Asking for a friend - I want a starter system and enjoy music, what do you suggest ?

[Galway]

My family and friends know me as a lover of music, too their level I am an audiophile but in reality and compared to others on here this could be debated and argued I am just starting out.

You only know what you have experienced and to the rest I am blissfully unaware and can only guess, presume, prejudice or dismiss which leads me to a question I got asked by a work colleague.

"I want a starter system and enjoy music, what do you suggest ?"

I have a meridian amp and sequence wall speakers that I don’t think I have powered on for at least 2 years. Mainly because the wife does not share my own music choices and is happy to use a phone / tablet for their entertainment needs. My friend is in the same situation and family circumstances / room limitations dictate a more personal approach.

We both look back to the 80s – 90s to the gold standard of things. Audio hardware and choices were abundant and were all excited with digital but with hi-fi in mind. He recently got rid of his mission cyrus amp, some old philips headphones and wants to dabble in a startup system that he can enjoy.

In this situation what would you suggest? What budget would you throw at it and what would be your thoughts?


His base source is a Fiio DAP and a laptop that hold his entire music, the CDs have long since been archived and he does not agree with the modern compressed streams / lossy MP3s and he has Flac files to enjoy. I have introduced him to Foobar on the laptop and that’s where he starts which is probably not miles away from anyone else at the start of anyone’s journey.


I have loaned him an old ifi Zen 2 dac/amp and convinced him to spent £200 on some hifiman edition XS headphones a week ago, and he is extremely happy so far and this has opened his eyes to what’s now available. Its not a massive amount of money to invest and decided not to take the advice of you tube and dropping substantial amounts of cash on anything else.

Lord knows where this will take him and I was wondering what the good people on here would do if asked the same question? Thoughts?
Where would you start anyone on enjoying music at a level you would want them to start?

 

[Power Pop 23]

My family and friends know me as a lover of music, too their level I am an audiophile but in reality and compared to others on here this could be debated and argued I am just starting out.

You only know what you have experienced and to the rest I am blissfully unaware and can only guess, presume, prejudice or dismiss which leads me to a question I got asked by a work colleague.

"I want a starter system and enjoy music, what do you suggest ?"

I have a meridian amp and sequence wall speakers that I don’t think I have powered on for at least 2 years. Mainly because the wife does not share my own music choices and is happy to use a phone / tablet for their entertainment needs. My friend is in the same situation and family circumstances / room limitations dictate a more personal approach.

We both look back to the 80s – 90s to the gold standard of things. Audio hardware and choices were abundant and were all excited with digital but with hi-fi in mind. He recently got rid of his mission cyrus amp, some old philips headphones and wants to dabble in a startup system that he can enjoy.

In this situation what would you suggest? What budget would you throw at it and what would be your thoughts?


His base source is a Fiio DAP and a laptop that hold his entire music, the CDs have long since been archived and he does not agree with the modern compressed streams / lossy MP3s and he has Flac files to enjoy. I have introduced him to Foobar on the laptop and that’s where he starts which is probably not miles away from anyone else at the start of anyone’s journey.


I have loaned him an old ifi Zen 2 dac/amp and convinced him to spent £200 on some hifiman edition XS headphones a week ago, and he is extremely happy so far and this has opened his eyes to what’s now available. Its not a massive amount of money to invest and decided not to take the advice of you tube and dropping substantial amounts of cash on anything else.

Lord knows where this will take him and I was wondering what the good people on here would do if asked the same question? Thoughts?
Where would you start anyone on enjoying music at a level you would want them to start?

Has your work colleague expressed how much he is comfortable spending on a starter system ?

Does the 'more personal approach' mean he is looking for a system to power headphones rather than loudspeakers ?

 

[Galway]

People today seam to have a different mindset to music, with quite a few who say they 'love' music seam to consume it via a Bluetooth speaker or streamed over you tube or lossy streaming services. My friend prioritises fidelity over convenience. He does lean towards a headphone focused system, but all things considered with modern DAC's some can be output to (active) speakers at reasonable prices. He has a family but loves music and so costs have to be justified but would spend more if it can be heard. He now has a headphone and is very happy with this foundation and will be looking towards DAC / AMP choices moving forward. IIm interested in others forum views.

 

[Redacted]

C'mon, we know it's you, not your "friend"! People on ASR often don't have friends

If not, without spending a ton, consider a Wiim amp/streamer or many similar devices and any speakers he likes (a separate and endless debate)..

He'd get plenty of power and also cool features he might like that are not to difficult for 1980's people (I'm from the 50's and manage fine). He has the future option of streaming from the internet, but can also set his PC up as a DLNA server (for free, and with just a few clicks) so that he can play any music of any format off it over his LAN onto such a unit, or any phone, or any TV etc. Or not quite as nice (I can explain), just copy the music onto an SSD in a USB case or use USB stick and plug it into the player.

If budget doesn't allow, there are other options.....

 

[Multicore]

I don’t think I have powered on for at least 2 years. Mainly because the wife does not share my own music choices and is happy to use a phone / tablet for their entertainment needs. My friend is in the same situation and family circumstances / room limitations dictate a more personal approach.

In this situation what would you suggest?

Headphones. Or IEMs if you prefer.

 

[Galway]

It is genuinely a friend. I am happy with the choices I have made for myself and think they are best for me. Im trying to avoid just mirroring my choices to my friend. I think, since this is a beginners forum it may also help others.

 

[Redacted]

I believe you. I'm just nasty.
To get started, I reckon he can get almost nirvana for around £500, or all the bands of his choice. If less, I suspect he'll want to upgrade something after 2 years, so possibly a false economy. If you wanted to help him, you could do worse than have a look at deals on Richer Sounds over a pint.

 

[benchmarkmannen]

I have loaned him an old ifi Zen 2 dac/amp and convinced him to spent £200 on some hifiman edition XS headphones a week ago, and he is extremely happy so far and this has opened his eyes to what’s now available.

That is an amazing feeling. Hi-fi is great.

 

[Michou]

As an example of a simple but very satisfying starter system, when I’m not streaming through my WiiM Mini, NuForce DDA120 and JBL Studio 230 speakers in my small bedroom, I’m still perfectly happy with a very modest setup.

I stream lossless music from Tidal or Spotify Lossless, including over Bluetooth using LDAC set to its maximum quality. Bluetooth itself is not lossless, of course, but LDAC at its highest setting is good enough that I haven’t noticed any obvious difference in normal listening. I’ve never done a strict A/B comparison, but for everyday enjoyment I find the quality more than satisfying.

For personal listening, I use the FiiO BTR7 and SMSL DL200, paired with the Kefine Delci, FiiO JD7 and Hidizs MS2 Pro IEMs, or my B&O Beoplay H6 V2 closed-back headphones.

None of these are particularly exotic or expensive components, but they provide a level of enjoyment that proves you don’t need a huge budget to put together a system that is genuinely satisfying.

The JBL Studio 230 could be replaced by something like the ELAC Debut Reference DBR62, which is still reasonably priced, especially in Europe. A compact all-in-one amplifier such as the Denon Home Amp, Technics C600, or WiiM Amp Ultra could also replace my NuForce DDA120, which is no longer made or sold, or a similar compact amplifier.

Another option would be a separate WiiM streamer, such as the WiiM Pro Plus, combined with a more traditional integrated amplifier like the Yamaha S701. That approach offers more flexibility and power, although it does take up more space.

If your only source is an Android phone, you would just need a Bluetooth receiver with LDAC support, either as a standalone unit or built into a headphone amplifier, to enjoy high-quality wireless streaming.

 

[tineared]

People today seam to have a different mindset to music, with quite a few who say they 'love' music seam to consume it via a Bluetooth speaker or streamed over you tube or lossy streaming services. My friend prioritises fidelity over convenience. He does lean towards a headphone focused system, but all things considered with modern DAC's some can be output to (active) speakers at reasonable prices. He has a family but loves music and so costs have to be justified but would spend more if it can be heard. He now has a headphone and is very happy with this foundation and will be looking towards DAC / AMP choices moving forward. IIm interested in others forum views.

So your friend values fidelity. The next choice will be speakers, so you need to tell us how large the listening area is and the loudest volume he likes to listen to. Once the speakers are chosen, then we can choose an appropriate amp.

 

[Soandso]

Get wiFi (hot spot WiFi is OK) …… buy a WiFi working discontinued (inexpensive on eB**) LG brand quad-dac model cellphone (ex: even their old V20 model is suitable) which still have the external audio output "headphone" jack (for these phones only being able to connect to WiFi is needed, it doesn't matter if seller says it's exclusively tied to some carrier or other for calls)……in the LG quad-dac phone audio settings turn on the quad-dac…… install the app USB Audio Player Pro (inexpensive on G***** Play Store)………subscribe to TIDAL or QOBUZ which work with that app to maximize those LG quad-dac phones' capability (other music streaming services do not have arrangements with that app's coding) ……to listen (and can skip songs) to one's chosen music that is done through that app (tap it's icon on phone screen and not the TIDAL/QOBUZ screen icon)…… make your choice(s) of setting (in the app there are options) for audio streaming quality ……plug good wired headphones/IEMs into the cellphone's external jack….volume can be controlled in real time through the cellphone (in settings or via side buttons)…… if later do get an amplifier/speaker set up when want to listen through that unplug any headphones re-purposing the LG phone's audio output jack plug into it an (inexpensive) auxiliary cable with 2 long different wires (left and right channels) each of which can plug into (RCA plug fittings are fine) a pre-amp or amplifier for passing the left and right musical signals (still coming through the UAPP app of the LG quad-dac phone) to whatever speakers are available.

 

[Salt]

Kef LS 50 or 60 or Electrocompanied Lifestyle AIO speakers?

 

[DWPress]

For less than $300 I recently put together a very nice near field set up with some well regarded Edifier MR3's and documented it here. Adequate for a desk or small room and good SPL at near field, powered speakers so no amp needed. Good sound doesn't have to be expensive anymore.

 

[Marc v E]

Speaking from personal experience I get most enjoyment out of of desktop nearfield setup using Genelec 8030 speakers and a wiim ultra streamer.

If you're talking about sharing the sound, I experienced the most reward with an avr playing through relatively cheap 2 way speakers (elac dbr 62) and a sub. Great usability in music and movies and an amazing sound for the money. The same could be achieved with any speaker that has a similar on-axis and off-axis frequency response.

The wiim Amp ultra is tons of fun too, but is music only oriented.

As a more general recommendation I would advice to keep the setup and user experience as simple as possible so that anybody can use and enjoy it. Just working at the push of a button rather than switching everything on and going through user menus, you get the idea.

Finally, every time I hear it, I find that sonos speakers are actually pretty good value too.

Summarising, to get a general idea, sonos would be good fun, Genelec near field the transition from good fun to hifi and (to me) the avr with sub and well behaved speakers hifi approaching high end frequency response; without (!) the itch of high end always trying for perfection and little changes.

 

[kemmler3D]

For desktop nearfield it is hard to beat Neumann KH120 II - there was another thread on here where the user was going from "zero" to "good system" and they put a lot of thought into it, but were ultimately thrilled with the outcome.

You can also look at the various Ascilab offerings, they're in the same league for sure.

For a smaller budget there are good options, but if you want to get close to state of the art in one go, those are good places to start.

Since your friend is using a laptop, EQ is almost a requirement, you can take $200 headphones and make them sound close to $2000 with the right settings. Every ear is different so EQ is usable to bridge the gap between "one size fits all" and "perfect fit". EQAPO and other apps make it pretty easy to apply.

I'd also throw the Truthear Gate (<$20) in there as a gimme option for good sound on the go. There are IEMs with arguably better performance but for the price I don't think there are serious competitors. (For $50-100 there are.)