What was your best (and worst) audio purchase for the dollar?

[audio2design]

Best -- Books

Worse -- University courses

Somewhere in the middle, a pristine pair (drivers at least) of Infinity Kappa 9 that I could not afford when they came out, but were $150 in a thrift shop. People are still paying over $1,000 for them on the used market. Sure they are no longer state of the art, but for a secondary system, they still sound quite good.

 

[LTig]

Worst amps: Sony TAN-77ES and Amber Series 70. [..] Both the Sony and Amber were in the shop two times each (the Amber didn't have meters, but just kept blowing up). Boutique Amber actually turned around the amp quicker than the Sony service station. The last time each was fixed I sold them while they were 'factory fresh'. Amber soon went out of business, [..]

The Amber power amp? Still have one waiting for repair. I bought it used in 1988 at a highend dealer for probably much too much money (in a set with a used preamp, the first time in my life I payed a serious amount of money for audio). It was said to be tuned with a bigger PS, and having 2 very heavy toroidal transformers meant that each time I powered it on the mains fuse blowed so I left it on 24/7 (recommended anyway by the dealer to sound better ).

Once I killed it by my own stupidity and had to replace all transistors and the driver chips. Doing this I realized that the circuit design was quite simple (a clone of the app note by the manufacturer of the driver chip, with no output short cut protection of any kind and no relays to protect the speakers) and I got really pissed off. At least I added an input current limiter so it no longer blew the fuses when powered on. Many years later it became silent again and since then waits for a repair ( I had NAD 2200 for replacement and nowadays no need for power amps at all since all speakers here are active).

 

[the_hamster 2]

Carver 500t still going strong, purchased new in ‘85, love the illuminated power meters, all-original and pairs well with both hi- and lo-efficiency speakers.

 

[andrewjohn007]

Best: MOTU UltraLite mk5 - This is undoubtedly my best audio equipment purchase ever, followed by a pair of JBL Studio 570s
Worst: Polk T15s and a handful of crappy TPA3116 amps when I was just getting back into the audio scene and (before I found this treasure trove of audio fidelity)

 

[tvrgeek]

First great piece was I went to buy an early CD player, and left with a small Denon receiver. Used it for years. Just plain nice.
Tanburg Facetts. Still have them in the wife's office.
Anthem MXR 310 for the HT. Still super. Relegated to sound only now as 4K switching is in the TV. Sony A80j, sweet.
Nakamichi PA 5 preamp. Matched with my Rotel CD, Nak ST-7 tuner and my own MOSFET amp for my office system. I need to sell the PA-5 as I have no use, but it is sooo sweet.
OPPO BDP 103, used for movies only, but way better picture than the Panasonic. Hanging on to it for now, but no real use.
A set of Yamaha YH-1 headphones. Still have them. Still more musical than anything I can afford.
Used Creek 4330. A marvelous little integrated. Still. Relegated to my workshop as no place to put it, but I won't let it go. It replaced the aforementioned Denon.
In the phono days, the clear winner was the Grace F9-L. Had it in a modified Thorens with a Hafler phono stage built into the base.
OOOH, remembered the Luxman 3 head cassette. Blew my Teac1230 away.

Had some good stuff, and some bad. The Parasound 2125 may be not as bad as I think once I get the EQ right. Sony integrated VFET was sweet, but very noisy. Sanyo Pluss 55 was probably better than I gave credit for. APT Holman was far worse than the Hafler. HCA 2200's were batter than the DH220's I was running, but I now know how to mod Haflers to make them much better.

The VERY worst was a Behringer DCX. Gad that thing was terrible. Long to boot, distorted, noisy. Even worse then the SMSL and Topping $150 DACs I sent back. I had a CM Labs amp that sounded OK, but kept blowing up. Stability problem.

The one I regret the most not buying was an Aragon amp. I probably would still have it and not bought about a dozen in between. Nakamichi P5 is right up there with my regrets. Maybe should have bought 2Ce's before my wife got used to smaller boxes in the living room.

Hard to list over 50 years of HI-FI. Started with a Knight 30W integrated, AR-4, and Gerard table. First stereo was a Pioneer integrated and tuner with JBL L26's. Then Hafler pre and Sanyo Plus 55, Philips 212 with an Ortofon. I had Ditton 44-s by then and Denon analog tuner. ( TU-660?) That was a great piece. Built a lot of speakers. Amp of the week. On my 5th DAC. I am trying to do my last configuration, but it has gotten complicated. I am just not in love with anything I can afford or be willing to pay for. I have always been frugal, or cheap, but now a curmudgeon to boot.

Toss-up. Topping DS30pro or Schiit Asgard. Bifrost still teases me.
Parasound 2125, my old MOSFET I am rebuilding, or something new. Vidar, March, NAD, Exposure, Atoll, or gasp, Benchmark.
My current SEAS based mains, or maybe do another pair. Purifi, CSS, SB woofers and who knows what tweet.
My sub is a keeper. Old paper/carbon Peerless XLSS in a critical Q box. It does its job and you don't know it is there.

 

[tvrgeek]

I know OP mentions audio as a hobby, but I am a sucker for gear and I wouldn’t be able to tell a bad purchase from a good one when it comes to the hobby

However, when it comes to gear I had to buy for my job, I can be much more objective, so here it goes:

Best: Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd gen. € 95. Very solid offering, super clean preamps, I use it with and without additional inline preamps. It does everything I need, I tried to replace it with something else but I found no valid alternative or reason to.

Worst: Motu M2 € 199.
Incredible specs, that’s what made me think my Scarlett needed an upgrade. Boy was I wrong. In theory I was getting 4 dB of extra gain, loopback, shiny meters, super headphone amp. I was like, take my money, now! In practice, the build quality was so so, half of the buttons were slightly recessed, there was a lag while turning it on, a lag while turning on phantom power, a lag every time I turned the gain knobs. Then came the dreaded cracking noises. I blamed my computer, my os, my cables, my dongles. But every time I switched back to my Scarlett, everything worked just fine. Returned.

Thanks for that comparison. I was thinking about swapping my 2i2 version 2 for a 3 but saw the review of the MOTU. It turns out, the noise I was picking up was not Scarlett, but my Behringer mic. ( I use it foe speaker work only) I could get better conformation of my electronics build with the V3, but saving the cash for a new amp. Maybe. Sweetwater told me about a different one I had never heard of they claim is even better.

 

[swampfire]

Best:

Onkyo C7030 CD player - just a very solid player for under $200, and you can use it as a transport. Probably my most-used piece of gear (don’t make fun of me, at least it’s not vinyl). I’ve got a collection of 400 CDs, and I love browsing physical discs.

Nakamichi CR-1 tape deck. I think I bought this around 1978, and it still works and sounds great. I don’t use it much now, but it was a primary source for quite a while.

Worst:

Emotiva XPA-5 amp. It sounded just fine, but one day the front panel display stopped working. Emotiva didn’t have any spares, so I was stuck with a 90 pound boat anchor. I gave it to a friend who’s trying to see if he can resurrect it.

Schitt Mani phono preamp. I really wanted to like this, since it was a good bit cheaper than my Graham Slee, and I rarely listen to vinyl. But there was a harshness to it I just couldn’t ignore. I’m sure it’s fine for most people, but the frequency response really bothered my old ears.

 

[tvrgeek]

I remember the Nak deck. I remember it sounded very good. I really wanted a 3 head though. That was the CR-3 which was a lot more. I remember the Dragon from that era. Really expensive. Quicker bias adjustment with a 3 head.

Bummer on the Mani. Phono stages are not easy, but don't think it takes a JC-1 either. The first gen Hafler phono was very good as was the Nak. Both allowed load resister adjustment. If the Mani does not, that could explain the issues. 47K is wrong. A sort of compromise value.

 

[paolomo]

Thanks for that comparison. I was thinking about swapping my 2i2 version 2 for a 3 but saw the review of the MOTU. It turns out, the noise I was picking up was not Scarlett, but my Behringer mic. ( I use it foe speaker work only) I could get better conformation of my electronics build with the V3, but saving the cash for a new amp. Maybe. Sweetwater told me about a different one I had never heard of they claim is even better.

Truth be told, most users are very happy with their M2, so mine must have been a defective unit. More in general, if noise is your problem, always check mic and mic placement first. A “cleaner” interface won’t eliminate noise coming from another source. Have fun!

 

[tvrgeek]

Truth be told, most users are very happy with their M2, so mine must have been a defective unit. More in general, if noise is your problem, always check mic and mic placement first. A “cleaner” interface won’t eliminate noise coming from another source. Have fun!

I remember the first time I took a sub driver out in the yard ot get a good Bode plot. I find out I50 background noise was swamoing me! Where I an mow, bugs and cows. So much for open air measurements.

My Behringer mic has developed a terrible hum. Not doing many more speakers so I can limp by.

Just plugged my old MOSFET amp back in, so I guess the Parasound 2125 goes to to the top of my worst buys list.

 

[Sokel]

Best is my audio-technica ATH-M2 i bought in 1984 as a teenager and I still have them here beside me runing (after 5-6 times recabling over the years)
Worst is Schiit Yggdrasil,this thing had serious problems.

 

[Fahzz]

Best bang for buck: Allo Boss 2 Player Streamer- $170 delivered.
Worst: I've been lucky-every step up I've taken has really been a step up.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

Worst buy was a Magnum Dynalab FM tuner didn’t sound or in build quality was any better than the cheap Onkyo tuner it replaced. Served me right for believing HiFi reviewers BS.
Best buy made a couple of weeks ago at the village charity shop a Sony DA3200ES for £15 in immaculate condition.

 

[Waxx]

Best:

A new Prima Luna Prologue 4 tube amp for 650€ (list price was 2400€) as end of series stock sales. The new ones was exactly the same, but with a new case. I also got some almost mint Goodman Mezzo SL's (very good 1970's speakers) for 20€ that served me years and are now in stock (I'm not selling those fast) as i have many other speakers arround that fit me more now.

And not strictly hifi, but 18 years ago i bought a box of "old tubes" for 100€ on a garage sales that had about 20 NOS and mint Telefunken EF14 tubes in it next to a whole bunch of other NOS telefunken, RCA and Tesla tubes that are extremely rare and sought after. All were still in original packaging. I sold them of to audiophools who pay crazy prices for them and made a ridiculous profit of it... It was a gamble (they could also have been worthless trashed tubes) but it surely paid off.

Worst i bought was some cheap chines tube preamp, that sucked so hard that i trashed it after 5 min listening. It costed only 50€ so i was not expecting much, but still for that it was a waste of time.

 

[Barryfromholland]

Best:
speakers: KEF self build mini monitor with b110b and t27 tweeter. BBC monitor style from the 70’s. Just recently sold to an enthousiast, still great condition. very musical sounding speakers, build it in 1985 after hearing them with a friend.
dynaudio heritage special, expensive but great sounding. Lots of details, very good midrange and crystal clear high’s but still not fatiguing. smooth and lively.
owned and build lots of three ways and four way speakers, but keep coming back to 2 way book shelves ;-)

Amplifiers: accuphase 307, bought second hand in 2000, very powerful and had that smooth easy sound with lots of ’air’ between the instruments. Could drive any speaker.
My recently bought Audiophonics purifi 400 power amp, lots of clean power, class d, no heat so tucked away in cupboard and out of sight, no dust and cables to see.
topping d90se as my pre amplifier, best dac I ever had, super clean and details.

streamer: bluesound node, so darn easy to use……and usb output to my dac.

worst: rotel 5.1 receiver, bought new in 1999, fairly expensive but lacks power and punch, hiss, sounds dull and not sparkling.

 

[Rednaxela]

Worst
Marantz SR 6200 + DV 6200

My first ‘real’ hifi, but the combo had a defect that I couldn’t live with. Something with the digital input locking up when switching from PCM to DTS and/or back. Replaced the receiver, didn’t help. Replaced the DVD player, didn’t help either. First time I really understood how a legendary brand can still exist and be a thing of the past at the same time.


Best
AVI ADM9.1

Beautiful active speakers with built-in DAC + preamp, analog + digital inputs and remote control. They basically cured my audiophilia nervosa and have been all I need for 12+ years now. Only recently I started to go down the measurements and EQ path, but even then I can’t really see them go very soon. A groundbreaking product at the time and still a joy to own.

 

[Marc v E]

Umik is definately the best per dollar.

Worst? All the cables I bought believing the hifi magazines.

 

[Sal1950]

BEST,
My current surround speaker system consisting of 4 JBL HDI-3600s and 1 HDI-4500 center.
An incredible sounding system if I do say so myself.
RUNNERS UP,
A pair of SVS SB2000 subwoofers

WORST,
Two Adcom surround processors from back in the 90's
First a GSP 560 and later a GSA 700. they both kept blowing up until I got so pissed one day I threw the last one out the window..
Most Adcom's Made In Japan products were exceptional, the Chinese built products not so much.

 

[Doodski]

First a GSP 560 and later a GSA 700. they both kept blowing up until I got so pissed one day I threw the last one out the window..

That sounds like a heck'uva party. Lol. I've never tossed gear out the window but I did open the case of a Pioneer 6 disc changer and wound wires all around the PCB components and then pugged the wires into a AC socket and watched the thing explode parts like popcorn. It was great fun.

 

[gks333]

BEST:
Umik-1 to use and implement REW: $100

WORST:
The approx. $800 I over paid for all my cables which should have just cost a total of $350 for my HT system.