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

[A Surfer]

I have to say, I purchased a set of Celestion DL-8, Series 2 and they are pretty nice. For a sealed and rather small cabinet I was surprised at the bass quantity. They certainly will not be the last word in that respect, but they earned my respect nonetheless. Despite this I am using them with my NAD M3 cutting them off for anything below 80hZ and letting my pair of SVS SB2000 Pro take over that region downward. Really nice.

Anybody know of a modern, 8" woofer appointed sealed cabinet 2 way design they feel might best the Celestion? Just curious, and to be fair nothing above $1500 just to have a limit.

 

[Kachda]

I would if I had them.If you have it on hand is easy to measure it yourself,even as a loopback.

I don’t have a minidsp flex. And since you claim you have found a significant deterioration in performance when applying filters, I’d assume you’d be interested in posting it here?

 

[UltraNearFieldJock]

Another worst,miniDSP flex,measured nicely as is,measured horribly after loading the filters,went for refund the next day (last week).

It would be fascinating to know to what degree the loaded filters have an influence on the performance of DSP devices, like the Flex. A case for @amirm?

 

[antcollinet]

I would if I had them.If you have it on hand is easy to measure it yourself,even as a loopback.

I assume by loopback you mean reading the processed digital signal back directly from the Minidsp? (Since it is unlikley that the DSP filters would influence the performance of the actual DAC or post dac analogue circuits) I'd be interested in trying this - what software do you use. Is it possible to do with REW?

 

[Sokel]

I don’t have a minidsp flex. And since you claim you have found a significant deterioration in performance when applying filters, I’d assume you’d be interested in posting it here?

Maybe you haven't read any of my posts so far but even if I'm a Multitone analyzer addict (part of why I haven't the measurements anymore is that I'm 2-3 versions after the version I measured it) ,I'm a complete newbie to this so even if I measure everything I get my hands on I don't have the gear or confidence to post measurements that are already posted by an expert,so I either do it for myself or put some here always under warning.

But I really hope someone will replicate it,all he has to do is set two LR24db filters at 220Hz,one reducing 32Hz by 7db and one reducing 64Hz (obviously) by 3db and set the whole low area at -1.5db

That's all I loaded and I really hoped it would be nice.I know there's a lot at play here but I only considered the output as-is,in the real world conditions.

 

[Sokel]

I assume by loopback you mean reading the processed digital signal back directly from the Minidsp? (Since it is unlikley that the DSP filters would influence the performance of the actual DAC or post dac analogue circuits) I'd be interested in trying this - what software do you use. Is it possible to do with REW?

It's dead easy to do it with multitone analyzer (and also have fun to it's thread,by far my favorite) in every configuration you like.
To be clear,I got the balanced one,not the digital.

 

[antcollinet]

It's dead easy to do it with multitone analyzer (and also have fun to it's thread,by far my favorite) in every configuration you like.
To be clear,I got the balanced one,not the digital.

But even with the balance, it is possible to take the processed digital signal back as a USB input (if I understand correctly).

I'll check out that software.

 

[Sokel]

But even with the balance, it is possible to take the processed digital signal back as a USB input (if I understand correctly).

Of course it is,you just feed it's processed signal back to it's ADC.You will see the options in which devices you can use in the drop-down menu,if you have anything to ask people on the thread (specially @pkane ) are super helpful.
Have fun measuring!

 

[bill poster]

Humm ... Pass Labs X150.5. I owned one for a number of years and generally like the sound -- until I discovered something better and cheaper.

The price new of the X150.5 was US$5500. I did buy mine used for "only" $2500 plus expensive shipping, taxes, brokerage. The good thing is I recouped a good chunk of this when I sold it after 5 years or so. (The good news in general about buying reputable high-end brands used is that you can recover much of what you paid when you sell.)

However my VTV Purifi 1ET400A-based amp, $1500 new, is more detailed & transparent, dynamic, and has better deep bass.

Looked at the audiophonics version to add to system in thailand. Does your VTV have
the troublesome Delta filter?

 

[Gorgonzola]

Looked at the audiophonics version to add to system in thailand. Does your VTV have
the troublesome Delta filter?

@bill poster, what is the Delta filter? I guess I'm missing something.

 

[fpitas]

Another worst,miniDSP flex,measured nicely as is,measured horribly after loading the filters,went for refund the next day (last week).

I wonder if the power supply sagged as you made the DSP work harder.

 

[Sokel]

I wonder if the power supply sagged as you made the DSP work harder.

Hardly harder,4 filters in essential.
We can always suspect unit-to-unit variation but it was nice as standalone.
But there are reports across the net about quality problems.
I really REALLY hope some friend here measure it in real world conditions with some nicer gear that mine.

 

[fpitas]

Hardly harder,4 filters in essential.
We can can always suspect unit-to-unit variation but it was nice as standalone.
I really REALLY hope some friend here measure it in real world conditions with some nicer gear that mine.

Could be yours was just a lemon. Behringer had a lot of trouble with their power supplies for years. Some units worked fine, others not so much.

 

[Sokel]

Could be yours was just a lemon. Behringer had a lot of trouble with their power supplies for years. Some units worked fine, others not so much.

Or could just be the newbie me.
For example that's what my real world conditions measure for the (Amir's) 110 SINAD Khadas tone (which is not far given the level,can't do 0db,too hot for my ADC but you get the picture):

 

[a2copywriter]

Best:

• Sennheiser HD-600 (bought in 2002, thousands of hours of use)
• Etymotic ER4-P (bought in 2000, same as above)
• Phonak hearing aid (bought in 2018; not thrilled that I need it after an ear surgery -- but thrilled that I have it!)
• Polk LSi-9s and PSW-505
• Topping EX-5
• EQ!
• Meier Audio Corda Aria (bought in early 2000s, more than 15 years as my daily driver)
• Brickwall surge protector (yes, it only protects against surges... but my gear is protected, and it's BIFL)

Worst:

• Grado SR-325
• Used, damaged Stax 2020s (I love high-end Staxes, but these were entry-level and -- unbeknownst to me -- had a channel imbalance)
• Countless $50-$200 headphones in the late 1990s-early 2000s
• Lots of amps and DACs before figuring out that measurements and engineering are key
• Early/primitive MP3 players (one had 32MB storage and cost $200... which could've meant HD-600s years earlier )

 

[Dan]

best: Qudelix HPA. Price is a bargain for what it does
Anthem MX540. Swiss army knife of audio. Anthem ARC is incredible
Avantgarde Zero 1 speakers. Love active speakers and these are the best I've owned

worst: PS audio dac. The one that converts to DSD. Expensive and I fell for the hype before I knew any better.

 

[amicusterrae]

Meier Audio Corda Aria (bought in early 2000s, more than 15 years as my daily driver)

I bought a Corda Jazz ~6 years ago, but I found the minimum volume to be too loud. Jan Meier was very reasonable and offered to lower the gain, but I chose to sell the amp at a loss rather than invest more with costly shipping to and from Europe. The outward build quality was impressive, and I liked the feel of the volume knob. I was very interested in the crossfeed filter but did not find it worthwhile.

 

[Joe Smith]

Best: ADS L520 speakers in good condition with grills for $75.

Worst: Audioquest Jitterbug for $50.

 

[thecheapseats]

best audio purchase for the dollar?

my electrc bill...

 

[Dr Evil]

Best
Yamaha A-S501
Klipsch RP-600m
Dali E12F
Sennheiser HDVA 600
Fostex TH-600
Sony MDR-XB500

Worst
Onkyo A-9050
Samson SR950