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What was the equipment upgrade you are most happy with?

delta76

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That one time when you upgrade part of your system and you were beyond joyful and get your money worth every penny, what did you replace ? ;)
 

sarumbear

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DSJR

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I had a turntable 'system' epiphany once (and bitterly wish I hadn't all but given the deck away some years later before the Internet), but yeah, speakers were the thing at various times.

Lately and I have to admit - getting my hearing sorted as best as NHS technology can allow! EVERYTHING sounds better now, so *sorted!*
 

fcracer

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Got an M33. It does everything I could want in one box. It’s dead silent with no music playing, and when it’s playing from the multitude of sources available, the sound coming from it is so easy to listen to. There’s no hardening as the volume goes up, and there’s copious amounts of room to turn the volume way way up.
 

tvih

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I guess without going 18-20 years back it'd have to be the most recent one - miniDSP 2x4 HD. Finally proper subwoofer integration and in-room bass response in general. Though of course it wouldn't be properly possible without having the Umik-1 as well.
 

stevenswall

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Speakers, always.

^This.

For me it was going from a HiVi DIY 3.1 that had very noticeable vertical lobeing and only half decent subwoofer integration even with a MiniDSP... Then getting Genelec 8260 monitors with way more bass extension and even dispersion everywhere.

After that: GLM. Very nice and notable difference with even tight sounding bass.
 

Dunring

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A $14 Febsmart 2 port USB card to locate at the bottom of the case and finally have a silent noise floor for the DAC.
 

REK2575

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NAD M10. Streaming and Dirac were life changing.

+1
For me, the switch to streaming seems even more life-changing than leaving behind LPs for CDs. I'd have to say the addition of the Bluesound Node to my stereo is the upgrade I'm most happy with, as the device that completely transformed how I listen to music.
 

highender

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Not a replacement but an add-on to my system, Dirac Live software.
 

anphex

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Allthough considering ASR results this is very high level: changed NC400 to Purifi. If you don't have an NC400 already, go straight to a Purifi amp. Even if it's just for the gain setting. 80% of people don't even need then gain stage enabled if I had to guess. It's about 16dB SINAD for free!

Second, a dedicated DAC. I use my Denon 3700 vor movies and gaming, but for listening I switch to my SMSL Su-9n, and you notice the difference.
Plus a DAC let's your experiment with lots of stuff like filters and - the SMSL at least - let's you experiment with sound colors.

I'd say, if you don't notice changes in sound by upgrading your DAC or amp to a high quality one by ASR standards, your speakers are the bottle neck. If you have a speaker with low disortion, deep and reasonable flat FR and great resolution you should be able to have low, clean bass while also noticing differences between roll off filters or at least compressed vs. uncompressed music.
 

usersky

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Speakers, more than one pair and NAD receiver (won't say it's name to avoid lynching) with DIRAC.
 

ENG

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NAD C298 and Revel F228Be. DAC/pre is Topping D90. Now the equipment disappear more.
 

DWPress

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Replacing a miniDSP 4x10 with a Okto Dac8 Pro for sorting crossovers. Gotta love that volume knob and display.
 
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