Guidelines on next upgrade purchases

[whill]

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is okay and safe,

I would like to ask what are your guidelines in determining your next purchase/upgrade?

I have a friend who told me that, "your components should be atleast within the same price range of other equipment" (something like this as guideline)

I am happy to hear about yours.

Thank you.
Whill

 

[bigjacko]

Put most of your budget money into headphone and speaker is a better investment because those have the most effect on the sound. Single ended is good enough if you don't have ground loop. Dac can be the cheapest, then amp second.

 

[BillG]

I have a friend who told me that, "your components should be atleast within the same price range of other equipment" (something like this as guideline)

I'd ask them how they came up with that as a guideline. It sounds like something a salesperson would say, and it's illogical when viewing this stuff from a science and engineering prospective. Cost has never been reliable indicator of quality, especially when it comes to high end audio.

Personally, I shop using laboratory analysis and price-performance ratio as a guide. That is, if it's inexpensive, has the features I desire, and meets at least the lenient thresholds for transparency as defined by the professionals here on ASR, I'll buy it over something that cost more but measures essentially the same.

These devices are utilities to me, and I treat them as such. It's not that I disregard aesthetics, quite the opposite really since I dabble in visual art, it's just that I don't require it for audio reproduction. And I'm not into audio gear as status symbol, either...

 

[Sancus]

I don't agree, find the cheapest DAC and Amp(or just go active) that have the features you need, maybe 100dB SINAD for DAC and 80 for amplifier, and you're good to go. Then spend all the rest of your money on(good, reviewed, measured) speakers.

Don't forget to budget/figure out some kind of room correction as it will make more difference than any amount of money spent on other electronics. This is easier if you're using a PC and willing to do some work(REW/MSO), but becomes more expensive if you are using subs or multi-channel or want more automation(Dirac, etc).

 

[AnalogSteph]

I would like to ask what are your guidelines in determining your next purchase/upgrade?

Identify bottlenecks and tackle their causes.

I used to mostly listen to headphones on the PC, so I got a soundcard that would do a good job driving those HD580s and would take the front panel connector - the then-new Audigy FX it was.

Got a mixer and misc. microphones and wasn't entirely happy with the ADC any more (decent enough SNR if you avoid multiples of 44.1 kHz, but too much digital filter passband ripple for my liking). Ended up going with a Xonar D1 for that stuff. (Later found a D2 as well, but my PC won't take that without removing the shield, and the drivers seemed to be, if anything, even more quirky.)

Over the years I gravitated more and more towards speakers. My previous entry-level active monitors had been decent enough as a "second fiddle" with low enough noise (though one had a noticeable buzz and the other had had issues with the woofer dropping out sporadically over the years) but they were substantially lacking in bass, and their tonality would shift quite substantially when I'd move my head up and down. So after 13 years of faithful service I got some much fancier ones instead (K+H O110). The difference in bass, clarity and level handling was astounding, plus no more major irregularities in the vertical. That left me with level handling and dispersion basically sorted.

Now I had the speakers up on desk stands but that was about it as far as my little listening corner goes. I eventually bit the bullet and finally got some absorbers (for back and side wall plus melamine corner bass traps) as a first step in tackling the room acoustics. Measurements only seem to show a moderate effect on reverb time, but in person the effect is quite pronounced. Much better sound again (I noticed I have a much easier time hearing the differences between microphones, too), though it looks like reverb times may now be slightly uneven, being lowest in the midrange.

Next up - a real bass trap or two, maybe a sub or two to round out the lowest octave/s (though I wouldn't say I feel like I'm missing much of anything right now). One of my K+Hs also has a minor buzz that I should get sorted (not that bad and probably a dead electrolytic). Hiss level is generally low enough. PC could be a tad quieter still, despite the blanket, but picking out parts for a new one is an ongoing project anyway. There's an acoustic disturbance between the speakers a.k.a. a monitor that I don't know how to optimize (have thought about making a "sound collar" out of melamine foam, not sure that would help).

 

[sergeauckland]

I have a different attitude to upgrades, I don't do them. I haven't 'upgraded' for 25 years, the last one was to go from Meridian M2s to Meridian DSP5000s. I changed the DSP5000s for DIY active B&W 801s around 10 years ago more because I fancied doing it, not as an upgrade, as I was quite happy with the Meridians.

I buy stuff that's adequate for transparency then keep it until it becomes unreliable and/or unrepairable. Then I replace it with another similar unit until that begins to cause trouble.

That's why my turntables, CD player, pre-amp, Quadraphonic decoder and loudspeakers are all some 30 or more years old and as long as they keep working, I'll keep them.

I have the same attitude to cars, buy one new, then keep it until it's beyond economic repair.
Oh, and I've had my wife for almost 50 years.

S.

 

[dortreo]

I've just completed a lot of upgrades on my systems, the first significant ones in about 20 years. It's taken about a year to finish. I'm still married to my wife, but it's only been about 30 years so far.

I was thinking about this question in terms of the goals for system builds and asked a question about it in another thread. I agree that speakers are by far the most critical investment. Rather than look at price, I'd really concentrate on measurements and consider the engineering and R&D quality of the builder. (There's a reason why Harmann speakers tend to stand out in Amir's reviews.) "Audiophile" speakers can fool you with fine finishes or "unique" sound signatures that do stand out but are really indicative of flawed design.

I've also become a believer in adding subwoofers when possible to supplement the deep bass. Now that room equalization software (e.g., REW, Dirac) and calibrated mics (e.g., UMIK-1) are available, good subwoofer integration is much easier and better.

Finally, I've tried to select components with pro or unique features. Recently, I upgraded to the Benchmark DAC3 for all pre-amp and DAC duties, as it has the ability to output about 19V RMS. This allows me to bypass the input buffer on my Hypex NC1200 amps, which leads to nice SNR benefit. The integration of pro audio into audiophile gear (Benchmark, RME, Genelec) and the rise of relatively inexpensive but solid Class D amps (Hypex, Purifi) really has changed the bang for buck equation.

 

[Eetu]

I would identify what the weak links of your current system are and then upgrade based on not only best price/performance ratio but usability (how much not having to press an extra button is worth to you?). But like others have said invest in great speakers & headphones. The rest can be acquired for surprisingly little if you shop smart.

 

[whill]

Thank you so much for all of your inputs.

 

[CDMC]

I agree with others. You should make an honest appraisal of your system, what weak links it may have, what you want different, and then your budget. Take those factors and use it prioritize your approach. I am in the middle of going through this right now. I don't have any real dissatisfaction with my system, but my wife has been pestering me to downsize from my Magnepans. In identifying the weakest link of my system, it is the room, with long decay times. Based on that, I have done the following:

1) Ordered a fair amount of room treatments from GIK accoustics to get my reverb/decay time down from 700ms to a more reasonable 400 or so ms.
2) Sold off my analog components that I don't use and have the irreplacable vinyl burned to digital. This cleared out 1) a turntable, 2) phono preamp, and 3) equalizer.

3) Realized that without any analog components, I didn't need a dedicated preamp and separate dac. I sold off my Schiit Gungnir and Freya S preamp and for less money acquired a RME ADI-2 DAC FS, that not only replaced those components but added in 1) a 5 band parametric (with separate left and right controls), 2) loudness function, and 3) basic bass and treble controls. It is also 1/4 the size of the prior two Schiit components.

4) Acquired a second Rythmik F15HP subwoofer. It has been on my list for a long time to have a second and smooth out the deep bass response. Rythmik was closing out the finish I had so I was able to get a good deal.

5) Bought a pair of Revel F208s. They sound promising, but I will not be happy until I can get my room decay under control. It will be another month until I get my product from GIK (they are backed up).