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

[Mr. Widget]

Thinking back one of my worst, most disappointing HiFi purchases was a set of Kimber PBJ interconnect cables.
At a time when I was still under the influence of the highend BS, Corey Greenberg at Stereophile and others
were gushing over the sound of these...

I never purchased these, but an on-line friend was such a believer that when I suggested that he might be wasting money on his expensive and poorly designed Mapleshade RCA interconnects he sent me a set to try.

In my system I had no RFI or other noise issues, but when I told him that they sounded EXACTLY like other properly functioning interconnects, he got angry with me and thought I was intentionally ignoring the sonic benefits of the cables he sent me.

 

[DonR]

Best: Sennheiser HD 598SE headphones. Bought new 11 years ago for $90. Used daily and still functioning beautifully after a thorough overhaul 3 years ago.

Worst: My 7.1 surround sound system Cost me over $3K in 2010/11. Used once or twice a week for the first two years and is now relegated to 2 channel for the most part. I probably could have done a lot better for the money. It is not the equipment per se (Denon 3808ci, Energy RC-50/LCR/R+sub) but the format I rarely use now. Probably could have gone for smaller speakers too as I rarely turn up the volume any more.

 

[Short38]

Best
SMSL 400 ES
Yamaha AS 2200 (bought used about half price)
Paradigm Founders 80 Floorstander
Dyanaudio Special 40

Worst
$850 in Nordost Power Cord and flatline speaker cables. Was offered $50 for the pair by TMR. Made ABSOLUTE ly no difference in SOUND. Eventually I will offer them for sale. Stay tuned! Might consider in trade for a power conditioner….

 

[Sal1950]

In my system I had no RFI or other noise issues, but when I told him that they sounded EXACTLY like other properly functioning interconnects, he got angry with me and thought I was intentionally ignoring the sonic benefits of the cables he sent me.

Ya well you know, it must be your ears, or your gear, that are not at a high enough resolution level needed. LOL

 

[Mr. Widget]

Ya well you know, it must be your ears, or your gear, that are not at a high enough resolution level needed. LOL

And all of that would be fine, but he actually got mad at me and accused me of refusing to trust my ears.

Obviously Mapleshade is selling some pretty powerful snake oil.

 

[jim1274]

Boy, that is a lot tougher question than seems at first glance. I saw this thread several days ago and am still struggling. All the real top contenders are speakers. Is a 3-way tie list cheating? Ok, I’m going to cheat..twice maybe..

Best Buy for the $ is Used pair of Energy 22 reference connoisseur speakers, heard in 1984 but purchased in late 90’s if can only pick one. I can think of several pieces of gear bought new in much more recent years that are tremendous values to me, but hard to compete with something that was a good audio value even new in 1984, but bought used at about 1/4 the original price is hard to top.

As for worst buy, that is really even tougher, requiring more thought. I put a lot of time researching before buying, back in pre-internet days using “The Sensible Sound” magazine as my guidepost and bible, kinda like ASR forum in the modern era.

I saw the Mapleshade reference in the prior post, and going to take a wild guess—could their cable “trestles” be what someone is referring to on the worst list? I’ve never in over 50 years in this game purchased a Gucci cable, using nothing beyond a well made basic cable. I’m betting no one would admit it here if their worst buy was some $1000 cable. Heck, right now I’m using a $10 Monoprice XLR cable to feed a $3500 Benchmark AHB2 amp.

I’ll come clean on the worst part when I can figure it out. I guess I’ve been really lucky in that something really bad doesn’t quickly come to mind.

 

[Dunring]

Best was the 7hz Salnotes Zero:2 for $24 by far. Everyone should have a pair just as a baseline of how great something can sound for that money. The $14 Febsmart USB PCIE card was another winner, having a desktop where it's almost impossible to find a quiet USB port any other way. Amazon Basics cables like their quad star XLR and really sturdy USB 3.0 cables in different lengths for modest prices.

Worst was years ago, Monster Cables which look nice, but of course didn't sound different than the stock ones that came with components for free.

 

[darrellc]

Best value from a long time ago: Squeezebox, various cheap NAD integrated amps, Spica TC-50
Best value more recently: Elac bookshelf speakers, WiiM Mini/Pro Plus
Worst: Definitely B&W 802, certain Linn components

 

[Sal1950]

Worst was years ago, Monster Cables which look nice, but of course didn't sound different than the stock ones that came with components for free.

You probably know this already but I believe it is still worth mentioning, the very thin (less than 12gauge) free wires are capable of causing some power loss and top end roll off when used in lengths of over 20ft or so. Big fat OFC cables are dirt cheap and not worth skimming out for the free junk.

 

[jim1274]

Best value from a long time ago: Squeezebox, various cheap NAD integrated amps, Spica TC-50
Best value more recently: Elac bookshelf speakers, WiiM Mini/Pro Plus
Worst: Definitely B&W 802, certain Linn components

Your ELAC mention made me think of my ELAC Discovery Roon server, the thing that got me into Roon cheap, and might never have tried it if not. I’m a big fan now. The Eversolo DMP-A6 bought more recently is an astounding value for everything it does, kinda overkill as a Roon endpoint, but a Swiss Army knife of sorts and a nice sounding DAC too.

 

[Platypus20]

Best - Benchmark ABH2, LA4, DAC 3 HGC

Worst - a tie between Meridian 508-24 cd player and PS Audio Lambda cd transports (2), they spent more time in the shop and transit that in my system

 

[jim1274]

Best - Benchmark ABH2, LA4, DAC 3 HGC

Worst - a tie between Meridian 508-24 cd player and PS Audio Lambda cd transports (2), they spent more time in the shop and transit that in my system

Well, that’s intersting, not expecting the Bemchmark kit to make any “best purchase for the dollar” list. I have the AHB2 amp and just literally got the DAC3 delivered today. As much as I like ABH2 and have absolutely regrets, never crossed my mind a bang for the buck thing.

 

[Platypus20]

Well, that’s intersting, not expecting the Bemchmark kit to make any “best purchase for the dollar” list. I have the AHB2 amp and just literally got the DAC3 delivered today. As much as I like ABH2 and have absolutely regrets, never crossed my mind a bang for the buck thing.

The 2 I bought were cheaper than some of the other amps I looked at.

 

[Dunring]

You probably know this already but I believe it is still worth mentioning, the very thin (less than 12gauge) free wires are capable of causing some power loss and top end roll off when used in lengths of over 20ft or so. Big fat OFC cables are dirt cheap and not worth skimming out for the free junk.

Yep for RCA I get these 12 gauge ones which are pretty durable for daily testing stuff for function:

Amazon.com

For XLR I get these because they look great and never had one fail or come loose with daily use.

Amazon.com

Amazon Basics cables are really good for everything else, they just came out with a star quad XLR all in black instead of the shiny connector (they still make the gray ended ones though. Nice and bendy like the originals.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-4-Conductor-Balanced-Microphone/dp/B08YKGS8VW/

 

[jim1274]

The 2 I bought were cheaper than some of the other amps I looked at.

I guess in the context of reference level amps, it could be considered a bargain. I bought their amp and DAC so i could not wonder if there was “anything left on the table” for that part of the system. Within the AHB2 power capabilities, it’s hard to beat. If more is needed, running a pair as monoblocks is still a lot cheaper than many amps on that power class.

 

[antcollinet]

Yep for RCA I get these 12 gauge ones which are pretty durable for daily testing stuff for function:

Amazon.com

For XLR I get these because they look great and never had one fail or come loose with daily use.

Amazon.com

Amazon Basics cables are really good for everything else, they just came out with a star quad XLR all in black instead of the shiny connector (they still make the gray ended ones though. Nice and bendy like the originals.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-4-Conductor-Balanced-Microphone/dp/B08YKGS8VW/

For clarification, I think @Sal1950 suggestion about thin cables applies only to speakers.


For line level interconnect, where the load impedance is typically around 2000 times (or more) greater, cable gauge isn't really an issue.

 

[Sal1950]

Your ELAC mention made me think of my ELAC Discovery Roon server, the thing that got me into Roon cheap, and might never have tried it if not. I’m a big fan now. The Eversolo DMP-A6 bought more recently is an astounding value for everything it does, kinda overkill as a Roon endpoint, but a Swiss Army knife of sorts and a nice sounding DAC too.

FYI, what kind of music do you you mostly listen to?
If classical is your cup of tea, I understand Roon's ability to sort by all levels of meta data is the very best there is.
Otherwise for more popular genre's I don't see where paying for a server offers better power than the free media players combined with the search power of most streaming services will get you.

For clarification, I think @Sal1950 suggestion about thin cables applies only to speakers.

Absolutely, I only was only referring to speaker cables.

 

[concorde1]

Best value: March Sointuva speakers - love these things

Worst value: a now-sold Audio-GD DAC/amp combination unit
Second worst value: some of my very expensive rare CD's (some around or nearing $100 mark)

My DAC/amp stuff is great value, although it was a case of paying much more for far-beyond-threshold-of-hearing sound.

I can't call either of my expensive headphones good value, although they sound great, simply because, they're just headphones and they shouldn't cost so much as I paid.

 

[ITJ]

Best:
DIY Room acoustics
Measurement Mic
DIY Subwoofers
Prima Luna Prologue Integrated (Not the best measured performer but always put a smile on my face)

Sensible:
A couple of cheap performers measured on this forum.

Questionable:
A lot of high end stuff. Either still in use or sold off without a big loss.

Dislike:
Creek Pre-EVO Amplifier.

 

[jim1274]

FYI, what kind of music do you you mostly listen to?
If classical is your cup of tea, I understand Roon's ability to sort by all levels of meta data is the very best there is.
Otherwise for more popular genre's I don't see where paying for a server offers better power than the free media players combined with the search power of most streaming services will get you.

I listen to all genres—rock, blues, reggae, jazz, etc. not a lot of classical, but some.

I have used the Roon platform for about 5 years and am comfortable with it and have 4 zones. There are other options and platforms that are good too. Right now, while temporarily using my Eversolo DMP-A6 as DAC to Benchmark AHB2, I just use the Eversolo built in Tidal streamer and their control app on my phone. BlueOS is other platform that I’ve played with some too. Lots of options out there, but already have all 4 of my systems (zones) set up as Roon endpoints and control everything from my Roon phone app.

Absolutely, I only was only referring to speaker cables.