High-end audio experiences for little money

[JRowland]

Did you simply lay some cooper heatsinks on the amps? Hahaha now I want some for my own.

Yep

 

[drumphil]

Well, the measurements of the electronics are quite clear ( to me). But speaker measurements are not so straightforward. I have a few speaker pairs, bookshelves, and alltough I can figure out what the tonality is by looking at measurements, still the more expensive ones sounds better. That is not on the dollar but more in a price range. What I can concur is that preference within that range determines a lot ( side grades) and that eq can't make them sound the same.

The more comprehensive the measurements, the less that holds true.

 

[Romario]

The more comprehensive the measurements, the less that holds true.

Right, no need for discussion then. Just put up a oneliner and be done with it.

 

[boxerfan88]

Genelec 8010/Neumann KH80+ a $99 DAC

Lack boom boom quality & tight bass of hiend

 

[drumphil]

Right, no need for discussion then. Just put up a oneliner and be done with it.

If you, in one line, insist, then who am I to argue?



A speaker with near identical spin data to another is much more likely to sound alike than one with a simple one position on axis frequency response match. Most manufacturers smooth their frequency response graphs making such a comparison less meaningful anyway.

 

[DSJR]

There's no physicality with headphones though, just that weird 'In the middle of your head' thing. I know some don't mind and some even prefer it but if we're talking 'high end audio' as per the thread title, I don't think of headphones.

I agree that you don't/can't 'feel' the music via headphones/in-ears, but last night with 'Zero 2s' in situ (US spec Apple dongle and a new JCALLY JM20Max bought for admitted fomo reasons which I 'imagined' had a touch more 'beef' lower down - mind games probably as the 'difference' was so small in reality if there at all), I played a few things and genuinely made up a sense of 3-D in my head, certainly a front to back kind-of perspective.

So, all I'd ask Mart, is not to totally give up on using iems or good comfortable headphones. Maybe an acquired taste, but for high quality reproduction of sound, I'd say they're perfectly valid and very necessary for some of us - cough - if we want to continue to enjoy our music (and Big Finish audio plays - double cough -). And yes, I played stuff that ideally NEEDS a large loudspeaker with effortless dynamics and headroom to fully exploit it properly (those 4367s are still good value to me, even if they've gone up a few grand in recent years and maybe special order only over here)

 

[Mart68]

I agree that you don't/can't 'feel' the music via headphones/in-ears, but last night with 'Zero 2s' in situ (US spec Apple dongle and a new JCALLY JM20Max bought for admitted fomo reasons which I 'imagined' had a touch more 'beef' lower down - mind games probably as the 'difference' was so small in reality if there at all), I played a few things and genuinely made up a sense of 3-D in my head, certainly a front to back kind-of perspective.

So, all I'd ask Mart, is not to totally give up on using iems or good comfortable headphones. Maybe an acquired taste, but for high quality reproduction of sound, I'd say they're perfectly valid and very necessary for some of us - cough - if we want to continue to enjoy our music (and Big Finish audio plays - double cough -). And yes, I played stuff that ideally NEEDS a large loudspeaker with effortless dynamics and headroom to fully exploit it properly (those 4367s are still good value to me, even if they've gone up a few grand in recent years and maybe special order only over here)

I can't give up on using headphones as I never started! Happily I've no real cause to use them. I don't even own a decent set. I've a headset for doing conference calls, and a set of IEMs issued me along with a load of other corporate branded junk by a previous employer, but that's it.

I have used fancy headphones in the past just to try them out and of course there's nothing wrong with the sound quality it's just the experience is different and I don't prefer it to speakers.

Plus I've no interest in listening to music while out walking. Don't like the idea of deliberately disabling one of my senses some where it might be critical (I know that's unlikely where I live but old habits die hard or never die).

I only ever listen to music when relaxing at home and so I have loudspeakers for that.

 

[oratory1990]

With Usound EQ (for more than 10 years now and going on).

I didn't start developing the USound target curve until 2017, so you'll have to wait 2 more years until we can celebrate 10 years of it

 

[5-pot-fan]

How observant you are! The speakers are Avantgarde Duo XDs. I've had them for 3 years now and before these I had 2006-vintage Duos and before that (in 2002) I started my conversion to horn speakers with Unos.

You spotted they differ in appearance. Yes, the one on the right is how they normally appear, but I value the views from my floor-to-ceiling windows so I "slimmed down" the speakers by ditching the scaffolding and supporting the mid-horn with a cradle - as Avantgarde do with their Mezzo model. The base frame is simply rotated 90 degrees and they now have IsoAcoustic Gaia 1 feet in place of the ones shown in the photo. Avantgarde kindly sent a scale drawing to show the spec of the cradle I needed to get made and since then, their new Duo GT has also ditched the scaffolding and is considerably slimmer than the standard Duo XD. I'm very pleased with the slimmer speakers and there is zero compromise on sound quality. In fact the mid-horn is slightly better isolated from the bass enclosure now.

Thank you for the reply.
These are among the few expensive (by my standard) speakers that I have seen and would be tempted seriously to investigate, if I win the Euromillions lottery.
Would need that amount of money to build a separate listening room as well, because they would never be allowed into a sitting room!

 

[Svensson]

My budget set ups
Headphones:1 (for walking to the shop) Sony Android phone with 3.5mm headphone jack, plus Salnotes Zero
Headphones 2 (for critical listening and enjoyment): Sony android phone running UAPP, into Jcally J20 Max driving Truthear Crinacle Zero Red.
Headphones 3 (same as 2, but using Sennheiser HD560S. Marginally less detail but sound isn't all inside my head and there is that wider 3D feel compared to IEMs.
Speakers system: Rasperry Pi4 (£50) running LMS (free) output to eBay Topping E30 (£75) driving eBay JBL 305II (£100) and eBay Warfdale150 sub (£40). Total cost of £265.

 

[KLi]

Hi there,

Topping D 50 III, Fosi V 3, Fosi P 3 (not necessary, but nice), Douk Audio V22 (really not necessary, but also nice) with Wharfdale Linton 85th (the most expensive of the bunch). A mini Linux PC feeds the Topping with mp3 and lossless files as well as DSDs. It's in my profile picture.

I am in audio heaven

 

[Peterinvan]

IMO, the best value for my money under $2,000 CDN:

 

[richard12511]

Ten times the price buys you one high end speaker.

So you walk out a movietheater where you were indulged in a Hans Zimmer soundtrack of Dune for instantie and put on your headphone and have the same experience?

Just a different experience imo. I’ve never heard any headphone setup(including multi thousand dollar setups) that sounds as good as say a pair of JBL 308p(can be found for $300 on sale) and couple HSU or Rythmik subs, but that’s based on my preference. For me they just lack the soundstage/imaging and bass impact that I like, but I can also see someone preferring the opposite.

That’s why I rarely try to compare them, and prefer to judge them by separate standards.

 

[DSJR]

Measurements aren't everything

I'll bite

Measurements may not be everything, especially where speakers are concerned, but they sure as heck help to provide a solid repeatable benchmark for the rest of the senses to work on, helping the prospective owner make a decision.

I can't repeat enough how much the looks and feel of a product comes into this (as well as the price tag, which is so important in some markets I gather).

In my current situation with ears the way they now are, I need to see how a wider-disperion-at-hf speaker would fare (I dunno, maybe a JBL 308 as they're cheap enough, or passive, one of the smaller Klipsch now they seem so much improved), sacrificing a precise centre-image maybe, for a bit more life and an 'open mouthed' kind of presentation?

 

[thunderchicken]

I put my money where my mouth is on this one and ordered from Ascend. Measurements matter, and it’s hard to argue with how flat the Sierra line is.

 

[Carlton80@0]

It would help if the specific budget in dollar amount was specified. Depending on one’s budget the variances are wide.

 

[Karmacoma]

It would help if the specific budget in dollar amount was specified. Depending on one’s budget the variances are wide.

It's a bit difficult to do, ''little money'' depends of your standard of living, of your country's standard of living, of your country's currency fluctuations, your country's tariff fluctuations, the country of production of the items... All of those will remain subjective, It could be reframed as ''performance/cost ratio'' as it's always at its best around the lower prices.

 

[Pearljam5000]

A used pair of HD800+ a cheap DAC
I don't see how you can do better than that

 

[Romario]

I put my money where my mouth is on this one and ordered from Ascend. Measurements matter, and it’s hard to argue with how flat the Sierra line is.

And then someone puts a tv in between or puts their speakers on the ground instead of up on stands and all bets are off, making a mockery of all high performance measurements.

 

[JRR]

I'm saying that I’ve heard good measuring speakers that I didn't like their sound, and other good measuring speakers that I did Iike their sound.
So it's not the most important thing to me

…and you’re saying with all the information that is available to you that these differences has to be a result of the speakers themselves? You’re on ASR for crying out loud.