Hello friends!
Found this forum while quickly browsing through reviews before buying equipment last Black Friday.
I ended up buying some really nice, small, starters equipment which I am really happy with:
- 2 x Totem Rainmakers (White)
- 1 x NuForce DDA-100 (The original one, not the new Optoma version)
- Very fine optical cables (TV and Airport Express both Optically connected to DDA)
- Very rudimentary speaker cables
- Borrowed Totem Beaks (which I will be returning shortly)
I installed all this on our bedroom and music listening and TV movies have got a whole new level of enjoyment! Its incredible! Friends have compared the listening experience to having good headphones on instead of speakers, with all the added benefit.
I replaced the bridges on the Speakers with the Speaker Cable and did some testing regarding which posts to use on the Rainmakers: bottom, top, both diagonals. At first I thought I listened subtle differences, but since I was thumb-screwing the cables, it took a while, so I fitted some banana-plugs to the cables to switch faster, and I have to say I kind of stopped listening (or imagining?

) the differences. Any input on this? I then did the same with the Beaks, and then tried a blind test and asked my wife to place them, remove them without me knowing. I couldn't hear any difference either. Maybe I'm a bit deaf! LOL!
So, all things considering, I'm doing great. As probably we all do, drooling over some of the equipment I read about (mainly a NuPrime IDA-16 or 8?), and looking into options for a dedicated HiFi Audio computer or (the thing that brought me to this forum) an Omnia.
The reason I'm mostly reading about NuPrime is because I live in Ecuador, South America, so Hi End components are not easy to find, but there is a local dealer for NuPrime, so those are easier to come by, all other similar equipment requires trips, traveling friends (with lots of space on their bags

) or heavy import taxes.
Looking forward to discussing ideas and reading your opinions.
Best regards,
Rafa.