Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

😂

Worst argument for digital ever. I'm sure digital is empirically better, but that's not why sound engineers use laptops.

Live band FOH is majority digital in my experience, even small venues now.

Who gives a shit, at the point you're spending as much time and money as people in this thread are, all that matters is you like what you hear and the way it gets to you

Yep, I use CDs, vinyl, Qobuz and my own digital collection stored on a NAS. They all sound great.

Of all the things I enjoy about small club gigs, sound quality is very rarely amongst them.

Cyrus CD players are notoriously prone to failure, especially the early ones. Cyrus have even stopped offering to service almost all their CD players (and tuners)

Of all the things I enjoy about small club gigs, sound quality is very rarely amongst them.

Yes, strange example to use, isn’t it? Most live recordings sound shit as well.

Oh that’s shitty, not planning on dropping £1k+ on anything new tbh so maybe I’ll rethink the Cyrus and get something else small.

I've got some eltax book shelf speakers (I can check which ones) and one of those cheap ebay bluetooth amps

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nobsound-NS-01G-PRO-Mini-Bluetooth-5-0-Power-Amplifier-HiFi-USB-Stereo-Audio-Amp-/271889418992

It works and it works alright, it's not being used and it's just gathering dust.

What's a reasonable price, not looking to be money grabby, I was thinking £20-30 for the lot with speaker cables.

not looking to be money grabby

doesn't sound like you're being a nob

Srsly, rip your CDs to flac and pop them on a USB drive or an ipod classic. Mechanical transports for digital media make no sense to me. What's the rest of your setup?

Currently not assembled! It will be a 1210 (might set up the pair & mixer, not sure yet), Cyrus One cast and some old Wharfedale speakers (on the list to upgrade).
Obviously most stuff I could just stream but there’s something that seems a bit less throwaway about committing to an album and physically playing it. Plus you can rediscover stuff and pick things you wouldn’t have thought of, when they’re there on the shelf.

Just knock up one of these
https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/sonos-spotify-vinyl-emulator

This is not as shit as I first assumed - could put the tags in the CD cases.
Although, what do we reckon the cost of a raspberry pi, NFC reader, tags and setup time is VS an old CD transport?

Perhaps you could buy a DIY vinyl presser :p

Shame you need the small format. Project do an excellent player but it's really designed and priced for the purist. They are using new versions of the OG Phillips drive that people have been ripping out of jukeboxes and old hifi kit because of it's 'legendary' reputation.

Would probably be a better cut than some of the s**t GZ Media is pressing atm.

€2500! Might as well just re-buy all my CDs on vinyl.

Size looks ok, I’ll add it to my list.

The Topping E30 has to be one of the best value HiFi devices I've ever purchased - relatively speaking.

I bought an ex demo Rotel A12 (which I'm returning) just to see if the extra wattage offered anything over my Onkyo A-9150. It didn't. It didn't sound any better at all to me Which has really helped me realise how much value there is in the Onkyo. I paid a mere $332 for it two years ago. The Rotel is $1000...

The E30 however, at $150, is now performing pre amp and DAC duties and is going into the analog input on the Onkyo. The whole system sounds fantastic and the E30 is tiny. Really, really terrific. These Totem's now sound far more alike how they did in the store I purchased them from. Stoked.

The Topping stuff I think is genuinely a bit ground breaking, which is great to see.

I am currently loving the WFH benefits of having a chair on wheels - I've recently found the sweet spot for my atom / focal setup (in a small room) was not far from my previous listening position but is a lot better. Makes me wonder about what I'm missing from the LS50w if I tinkered a bit...

Yeah, I can't quite believe how transformative it was. I keep thinking about buying a new amplifier to go with the speakers because an amplifier that retails for a 1/5th of the price of my speakers seems like I am missing out on something - and I am sure I am. But man. It all just sounds so great already - so long as the recording is good. Unfortunately bad recordings are now completely unlistenable if I am honest.

Jealous of the Atom. Seems like the perfect all-in-one box.

I know it’s What HIFI but this is pretty special.

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Significant escalation has occurred! Got a bargain pair of Spendor S9e’s locally after discovering my existing pairs of speakers had all been housepartied to death 😬.
Positioning is sub-optimal (can’t really do much about the piano) but even so they are pretty special.
Still need a CD player!

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Ha! Sub optimal indeed. Look great though. Nice credenza.