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Well I would recommend hitting some shows or joining a local audio society. And never buy anything you can’t demo at home and return. My ‘rules’ above are just some generalities I’ve picked up over the years. The hard reality is that there’s tremendous variation from manufacturer to manufacturer. Hell, even within different options from the same manufacturer! Truly great equipment is rare and also subject to personal preferences. What I find great, others won’t.That is what was so eye opening for me when Jason and I did live show coverage at RMAF - we both were very experinced audiophiles and even using the same music in the same room, we often disagreed on how a room sounded! In fact we disagreed more than we agreed!My advice is to ignore price, ignore specs and ignore ‘buzz’ and just listen. Some gear will surprise you with how good it sounds. Most gear, though, will dissapoint you with how mediocre it is. Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to ‘reason’ yourself into liking gear based on design or specs or other preconcieved ideas. That is the road to heartbreak. Rather: listen listen listen! And do it with a skeptical, “I’ll believe when I hear it” mindset and you’ll end up with a very satisfying system.Oh, and start with speakers. Once you have a pair of speakers that you truly love the sound of, the rest of the gear becomes merely flavoring to hone the final sound.
You could do what I do and embrace DIY. There are some tremendously good kits out ther and the cost of admission is much lower. I built my Pass designed First Watt amp and not only does it kick butt, it also gave me the opportunity to tune the sound to how I preferred it. Preamp too. A friend built it, but I was heavily involved in the design decision and the tuning process. Now I have some of tge best gear on the planet, according to my own preferences and taste. AC iis also a good DIY resource, too.
Well Folsom you peaked my curiosity. I am not agreeing with it and this is why: of course instruments and voices can sound different in differentiated settings and that part is ok with me. Sound stage is secondary for me. As long as whether that instrument or voice can be depicted truthfully no matter where it is or how it's mixed, I'm good. I'm not looking for timbre as a generality. I'm looking at timbre for whatever the placement, be represented accurately.Your advice is heartfully appreciated. Lets say the source is a given and being direct stream, the recording excellent, the player excellent and now the amp. Let's even say that either tubes or ss, the bass is adequate for me. Will there be any more difference to an excellent source or recording as far as accuracy or to what makes things sound actual using one topology (tubes/ss) over another?
I believe both SS and tubes have pitfalls that manufactures fall into, that end up deriving a sound I don't like largely because it is artificial and strange. Is there some reason you cannot have a different console?
My approach to getting good sound is based on four major principles:1. Experiment, experiment, experiment! This requires changing out gear often (initially) until you settle on what you want. You can't know what sounds good to you unless it's in your system.2. Buy the best gear you can barely afford. 3. Invest in designers, not equipment. For instance, there's tremendous value in purchasing gear from the industry participants on audiocircle who designed it. 4. You need power! Power management is the foundation of a good audio system.
I've had the same feeling. I had an experienced audio guy tell me I need single ended. I've always used push/pull.
Start with the room (hopefully dedicated, the right shape/size, and acoustically isolated). Next pick out the speakers that fit the room and suit your tastes. Then select source(s) to match your lifestyle, physical involvement, range of selections, and likes. Finally find pre/power amps that serve the above gear best. Wire, various tweaks, and power conditioners (unless you happen to have severe power aberrations) are all very secondary.Most way overbuy gear for the given room. If your room is compromised, so will be your audio experience, period. Frankly that's why closed headphones were invented (another compromise but an 'honest' and less expensive one).Recommend keeping your system as simple as possible. Complexity add complications and cost. For instance after 40 years this found the value of not having an audio rack. Even a small rack disrupts the soundstage (I put all my gear on a leftover piece of shelving that is spiked to the floor which is flexible, makes swapping out gear easy, and allows for shorter wires). Agree with prioritizing on the vendor/manufacturer before a particular piece of gear and to home audition.
Cannot say for sure but depending on the codec used on smartphone the music is most likely compressed. When music is compressed some degree of harmonics is lost in playback. So if you want realism or live like stay away from streaming and devices that compress the music.An example of this is a Blu Ray pcm stereo track uncompressed at 48K which is one octave more than Redbook cd. Most cd are compressed, when comparing the compressed cd format to uncompressed Blu Ray the difference in realism is significant.
A computer allows you to listen to hirez files which cannot be done easily via discs. You need a good DAC that does the conversion of digital to analog. There’s tons of good ones. But it is definitely more complicated than using a cd player. To me, I am comfortable with computers so the step up in sound quality is definitely worth the step up in complexity.If you want outstanding quality in a simple and elegant solution, check out the Vinnie Rossi LIO - its outstanding. Easily the best room at RMAF this past year. Plus its modular and future proof. Very, very smart design, Vinnie is one of the few, true, innovators working right now.
Other than slipping a disc into a player, what are the advantages of "ripping"? Simply to call up music on demand? If an amp has no provision for modern play-back such as HDMI or whatever "modern" is considered, can any other playback method be carried from the player which has a dac?I've also been advised to get one of these things: http://www.psaudio.com/products/directstream-dac/Excuse my ignorance but I still have a flip phone and prefer it that way. BTW, I heard around 5 years ago that the cd disc was going to be dead. This seems to be a long death no?
Not sure I understand the question. I understand the convenience of using digital players and having all my music stored on a jump drive. I actually prefer using a digital player vs cd player, but the compact disc has been given a bad rap, which isn't true.IME the compact cd is capable of capturing the same sound as the supposedly superior Hi-Rez downloads. What we have gotten from the cd is compressed recordings, which isn't the fault of the medium. Music on a compact disc doesn't have to be compressed and the advantages of being able to copy and record with a cd should not be forgotten by the consumer. Which can't be done easily with vinyl or sacd.As for the direct stream dac, haven't heard it but believe there is merit to their claim. Still it is not a substitute for uncompressed recordings.
In order to use a dap, one must first have a digital library of music. If I had to play all of my cd's to gain this "library", I'd be stuck in the house for months. How much fidelity is to be gained seems negligible by your estimation. What I find unfortunate is that I cannot tell you now many cd's I've purchased simply for liking just one or two songs on that disc. It would be so much easier to simply pay a coupe bucks for songs that I like and play them somehow through my system. I guess this is called "streaming" but I do not think I've talked to one person who thinks streamed music has the kind of fidelity needed to satisfy.If there were such a gizmo, I'd buy it.
For someone who stills has a flip phone and likes it that way -- forget about going digital right now. Stick with CDs as long as you can. Nothing wrong with that strategy.
