I joined this forum not too long ago. I did take a break from audiophile philosophy discussions a few years back, tired of the flamewars that are characteristic. But when I accidentally found this site when looking for measurements on some gear, I liked the vibe of the exchanges here. Not that there isn't disagreement, but it doesn't seem to degrade into what we have probably all witnessed elsewhere.
One key thing about audiophile discussions is that they are often triggered between people that just bought gear they are willing to go to war for, and others that prefer to defend why their gear is better. And that's never going to work. I think a personal journey is worth a story.
About myself: I am now in my mid-50s. Grew up and went to University in Europe, moved to the US in the late 1990s. My Dad was a music and music gear enthusiast. I grew into it. My memories start in my early teens. I recall my Dad's system had a good Dual turntable, a Tandberg cassette player, and a number of amplifiers over time... and Spendor speakers. The latter were a constant. He also taught me to have total respect for the equipment, and he genuinely enjoyed the fact I used and enjoyed it and had equal passion for it. He also liked the fact he could use me as a remote control, of course "Son, play XYZ next" while he was chilling with a beer after work. He had a huge Vinyl library, and an eclectic musical taste that over time allowed me to establish my own (which kept evolving over time, but my preference for jazz, classical, R&B and some Latin was established early). My older sister also brought other influences into the house, starting with the Beatles but also Eagles, America and many others. I was lucky - great equipment and many musical influences. I should mention my Dad also had some unfortunate preferences like James Last, Boney M, Abba and some Chipmunk stuff (but the latter may have been for the benefit of my younger sister :-D). I also distinctly recall the first album I bought with my own money was George Benson's "Give me the Night", and I appreciated my Dad's equipment to accurately resolve the totally underrated background vocals in that album right away (they are layered awesomely, especially in "Love x Love").
Anyhow, like many of us, I moved away to go to university, and absolutely needed some music shrine of my own in my humble student dwellings. I moved with a Walkman as my reference system - it represented a big investment for my limited capital those days, but good heavens - for some of us, it was a sweet sounding thing!
Once I got settled on my own, my personal audio journey started. My first summer visiting my Dad back at home, I "borrowed" his Sansui integrated amp. With the money I made that summer with a job on the side, I bought some Lansing used speakers, got a Pioneer cassette player/recorder, and also a Dual vinyl player. That system served me very well for quite a few years, and my friends begged me to record tapes for them because they sounded so well. Lots of fun was spent listening and dancing to that system. Ah, we were young. Memories.
I will cut this short some - but want to emphasize my purchases were always well considered and I was never a compulsive gear swapper. I was busier compiling a music library. Vinyl... then CDs. I got a Sony CD player, and was hooked to the nature of digital right away. I think it was 1989 when I stopped buying vinyl, mostly, with a clear preference for CDs. Not sure when it was exactly, may have been around 1991 or so, when I started doing well as a young engineer. I upgraded. I got an entry level Luxman integrated amp, the Denon 1290 CD player (highly regarded to this day) and TEAC 8030S cassette player. I also upgraded speakers to small German towers that sounded sublime. That system served me well and sounded absolutely awesome to me and anyone that listened to it. I should mention I still own the small German 3-way towers, and swap them in from time to time just as a reference to compare with current gear. They still sound entirely satisfying, if understandably not 100% to my current standard. But again - that law of diminishing returns is brutal. I could still live with them if circumstances required, really.
Then I moved to the US. The company that brought me over did well. I got married here. We bought a big house - typical story. As we moved into the house, my condition was that I'd build my dream system in the big living room with cathedral ceilings (there was a separate family/TV room). I *splurged". My search concluded at the time with an Accuphase integrated amp (E-306v if memory serves) and an Accuphase CD player (D-65v I think). And bigger $15k tower speakers (won't mention brand). I adored this system. I enjoyed countless hours. It also powered many special moments and parties. So often I'd connect with close friends just listening to it, great music playing and appreciating the experience. The streaming era arrived, and the Accuphase CD player started to act more and more as a DAC. By 2008 or so, I don't think I played CDs anymore. I had ripped my entire collection (it took me over 2 years, starting in 2005 when I got a Slimdevices Squeezebox).
In 2013, my life changed. Divorce. We sold the big house, this being California she got most the $. I moved to a small townhouse. The big equipment didn't seem to work there.
A new discovery journey started, powered both by new tech and the fact I started to reconsider some of my long held -and somewhat snobbish- audio beliefs. More about that in a followup post....
One key thing about audiophile discussions is that they are often triggered between people that just bought gear they are willing to go to war for, and others that prefer to defend why their gear is better. And that's never going to work. I think a personal journey is worth a story.
About myself: I am now in my mid-50s. Grew up and went to University in Europe, moved to the US in the late 1990s. My Dad was a music and music gear enthusiast. I grew into it. My memories start in my early teens. I recall my Dad's system had a good Dual turntable, a Tandberg cassette player, and a number of amplifiers over time... and Spendor speakers. The latter were a constant. He also taught me to have total respect for the equipment, and he genuinely enjoyed the fact I used and enjoyed it and had equal passion for it. He also liked the fact he could use me as a remote control, of course "Son, play XYZ next" while he was chilling with a beer after work. He had a huge Vinyl library, and an eclectic musical taste that over time allowed me to establish my own (which kept evolving over time, but my preference for jazz, classical, R&B and some Latin was established early). My older sister also brought other influences into the house, starting with the Beatles but also Eagles, America and many others. I was lucky - great equipment and many musical influences. I should mention my Dad also had some unfortunate preferences like James Last, Boney M, Abba and some Chipmunk stuff (but the latter may have been for the benefit of my younger sister :-D). I also distinctly recall the first album I bought with my own money was George Benson's "Give me the Night", and I appreciated my Dad's equipment to accurately resolve the totally underrated background vocals in that album right away (they are layered awesomely, especially in "Love x Love").
Anyhow, like many of us, I moved away to go to university, and absolutely needed some music shrine of my own in my humble student dwellings. I moved with a Walkman as my reference system - it represented a big investment for my limited capital those days, but good heavens - for some of us, it was a sweet sounding thing!
Once I got settled on my own, my personal audio journey started. My first summer visiting my Dad back at home, I "borrowed" his Sansui integrated amp. With the money I made that summer with a job on the side, I bought some Lansing used speakers, got a Pioneer cassette player/recorder, and also a Dual vinyl player. That system served me very well for quite a few years, and my friends begged me to record tapes for them because they sounded so well. Lots of fun was spent listening and dancing to that system. Ah, we were young. Memories.
I will cut this short some - but want to emphasize my purchases were always well considered and I was never a compulsive gear swapper. I was busier compiling a music library. Vinyl... then CDs. I got a Sony CD player, and was hooked to the nature of digital right away. I think it was 1989 when I stopped buying vinyl, mostly, with a clear preference for CDs. Not sure when it was exactly, may have been around 1991 or so, when I started doing well as a young engineer. I upgraded. I got an entry level Luxman integrated amp, the Denon 1290 CD player (highly regarded to this day) and TEAC 8030S cassette player. I also upgraded speakers to small German towers that sounded sublime. That system served me well and sounded absolutely awesome to me and anyone that listened to it. I should mention I still own the small German 3-way towers, and swap them in from time to time just as a reference to compare with current gear. They still sound entirely satisfying, if understandably not 100% to my current standard. But again - that law of diminishing returns is brutal. I could still live with them if circumstances required, really.
Then I moved to the US. The company that brought me over did well. I got married here. We bought a big house - typical story. As we moved into the house, my condition was that I'd build my dream system in the big living room with cathedral ceilings (there was a separate family/TV room). I *splurged". My search concluded at the time with an Accuphase integrated amp (E-306v if memory serves) and an Accuphase CD player (D-65v I think). And bigger $15k tower speakers (won't mention brand). I adored this system. I enjoyed countless hours. It also powered many special moments and parties. So often I'd connect with close friends just listening to it, great music playing and appreciating the experience. The streaming era arrived, and the Accuphase CD player started to act more and more as a DAC. By 2008 or so, I don't think I played CDs anymore. I had ripped my entire collection (it took me over 2 years, starting in 2005 when I got a Slimdevices Squeezebox).
In 2013, my life changed. Divorce. We sold the big house, this being California she got most the $. I moved to a small townhouse. The big equipment didn't seem to work there.
A new discovery journey started, powered both by new tech and the fact I started to reconsider some of my long held -and somewhat snobbish- audio beliefs. More about that in a followup post....
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