The “age” thing was more about me wanting less stuff than anything to do with the “experience” or “rituals”.
10 years ago … a visible, well organized/curated, nicely presented “collection” (be it my CDs, LPs or books, etc.) was a “thing” for me.
Today?
Get that shit out of here …
And we had album covers. And sometimes booklets that were pretty big. Pop-ups like in Jethro Tull’s Stand Up album, or 3D pictures like on the Stone’s Their Satanic Majesties’ Request, or even Funkadelic’s Mothership Connection.
Don’t forget the giant “rolling paper” in Cheech and Chong’s Big Bamboo
Who to reply to? @chrisnyc75 @Torq @ktc @Bookbear we’re all right. Yes, I have a pretty nice turntable and 30+ linear feet of vinyl collected over the years. And maybe a couple hundred CDs and a trusty Rotel player wired into my system. But I’m usually streaming. I like the access it gives me to explore new, and to play a few select older cuts without having to grab Savoy Brown or Bonzo Dog, or whatever old vinyl I have. But the vinyl does get played more than CD - thats the one format I could eliminate and would miss the least.
But not music DVDs. I only have a few, but they are concerts I REALLY like, and the video plus good audio is worth it. And I haven’t found much streaming of high quality audio plus video.
I do like vinyl, but it gets less than 1/10th the play time of streaming. Am I fooling myself about the sound quality vs well done high res? I don’t think so. It’s not all about sound quality.
It MIGHT be about the pink vinyl on this Henry Mancini soundtrack album…
Do enough streaming, and that can offset the monthly fees. But there is something to actually owning the music so you can listen as often as you like in the future w/o paying again… and again…
Well, I’m an old fart. I have been on a downsizing kick for the past year… much less ‘stuff’. But the CDs have stayed. Mind you, several years ago I ripped them all to FLAC files. I still buy the odd CD, but most purchases are digital downloads. So I am somewhere towards the middle of the ‘pure physical / pure digital’ spectrum. I suppose I could dump the discs and keep the booklets…
Which is precisely how I’ve ended up where I have 2000 CD’s in addition to LP’s, Cassettes, FLAC Rips & LMS Streamers. So many people have dumped their CD’s on the local Thrifts that I have been able to be picky about what CD’s I buy and still ended up with a huge collection.
I don’t Internet stream because I don’t feel the need to, I won’t hesitate if I do however.
Mark Gosdin
I had a similar moment a while back.
One day I woke up, walked through the living room with the home theater, projector and electronics and speakers everywhere, and felt like I was living in a Circuit City store.
Now it’s all gone and I watch movies on an iPad. Who knew?
I did a cd ripping project and when listening to the rips I found myself in an unexpected “Wait - Why do these tracks sound better?”
I didn’t try to track down what exactly seemed different but I was surprised to notice a difference with not super high end gear.
@chrisnyc75 @Torq @ktc @Bookbear @pennstac @mgosdin @NickZ
Acquiring music to listen to is different from acquiring physical media to find, hold, store, show, trade, and admire. There are two separate hobbies here: music appreciation and object collection. If the collecting desire fades (i.e., physical media), one is merely attracted by the quality of the music. And most of us tire of recordings after 1,000 plays…
While I never got into vinyl (as a PITA to keep clean, avoid scratches, store, etc.), I did go through a CD collecting/hoarding era. I’ve got a bunch of CDs still, and some are rare/out-of-print so surely of collector interest.
A few years back I ripped my CD collection (for the second time) with Exact Audio Copy. It checks against a database so you can know if your physical disc has flaws that are unfixable. I discovered (1) physical CDs have many flaws (i.e., 5%+), and (2) with the rise of streaming many tracks and albums experienced stealth remastering. [Dirty stinking Apple lied to me / did not detect rip errors, hence the second rip session.]
Sometimes the stealth remastering is for the better (i.e., zero errors) and sometimes it’s just louder and flatter than the old 1980s to 1990s releases. After testing 10 or 20 rips vs. streams back to back, most of the streaming versions were way, way, way better than my Exact Audio Copy rips.
Understand what hobby is happening. Understand that most of the joy of buying happens in the shopping phase and early use phase. Then it becomes a bulky way to store a memory. Enjoy whatever you do.
I have both hobbies happening. Always have. Music, Media, Gear. I refuse to pick a “favorite”. 
That said, I think there is an argument to be made that assuming the music is separate and apart from its presentation package is debatable. For casual artists, sure. But for those artists that really go the extra mile to create something special, the cover art, liner notes, insert(s), even the slipcase/packaging can be a very real part of the holistic experience. See also: Pink Floyd (cover art), John Coltrane (liner notes), Bjork (numbered litho inserts), etc. For that matter, I’m not sure you could fully appreciate Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” without seeing the liner notes, handwritten by the man himself.
And btw, I’ve been a huge proponent of dBpoweramp for years. The best solution for perfect-copy ripping and file management. 
It is because you understand the magic…the magic has you my son. 
Simplify, simplify… (channeling my inner Thoreau) 
I think you’re on the wrong forum for that! 
Welcome to Germany
FI-NA-LY
So the first one out of two arrived, and gosh it’s a beauty
And the first listing impressions are:
Beautiful, congrats
Mike
Now this is what the hobby is all about. So what was the wait time on this headphone? Looks absolutely incredible.
Almost two months……… quite OK.
I still wait for the LTD Zebrawood Atrium, they should be here by the end of next week.
Those are just stunning. I love the green ( full disclosure, I’ve always liked green ) the colors that ZMF gets from the woods they use are something special. It doesn’t hurt that the Headphones sound good too. 
Mark Gosdin
I’m also a big fan of emerald green and/or burgundy.
Due to the outstanding sound quality of the Caldera, I’m currently considering whether to buy the closed back version of the Caldera when Zach releases a stabilized version in one of these colors.
Last Time he had this Wonderful Atrium closed Back available:
