[mofunz]

OK, so that's a little tongue-in-cheek, but there's some truth to it too.

Me:

I started in my early teens as a music lover... my friends from high school to this day still talk about all the great stuff I introduced them too. But ... I inherited a love of technology from my father, which over the years twisted my love of music into a love of the equipment. In an all-too-retread story, I stopped listening to music that I enjoy for its own sake: I wasn't using my system to listen to music, I was using music to listen to my system. I found myself limiting my consumption to just great recordings, even if they didn't move me.

For me, it turns out this model is completely unsatisfying, and I stopped listening altogether. For years, this meant a huge part of my identity was dormant, and I'd lost a part of life from which I got significant enjoyment. You know, that electric current that runs through you when you hear something novel for the first time, and that joy that rolls over you a favorite artist or song pops up in your mind or on the radio or on shuffle or...

So, I'm trying to reset. I'm constantly reminding myself that my setup provides a much better than average experience. I'm rebuilding my discovery habits. I'm streamlining my listening workflow to reduce friction when picking music. I'm forcing myself to listen to whole albums. Eliminating distractions. Music for music's sake.

But! That doesn't mean I can't also enjoy the gear a little, too, as long as it's a means to an end, right? Along those lines, I'd like to settle a few system niggles that feel a little unbalanced. My goal here is to level up these areas to a threshold where everything lines up. I'm also into mechanical keyboards, where there is a concept of an "endgame" - an idealized mixture of pieces that synergize particularly well for an individual's tastes, often better than the sum of their parts. That's how I'd describe my goal here - in my case the speakers way outclass the rest of the system, and I want to balance that out. Specifically, I'd like a bit more bass control, and better transience in busy passages.

I'm here to lurk, observe, and syphon knowledge off the rest of you. Thanks in advance!

Setup(s):
2 Channel

• Room: too small, no reflection treatments (upgrade candidate, at least for room treatments)
• Streaming source: DSD/FLAC/Tidal through Raspberry Pi 3 + Roon Ropieee + Khadas Toneboard DAC (upgrade candidate, considering consolidation to a teac nt-505x)
• Vinyl source: Pro-ject Debut Carbon turntable (stock), NAD phono preamp
• Worlds Best Cables RCA interconnects
• Musical Fidelity X10 Tube output stage
• Cambridge Audio Azur 740a Integrated amp (upgrade candidate, considering separate Schiit Freya+ and Peachtree GaN400)
• AudioQuest Rockefeller speaker cabling
• Sonus Faber Electa Amator II and matching stands on some granite pavers
• Monster Cable HTS3500 MKII Power conditioner
• Refinished vintage Standesign 4 rack

(I have more Roon endpoints around the house, including as a feed for a Martin Logan / Anthem / OLED theater for Movies/PS5/XBOX Series X)

Musical Tastes:

• Electronica - Underworld, Juno Reactor, Massive Attack, Air, Prodigy
• Progressive Rock - Phish, Muse, Tool, Jethro Tull (I've always liked artists like this, but only just recently realizing they can be lumped together this way)
• 90's alternative - Rage Against the Machine, NIN, Nirvana, Beck, Alice In Chains
• Misc - Modest Mouse, Bosstones, Vampire Weekend, CHVRCHES, Broken Bells, Leo Kottke, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Nickel Creek, Flecktones...

Looking forward to meeting/interacting with you all!

[Blackmore]

Welcome to AudioCircle

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[mresseguie]

"I'm here to lurk, observe, and syphon knowledge off the rest of you."

Welcome! You're in good company here. Many of us are knowledge vampires who love to share as well as syphon. 

Michael

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome to AC 
For me, it turns out this model is completely unsatisfying, and I stopped listening altogether.
+ 1000. Years ago I noted every new speaker are made to show impressive looks at the showroom and a most boring sound in your room and they continue selling hot til today 

[Lagavulin16]

Welcome to the knowledge base, Newbie here myself, Calif here.

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Mofunz   

[dB Cooper]

Mofunz-
Your discussion of priorities reminds me of somrthing Alan Parsons said:


"Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music; they use your music to listen to their equipment."


We've all been there at one time or another, to one degree or another. The audio hardware industry needs you to become dissatisfied with your equipment- regularly. Once you accept that there is no 'perfect' anything, it becomes easier to just enjoy your music, which (if you think back far enough) is probably why you got into audio in the first place. Sure, it is fine to have an interest in the technology, but the high end industry of today is really the tail wagging the dog.

[FullRangeMan]

Mofunz-
"Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music; they use your music to listen to their equipment."

I dont like $1K interconnects or 2K hours expensive tubes, but certainly all musicians would very much like all their fans not to give a damn about Sound Quality so that they could make recordings with equipment that is even cheaper than the current ones for even greater profit and faster production.

[mofunz]

certainly all musicians would very much like all their fans not to give a damn about Sound Quality so that they could make recordings with equipment that is even cheaper than the current ones for even greater profit and faster production.

I know a fair number of professional musicians who couldn’t care less about this stuff for themselves… why bother with faking it if you’ve got the real thing whenever you want?

Along those lines, most of them care very much about their instruments.

[dB Cooper]

I dont like $1K interconnects or 2K hours expensive tubes, but certainly all musicians would very much like all their fans not to give a damn about Sound Quality so that they could make recordings with equipment that is even cheaper than the current ones for even greater profit and faster production.

Music fans, for the most part, already don't care about SQ, that is why there is no hifi retail anymore and why many manufacturers are focused on selling increasingly expensive equipment to fewer and fewer people. Personally, I think most musicians would like to have their music heard through something that sounds good- it's the record companies (or more likely their parent companies) that don't care about SQ as long as it sells- if the SQ is bad, as Frank Zappa put it, "It goes out anyway- it's only 'product' to them."

[FullRangeMan]

Music fans, for the most part, already don't care about SQ, that is why there is no hifi retail anymore and why many manufacturers are focused on selling increasingly expensive equipment to fewer and fewer people. Personally, I think most musicians would like to have their music heard through something that sounds good- it's the record companies (or more likely their parent companies) that don't care about SQ as long as it sells- if the SQ is bad, as Frank Zappa put it, "It goes out anyway- it's only 'product' to them."

The fans are a obstacle to them, Alan was the first one to say it in public, I dont know if other big name had said it before.

[JLM]

Musicans already know how the music should sound, they need only a few clues to "fill in the blanks" to enjoy the performance.  We mere audio mortals need more help.