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ASR recommendations for lottery winners.

GXAlan

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Sadly, no. I didn’t win the lottery, but a recent review at Stereophile had me thinking… suppose you won the lottery… and used the money to create a startup that solved world hunger and delivered world peace, donated a ton to charity, helped your friends and family and community, and did all the stuff people on the internet said you should do instead of spending money on audio. You have had all your experiences, hired musicians to play in your own home, etc.

What are the best audio products to buy with no concern for price or value if the only metric is measurable performance, whether audible or not?


What product got me thinking about this?

This was a very attractive looking preamp, but I laughed when I saw the price of $75,000! Jumping to the measurements, though, it really is a standout product from the measurements.



I will minimize what I quote, per @John Atkinson, and advise you to go to Stereophile, but I will point out two sets of data to show you what I mean:

The Topping preamp's channel separation was superb, at 110dB in both directions below 2kHz, and decreased only slightly, to 90dB at the top of the audioband.The Soulution 727's channel separation was superbly high, at >135dB in both directions below 10kHz, and decreased only slightly, to 129dB, at the top of the audioband



The wideband, unweighted signal/noise ratio, measured at the balanced outputs with the unbalanced inputs shorted to ground and the volume control set to "+16," was 66.5dB in the left channel, 73.8dB in the right, both ratios ref. 2V output. Restricting the measurement bandwidth to the audioband increased the S/N ratio to a superb 118.8dB in both channels, while switching an A-weighting filter into circuit further improved this ratio, to 121.5dB. The Pre90 is one of the quietest preamplifiers I have encountered.The wideband, unweighted signal/noise ratio, measured with the balanced input shorted to ground but the volume control set to its maximum, was an astonishingly high 102.5dB ref. 2V output (average of both channels, which were very similar). Restricting the measurement bandwidth to the audioband increased the S/N to a superb 122.7dB, while switching an A-weighting filter into circuit further improved this ratio, to 125.4dB. The Soulution 727 is the quietest preamplifier I have encountered, though this might be related to its relatively low maximum gain.
 
@John Atkinson 's plot is labeled in dBV on the vertical. 0dBV equals 1V. He says he tested at 3V out. Off the top of the scale by +9.54dBV and makes the harmonics look worse by ~10dBV. Vertical scale needs to be -150 to +10dBV.

1738290229529.png


If he wanted to make 0dB the reference, he would have used dBr on the vertical I would expect.
 
Even if I won $100 million I feel like I'd still scoff at the idea of paying $75k for a preamp.

Then again, maybe not? I can't truly imagine myself in that situation
I would purchase a new Chevy or GMC pickup truck with the $75k. Match that in charity donation(s) to contribute to stuff.
 
What are the best audio products to buy with no concern for price or value if the only metric is measurable performance, whether audible or not?

  • Option 1
    • PC with lots of SSD, RAM running foobar
    • SMSL DO300
    • Neumann KH420
    • Amazon Basics cables
    • divert some of the budget toward a sportscar
  • Option 2
    • Eversolo DMP-A10
    • Genelec 8381A
    • Branded cables from Mogami/Belden
    • divert some of the budget toward a nice car
  • Option 3
    • dCS Varese
    • Accuphase C3900
    • Accuphase A300 x2
    • Magico M9
    • high-end turntable
    • high-end reel-to-reel
    • associated vinyl & reel media collection
    • power the entire system from battery (for cleanest AC)
    • spend on some bling cables
    • fancy room treatment, AVAA bass traps
    • ran out of lottery winnings yet? if not, seek out more expensive upgrades.


;)

.
 
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If I won the lottery, I would demolish my house, excavate a 7m x 9m x 3m basement for a new listening room, then rebuild my existing house on top of it.

Then I would install a double bass array and join the DBA club - which at the moment, only has two members @StigErik and @Flaesh.
What is a DBA? Some kind of built in subwoofer?
 
Sadly, no. I didn’t win the lottery, but a recent review at Stereophile had me thinking… suppose you won the lottery… and used the money to create a startup that solved world hunger and delivered world peace, donated a ton to charity, helped your friends and family and community, and did all the stuff people on the internet said you should do instead of spending money on audio. You have had all your experiences, hired musicians to play in your own home, etc.

What are the best audio products to buy with no concern for price or value if the only metric is measurable performance, whether audible or not?


What product got me thinking about this?

This was a very attractive looking preamp, but I laughed when I saw the price of $75,000! Jumping to the measurements, though, it really is a standout product from the measurements.



I will minimize what I quote, per @John Atkinson, and advise you to go to Stereophile, but I will point out two sets of data to show you what I mean:

The Topping preamp's channel separation was superb, at 110dB in both directions below 2kHz, and decreased only slightly, to 90dB at the top of the audioband.The Soulution 727's channel separation was superbly high, at >135dB in both directions below 10kHz, and decreased only slightly, to 129dB, at the top of the audioband



The wideband, unweighted signal/noise ratio, measured at the balanced outputs with the unbalanced inputs shorted to ground and the volume control set to "+16," was 66.5dB in the left channel, 73.8dB in the right, both ratios ref. 2V output. Restricting the measurement bandwidth to the audioband increased the S/N ratio to a superb 118.8dB in both channels, while switching an A-weighting filter into circuit further improved this ratio, to 121.5dB. The Pre90 is one of the quietest preamplifiers I have encountered.The wideband, unweighted signal/noise ratio, measured with the balanced input shorted to ground but the volume control set to its maximum, was an astonishingly high 102.5dB ref. 2V output (average of both channels, which were very similar). Restricting the measurement bandwidth to the audioband increased the S/N to a superb 122.7dB, while switching an A-weighting filter into circuit further improved this ratio, to 125.4dB. The Soulution 727 is the quietest preamplifier I have encountered, though this might be related to its relatively low maximum gain.

That Soulution pre has some remarkable measurements for sure. Which makes answering your question fairly straightforward: the new Soulution stack and a pair of big Magicos will do that job. A room to match, perhaps in a modernist chalet overlooking Swiss lake and mountains for consistency with the sonics. The latter might cost more than the former. But my people would get all that sorted.
 
I think I’d rather buy one of these instead of wasting money on overpriced audio gear…..

View attachment 424958
One of our neighbors down the road has one in this color, and it’s a beautiful design! I would find it a bit challenging to choose a model since there are sixteen different options available! Plus configurations..
 

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