Change your power supply

[buybeach]

I was pretty happy with my brand-new Wiim Pro, until I tried playing a high-definition download of a record with a lot of bass content. Sounded like my speakers we destroyed. I redirected the digital output to another DAC I own: content played fine. I was somewhat bothered about this but the next morning a light bulb went off in my head. I rerouted the USB cable from the 2.4 amp (POS) power supply that came with the Wiiim Pro to a 30 amp USB supply. Voila, that track and all other since have been decoded without any weird behaviors. I am sure that this gadget doesn't draw anything like 30 amps of course, but a robust power supply makes a big difference.

 

[Brantome]

Maybe the takeaway is that if room treatment isn't feasible for the reasons you mentioned, spending any amount of money attempting to make any effective auditory difference at all by upgrading electronics is a fool's errand. It would be akin to upgrading the audio system in an open John Deere tractor.

Upgrading speakers, sure. But electronics not so much.

I don’t think I’d necessarily go that far, all I’m trying to say are that there are practical, real life constraints to what a lot of us can actually do to improve our listening experience. Even with less than perfect room acoustics, I’d still suggest that changing a particular component, say an amp or speakers, can improve the sound - maybe not as good as they really could, but still better. If we can’t control the big things, then I don’t think that negates trying the smaller things

 

[BowsAndArrows]

I agree with @cooky560 + @Balthazar B, optimizing speaker placement and room treatment (if possible) is probably the lowest hanging fruit for most people... however, imo, you can't treat a bad setup into a good one. (the same way you can't tweak one) The quality of the sound reproduction from your setup will still be the biggest determining factor for overall SQ imo.

And I agree with everything @Justrucking said too. But at the same time, for some of us - enjoying the hobby has a lot to do with gaining a better understanding of what's going on...

I'm not sure obsessing about your setup is mutually exclusive with enjoying the music! There's plenty of space for us geeking out on psychoacoustics and tweaking etc... And still just listening + enjoying.

If anything we listen more closely to stuff because we're obsessed!