What was your best (and worst) audio purchase for the dollar?

[Sal1950]

BEST: Bryston 4B SST

Bryston, how can you not love a Bryston amp? (if you can afford it)
Modern models are beautiful, have always been built like tanks, and all the rest.
The stuff I have seen measured always did very well and a 20 year warranty, wow.
I do think that might even hurt them more in the High End market though, the High Enders love to trade up
on a regular basis, the new ones got to sound better, right?
If I had really deep pockets and was looking for an amp, I might send one to Amir for eval first to see how it comes out.

 

[Sal1950]

That's about as logical as "Either the Moon is made of cheese or it isn't made of cheese. We know that it isn't made of cheese, therefore it is made if cheese" QED.

Matt's answer to you was about the clearest, most accurate thoughts you'll find on the subject.
Sounds to me like your just trying to find a way to write his response off because he didn't say what you wanted to hear.

 

[J.M. Noble]

Best:

• Sony 12" powered sub for $189 or so from Fry's, still going strong. It's impressive, and I say this as a former high end car audio installer.
• JBL 305p Mk2 @ $119/each for my synth rig. No comment needed on ASR
• Dynaudio Audience 42s @ $550/pair. Great little speakers for 15+ years, and the friend I sold them to loves them.
• Studio Six Digital iTestMic2 USB-C & Studio Tools on iOS. I owned a LinearX LMS system (~$3,300 in 2024 dollars) in the 90s when I designed speaker systems, but this $230 + iPad solution is more versatile and way more fun. It's amazing how far the tech has come and how cheap & accessible it is.

Worst:

• NAD C320BEE integrated amp & the matching CD player from the same era, about $1,100 in today's money. The amp hummed like Glenn Gould and misbehaved in other ways, and the CD player developed mechanical issues disappointingly early. They ended up as e-waste.

 

[sprellemannen]

Best for the dollar: Sennheiser HD 800 S.

 

[WillBrink]

Pass Labs amps really can't be narrowed down like that as Nelson does make a VERY wide variety
of amps. Some designed to be fairly accurate, cost a fortune and look it. Others have been definitely voiced to sound
a certain way and don't cost a fortune, others aimed to the DIY guys and their own little niche..

Why a 10-20k amp, when you see a Pass, D'Agustino, etc, you know the owner spent big money.
They are fricken beautiful works of art.
The BM will supply SOTA sound quality but won't impress anyone visually.

I just recall some big $ Pass amps that didn't test well back in the day. I'm fine with spending the big $ for looks, provenance, resale values, build quality, etc if that makes one happy and does not put one into massive debt. Just don't tell me it sounds better than various other choices for far less $. This forum has always been helpful in that respect as to performance vs 1" thick face plates and such.

 

[dfiler]

Worst:
- Monster cables back in the day. I was ignorant.
- A 200 CD carousel player. It didn't have the ability to plug in a keyboard. One day it decided to erase all the metadata that I had entered with the remote control. I stopped using it rather than reentering all the info.
- My last two projectors. Apparently I can't tolerate any fan noise whatsoever.
- Sirius XM add-on receiver for my car. I gave up after the 3rd one died in less than two years. Plus, the company is shady AF.

Best:
- Umik1 and microphone stand of course!
- Acoustic absorption panels (DIY). These made a bigger difference than any audio product I've bought in my life. There's no point in having expensive gear when you're listening in an echo chamber.
- SVS PC13 ultra when it was first released. This was my introduction to real subwoofers.
- Denon x3800h. It was cheap for a 11 channel preamp with audessey and Dirac support.
- Buckey HypeX based amps. These are end game for me. I'll never need more or cleaner amplification.

 

[Basic Channel]

The problem there is that if the 2.9k (?) BM amp is as perfect as its measurements suggest, why should anyone consider a 10-20K amp, particularly if it didn't measure quite so well?

Certainly there are better sounding amps than the BM as otherwise everyone would just buy a BM.

Explain please where my logic is flawed.

The logic is flawed because its like me arguing the same wine is better in an expensive restaurant than my house because people pay extra.

People pay extra for a variety of reasons. Clothes being a particularly egregious example. Stick Hugo boss on some cheap headphones and I suppose they measure better?

 

[pseudoid]

So now we're at a point where the source is many times a weak link and once again we look for ways to modify the source in search of improvement. Tone controls to DRC, room treatments and all the rest are popular again to make minor tweaks in search of a final result a bit better.
But IMHO, the use of colored components or speakers that cast the same veil of distortion or coloration over everything played is the exact opposite of what this passion was and is all about. "Sounds good to me" and "personal preference" is not a full time addition you want to cripple your music reproduction system with.

Well put; except the red-highlighted part. Times have changed and as did/does our hearing.

If we have done our homework, in advance of purchasing quality audio hardware; there is no "crippling" effect for our continued enjoyment of music.
Decade ago, I bought into the whole multi-channel set-up for our home entertainment system.
I started with an Integra DHC-40.2 Pre/Proc, moved up to a Rotel RMB-1565 amp, added a Rotel RSP-1576 Pre/Proc, tried out bunch of speakers.
Unfortunately, I never got to a point where my music library sounded any better from my previous 2-ch stereo systems.
Constantly tinkering with a 5-channel system required too much involvement and just became cumbersome.
I recently retired my Rotel amp and replaced it with a 2-channel ZA-3 (at one tenth the cost), w/o even doing any (A/B) comparos between old and new amps.
My music library feels simply liberated again!
Next on my chopping block will be my Rotel Pre/Proc, as I plan to replace it with an 2-channel analog equivalent.

Making Rotel my "worst purchases" ever and the most complicated.

IMO >> K.I.S.S. goes perfectly with music.

 

[antcollinet]

That's about as logical as "Either the Moon is made of cheese or it isn't made of cheese. We know that it isn't made of cheese, therefore it is made if cheese" QED.

Say what now???

 

[Rick63]

My best and worst were both disc spinners.

Best - Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi Universal Disc DVD Player. This was a $1k unit and 6th Ave Stereo was selling them for $199, not long before they went under. It was a well built and fine sounding unit.

Worst - Rotel CD11 Tribute CDP. After a short period of time it would stop playing discs before they were finished. I sent it in for repair and it did the same thing not long after. There were some other quirks with this unit as well. After a 3 week long hard fight with Rotel CS they sent me a new unit. By this time (and partially due to my thread on AVS), it became well known that it was a buggy unit. Rotel released a firmware update because of my communications, but it did not help. I also lost all respect for Rotel CS during this saga.

As I predicted, not long after the CD11 MKii was released...

 

[tetragrammaton]

Worst: Yamaha HS8S subwoofer
Best: UMIK-1

 

[MattHooper]

That's about as logical as "Either the Moon is made of cheese or it isn't made of cheese. We know that it isn't made of cheese, therefore it is made if cheese" QED.

Huh?

You asked: (Vs the Benchmark amps) why should anyone consider a 10-20K amp, particularly if it didn't measure quite so well?

My answer essentially covered that question.

You can have an amp that doesn't measure "quite so well" as the Benchmark, but that difference may not be audible. In fact, few amplifiers measure exactly the same, but many if not most solid state amplifiers, run within their parameters, will likely have distortion levels so low you couldn't distinguish them (without knowing which was which).

But in the case one amplifier's distortion is audible vs a Benchmark, then it's still possible one's preference is due to a bias effect, not necessarily the sound. The looks, or the technical claims made for the amp, or the brand name, etc, can influence what you prefer. That's a real thing; that's how humans work. But if it's the case someone truly prefers the sound of the added distortion, hey, fine, that's their preference and they may be fine paying "10-20k" for it.

I myself paid more for my CJ tube preamp than I could have paid for a perfectly neutral solid state preamp (It was more expensive than my Benchmark LA4 pream). Because I had a bias towards liking tube amplification aesthetically and I also might prefer a bit of coloration.

So your implication that I was just question-begging in some way doesn't relate at all to what I wrote.

 

[Sal1950]

Well put; except the red-highlighted part. Times have changed and as did/does our hearing.

I'd still have to strongly disagree.
The definition of High Fidelity has never changed, read the dictionary. LOL
Whether 2ch or more, the ideal remains to reproduce the music that was put on the media as accurately as possible.
If you personally choose to take a different path, that is your choice.

If we have done our homework, in advance of purchasing quality audio hardware; there is no "crippling" effect for our continued enjoyment of music.

All the homework in the world isn't going to change the fact the if you have introduced components into your system that will never be capable of being transparent, it will then be forever "crippled" and unable to present music in that fully transparent manner, that's just the fact. If having a system that is forever colored and locked in a particular sounding manner is fine with you, that's OK then, for you, not me.
Personally I look to buy components that can get "out of the way" and pass thru a signal as close to a "straight wire with gain"
as I can find and afford. Then, when and if I'm in the mood to make a FR alteration, turn on loudness comp, upsample a 2ch source to a 5, 7, or 9 ch immersive listening experience, whatever, I have the power to do so in the palm of my hand (remote).

 

[MattHooper]

Bryston, how can you not love a Bryston amp? (if you can afford it)
Modern models are beautiful, have always been built like tanks, and all the rest.
The stuff I have seen measured always did very well and a 20 year warranty, wow.

Even though I've used my CJ tube amps for ages, I often had a Bryston amp around as well. Early on a Bryston 3B, then 4B, and more recently had a borrowed 4B3.
I always wanted to test a speaker with the Bryston because it could run anything in a neutral way, so I'd have a good idea how the speaker performed before I disgraced it with the tube amps. Admittedly I always disliked the Bryston form factor: utilitarian, pro-gear-vibe, awkward to pick up etc, blech!

 

[johny_2000]

I noticed that many people named miniDSP's UMIK-1 calibrated microphone their best buy.
What purposes does it serve you?

 

[dfiler]

I noticed that many people named miniDSP's UMIK-1 calibrated microphone their best buy.
What purposes does it serve you?

With a calibrated mic and software, you can see exactly where your sound is lacking and fix it. It's almost always room effect based. Good sound takes some time and experimenting.

 

[johny_2000]

With a calibrated mic and software, you can see exactly where your sound is lacking and fix it. It's almost always room effect based. Good sound takes some time and experimenting.

Thank you! That's what I thought - Room EQ. But I heard that it is practically useless to do this in untreated rooms. Essentially, you're compensating for a lot of resonances and reflections that are almost never the same until the room is properly prepared.

My apartment has no sound insulation, a hollow wood frame and single-layer plasterboard walls.
I don't think there would be any benefit from an EQ with this mic, right?

 

[StigErik]

I noticed that many people named miniDSP's UMIK-1 calibrated microphone their best buy.
What purposes does it serve you?

To build a great room and an active 4-way 5-channel speaker system including a double bass array with 24 subwoofers. Without measurements that would be impossible.

 

[Mnyb]

Thank you! That's what I thought - Room EQ. But I heard that it is practically useless to do this in untreated rooms. Essentially, you're compensating for a lot of resonances and reflections that are almost never the same until the room is properly prepared.

My apartment has no sound insulation, a hollow wood frame and single-layer plasterboard walls.
I don't think there would be any benefit from an EQ with this mic, right?

Not useless you do most correction in the bass modal region where our ear/brain cant separate the speaker from the room . And most room treatment are useless in the low bass .
The mini DSP also integrates subwoofers . something practically impossible without room correction .

Higher up in frequency our brain perceive mostly the direct sound from the speakers and it’s reflections in the room plays a secondary but not unimportant role. Here you don’t actually hear what you measure so some care in interpretation of you measurement are needed . No EQ or minor well thought out adjustments here.

What works here are speakers who’s directivity are well behaved, then the room interaction is less detrimental and they can take EQ without sounding weird .
( you cant eq the direct and indirect sound independently )

Also if you do this DSP with subwoofer integration it can get even better as the optimal placement for bass may differ from where you want you speakers for best sound otherwise

Tldr mini DSP fix the bass problem that only studio grade very invasive room treatments can fix , where more room friendly decorative treatments does nothing.

 

[johny_2000]

To build a great room and an active 4-way 5-channel speaker system including a double bass array with 24 subwoofers. Without measurements that would be impossible.

Beyond my imagination .