JeremyFife
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I have finally upgraded (reconfigured, downsized?) my hifi on evidence-based rationale. It was strangely emotional and difficult to do ... I thought it was worth sharing. (I'll need some help with measurements later...)
I've always loved music and gravitated towards "hi-fi" early on (1980's ... ouch). I never went audiophile-crazy but had mid-range Musical Fidelity pre/mono-power amplifiers and a vinyl based 2.0 stereo. That got lost in family life and I started to pick up this hobby again recently. I believed in interconnects, in 10% of a system budget for cable. I believed the hi-fi reviews. I wanted Tubes!
My foot in the door again was a budget system (vinyl, stereo again) with a Rega Io integrated amp - and with an upgrade path all mapped out ... I was happy!
Then I found the ASR review of my 5* amp ... fecking devastated, pi$$ed off ... then intrigued. Then I read and then I learned. I have a science background (chemistry) and an understanding of blind testing (wine tasting, as well as pharmaceutical trials) so it made sense ... made a lot of sense.
DSP and room EQ / treatment just blew my mind.
Out went the Io, out went the cables I'd kept hold of, out went the upgrade path.
In came iFi Zen Phono (balanced output to help with noise), Bluesound Node as streaming transport (needed to stream Amazon Ultra... that's a family issue, don't judge) miniDSP Flex balanced for DAC, preamp and processing, Topping PA5. Musicians TRS interconnects and a little rack made from monitor stands.
The whole lot cost nothing, and it's tiny!
Here's the thing ... all the new kit sat unused for almost a month. I couldn't bring myself to switch. What if it didn't sound as good? what if it was 'cold', 'clinical' ... what if I couldn't suspend my years of learned bias?
I read and thought about this, until I felt sufficiently foolish
Plugged in today and music sounds utterly brilliant; vinyl and streamed. No mystical night/day nonsense, just lovely detailled music full of emotion and everything that should be there - what a relief!!
I can't believe how hard it was to let go of old habits and beliefs. Massive thanks to everyone here for stamping out the BS and for keeping the music to the fore, that's what it's all about. I couldn't have listened if you were just 'SINAD first' - there's sound, balanced advice here.
I also took my first measurements with REW today. That's a whole new post - I'll redo them a few times to make sure I'm on the right track before I ask for help! Mic placement was wrong, but I wanted to get started. My room is far from optimal, to put it mildly, I'll need help!
Happy again, thanks for the leg-up
I've always loved music and gravitated towards "hi-fi" early on (1980's ... ouch). I never went audiophile-crazy but had mid-range Musical Fidelity pre/mono-power amplifiers and a vinyl based 2.0 stereo. That got lost in family life and I started to pick up this hobby again recently. I believed in interconnects, in 10% of a system budget for cable. I believed the hi-fi reviews. I wanted Tubes!
My foot in the door again was a budget system (vinyl, stereo again) with a Rega Io integrated amp - and with an upgrade path all mapped out ... I was happy!
Then I found the ASR review of my 5* amp ... fecking devastated, pi$$ed off ... then intrigued. Then I read and then I learned. I have a science background (chemistry) and an understanding of blind testing (wine tasting, as well as pharmaceutical trials) so it made sense ... made a lot of sense.
DSP and room EQ / treatment just blew my mind.
Out went the Io, out went the cables I'd kept hold of, out went the upgrade path.
In came iFi Zen Phono (balanced output to help with noise), Bluesound Node as streaming transport (needed to stream Amazon Ultra... that's a family issue, don't judge) miniDSP Flex balanced for DAC, preamp and processing, Topping PA5. Musicians TRS interconnects and a little rack made from monitor stands.
The whole lot cost nothing, and it's tiny!
Here's the thing ... all the new kit sat unused for almost a month. I couldn't bring myself to switch. What if it didn't sound as good? what if it was 'cold', 'clinical' ... what if I couldn't suspend my years of learned bias?
I read and thought about this, until I felt sufficiently foolish
Plugged in today and music sounds utterly brilliant; vinyl and streamed. No mystical night/day nonsense, just lovely detailled music full of emotion and everything that should be there - what a relief!!
I can't believe how hard it was to let go of old habits and beliefs. Massive thanks to everyone here for stamping out the BS and for keeping the music to the fore, that's what it's all about. I couldn't have listened if you were just 'SINAD first' - there's sound, balanced advice here.
I also took my first measurements with REW today. That's a whole new post - I'll redo them a few times to make sure I'm on the right track before I ask for help! Mic placement was wrong, but I wanted to get started. My room is far from optimal, to put it mildly, I'll need help!
Happy again, thanks for the leg-up