimes be annoying and I use tons of multiple sources at once all the time at home, especially since my g/f is the big gamer and movie watcher so, my mixer becomes extremely useful. It's 9v max rms output is handy driving very weak sources and multiple/linked amps(I use 2 dedicated amps for different subs).

I will look into it though. I still play with audio stuff. Just things like speaker upgrades and amps I'm pretty settled for home. My redone altecs does everything I need it to do. Next goal is to actively try bi-amping them but, while I have the amps and crossovers I'll still wait cause I really don't feel like ripping out the big crossover box( it's like built-in external crossover box) and I like the sound of them. I also have more then enough amplifier headroom to make up any losses in the crossover to ensure better coherent phase response.

I will take your suggestion of course and try it out in near future. I just haven't bothered reviewing everything I experienced with in the past and now much...