Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

I did. Looks like the discussion has answered them.

As well as I main stereo and studio set up, I have two simple and effective telly set ups in different rooms, neither of which cost lot and do everything I need.

Downstairs in the kitchen/dining/living room I have a cheap telly, going straight into a silver Yamaha A-S500 amp with the little Yamaha blue-tooth attachment, which works very well for streaming to from my phone or laptop as required. Speakers are Q acoustic 2020i. Perfectly acceptable for casual listening and telly. I leave the sound from the telly on and just kick in the amp to add welly and bottom end. It's hard-wired so no latency. All good. Gets cranked up for party time listening too.

In the other telly room (the "grown up living room") we have a slightly better sounding telly going in to an old Pioneer silver-face amp (with rad glowing green tuner) and some Wharfedale Diamond 9s performing same support function as downstairs.

None of it fancy but it all works with minimum fuss and has way more volume and bottom end that you can reasonably get away with for watching movies in a terraced house.

Personally, I've never felt the need for surround or subs for home viewing... or at all to be honest.

Without wanting to continue this, I've hard wired my telly to my amp before and it made the amp buzzy to touch. Probably ineffective grounding right?

Yeah probably. A bit annoying and almost definitely bad for sound quality.

Yeah I'm up for that, thanks. But I'm not in London so don't worry if posting is a pain.
I have no audio snobbery relating to TV, just want louder bangs and crashes when watching action movies.

Just saw your post that they've gone already. No worries

Sorry mate.
Bit of a funny morning where everything that normally works wasn't and the people I wanted to do it needed me to fix it. The funny thing is, everyone thinks I'm the expert in excel.....

Anyway. This did all get bogged down in my mind chatter, and that's fairly selfish. I don't really have loads of cash to splash about and I'm fed up of being able to see what I want to do but it not quite being right. It's hard to have to turn around (mentally, for me) and say "ah, that's not quite right now" and then have to accept that "yes. actually, a TV would be about right".
It's frustrating because I've hard wired tellies to amps and/or used the headphone out and it doesn't look pretty and sometimes does the buzzyness. I also am fundamentally against running lots of little boxes to do things because power, drain, etc.

You are right, this could and should have been a better phrased question (or tbh: not even discussed on here but instead down the pub).

The snippy answer backs you could have done without - sorry.

OK enough telly already. Does anyone here have experience of the Cambridge Audio AZUR 851N network streamer? The user reviews are generally +ve (also indeed for the brand's much cheaper CXN V2).

I would rather stay with the existing ecosystem but the Naim ND5 XS 2 (the 'entry-level' model) is eye-wateringly costly, and would probably wish to spec up to the NDX with external power supply. So no to Naim.

Chalfie?! Hell no! He's a mate! Even if he's a grumpy one!

thanks man and no worries. Apologies if I was challenging you too much.

I network stream, no experience with the CA. What's your set up? What do you use now? There was a little Yamaha posted a few pages back by someone that looked good.

Edit. did you look at the Naim Unitiqute?

Not at all!
I was just putting negative energy to use in the wrong way man.

I should be more like this

than this

I have a smart TV (does everything an Apple TV does except screen sharing airplay) and a soundbar with wireless sub and rear speakers. It’s subtle enough for a front room and enhances viewing nicely. Not as beefy as wired separates but a reasonable compromise with minimal wires and boxes.

Just bought a Sony PS-HX500 and now trying to figure out what speakers to get, I'd prefer to go for active speakers but could be swayed to go passive with an amp.

Any recommendations? Budget is around £100 will only be used for casual listening in the living room so doesn't have to be the nuts.

Presonus Eris 4.5

It has the iTunes?

Have been looking at those nice one!

I have a pair at my desk running from a focusrite 2i4 DAC and the sound quality is ridiculously good. If you want a killer setup the Sony has a USB out so add a USB DAC like the focusrite and you will be fully set.

If you're on the fence with the Presonus speakers, this review is what sold me

Good idea actually! I do have a 2i2 hooked up to a pair of JBL lsr2328p in my studio but don't fancy moving them in and out of the living room constantly. Will move the 2i2 over when required though that's a definite winner.

Those JBLs look nice.

I just checked my setup and both your turntable and the focusrite have USB B ports so I withdraw the suggestion of a Focusrite for your turntable. You could use a Creative Soundblaster E5 as a DAC instead of the Focusrite, I also have one of these and would recommend it :)

Don’t think so but it has Plex and you can also Bluetooth from your phone/etc.

Yeah I do like them a lot. That soundcard and a pair of active speakers will be well over my budget! Think I'll buy some speakers now and that E5 or similar a couple months down the line! Thank you very much for your help

Is full-house Naim separates system with Linn analogue front end (and Naim CD player) so has to be up to the mark. One user review of the AZUR 851N on Richer Sounds website reckons it's better than the Naim product at 2x the price...hence my asking for any user experience here?

You can pick up a new ND5 XS for £1450 or a used one for £1250 on the bay, which is close to the price of the CA 851N. I’ve no experience or budget for either but given they’ll both be amazing sound quality, it’ll probably come down to how much you like the user interface.

Edit: ah, I see there’s an “upgraded” version 2 (without a screen?). As I said I don’t know much about Naim. I’d definitely want to listen to both. Certainly the CA gets good reviews. Do you use Tidal? DAC: onboard or offboard?

Hoping the audiophiles of lfgss can help me with an audio decision.

I'm building an audio system for my living room based on a raspberry pi with volumio, and am faced with 2 (or maybe 3?) options:

1. Digital audio converter with built in amp, wired to passive speakers
   
2. Digital audio converter with no amp, wired to active speakers
   
3. Digital audio converter, connected to external amp, wired to passive speakers
   
   

I'm not sure number 3 is an option, I'm sure it is, but ultimately what I'm asking is, am I better getting an amp and using passive speakers, or not bothering with an amp, and using active speakers?