For a very long time I’ve have considered my limits and have reached a hard but true point to live by. I understand I’m not a millionaire and I have a family and responsibilities. So the audiophile hobby isn’t a really smart hobby in relations to rational and logical actions to most. But I’ve been blessed enough to gain a few things in my life to fuel my passion in audio. The U12T is the highest point of mountain I’ve ever reached . This peak has revealed something to me that I didn’t think possible. It revealed that there is more to reach if you have the money to do so. Contrary to my belief of a diminishing return limit already being reached at around $500-$1000, $2000-$4000 IEMs still deliver more sound mastery past what I thought was possible and it’s not in small portions liked I always believed.
And as I stand looking over the peaks, seeing signs of even bigger worlds, I have reached something different in my journey that I have never reached before. I have arrived with the understanding that I can no longer afford to move forward to the next level. Not because I don’t believe that those levels will pay off in true sound differences at $4000+, but because I no longer can afford to move forward with getting them and yet continue to make logical decisions about my future in this hobby vs my responsibility to my household. Enough is enough for me because I need to be responsible, not because I found the best IEM in the world or because no other IEM will deliver something truly better than what I have with the U12T anymore, like I have claimed or thought in the past.
Nope, I fully expect and believe that IEMs like Empire ears Odin, Fir m5, or any other expensive IEM costing more than the $2000 price tag on the U12T will prove why their cost is higher and why they are better if I got them too. Just like the U12T did over my Monarch mk2 and the Monarch mk2 did over the Oracle MK2 and what it did to the Blessing 3, blessing 2 , etc, etc.
So my search is over, not because I found the greatest(I’m finally wise enough to know that’s never the case now) but because the next peak at $3000-$4000 is just not logical for me to take and be a responsible husband and father. And if that isn’t good enough, here’s the simple point; if I can’t be content with the U12T as my holy grail, I won’t be content with a $5000 IEM eventually either. The U12T is the single greatest IEM I’ve ever had. The resolution, bass, timbre, treble , tonality, soundstage and imaging is a complete evolution over everything I’ve had. And yet there are others that more expensive that others claim the same thing over the u12T. Why? Because no matter what you spend or what you get…
“There will always be something better that exists or that will eventually exist”…Precogvison.
This is how I ended up here today, only this time my wallet and my head says enough is enough. Truth be told, even landing here on a $2000 IEM( which I only paid $920 because I still believe no IEM is worth $2000 personally), some people can’t or won’t even go to that mountain for one reason or another, similar to me. Either way I’m very blessed to have the U12T, Monarch Mk2, Oracle Mk2 as my last three IEMs. Time to finally just sit down and just listen to music, which is the only reason this hobby is supposed to exist. Thank you all for standing by with me on this journey but I’m just not willing to move over to spending $3000-$4000+ for an IEM! I’m bowing out, this is where I draw the line …THE END!
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