Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Chromecast Audio is now discontinued so that will probably get bricked before long.

Leading us back to the great gold RCA cable debate.

Further to previous questions I've been looking at amps for my living room. The following seem to fit. NAD 3020 V2, Marantz 6006 UK edition and the Yamaha rn series amps/ streamers. Anyone have experience of any of these ?

Stay away from the 3020 v2. Poorly made, plasticky, overpriced.

Fair enough, I assume you've had a poor experience with one?

Yeah. Purchased and returned. I have an SMSL AD18 and wanted something similar but an 'upgraded' version. The wattage of the SMSL was higher than the NAD and it really showed. My speakers aren't particularly hard to drive (B&W 607) and the NAD had to run at 90% volume to be at a reasonable listening volume, whereas the SMSL could be at 50%. I was disheartened by how plasticky it was considering it was 3x the cost of the SMSL, which is entirely metal outside of the power brick. To my ears, the NAD didn't sound any better than the SMSL. I genuinely believe you were paying for the NAD name.

Whereas when I purchased my much larger Class-A Onkyo A-9150, the difference was substantial and it sounds terrific. It was cheaper than the NAD, has better specs and also has tone controls which are such a huge asset in my eyes. It's massive, though - which is the trade-off.

Thanks, that's the nad off the list then! I did have concerns about it being underpowered tbh. I liked it for the neatness and connectivity really. I can fit a big box in the room though , so size isn't really an issue

On the other hand I have a 3020 v1 and I love it. Sounds great with my Linn Helix speakers (that were previously paired with an old NAD 3150), with stacks of headroom. I'm generally running at about -40db on the amp. The connectivity is great. I don't care that its plastic, I'm not fondling it and it looks nice. My only complaint was with the remote, it runs out of battery quite quickly. I think it's a different design on the v2 (and the 3045, which looks like a great improvement all round). The DAC is fantastic, the headphone amp is impressive, auto switch on over optical is super useful for the chromecast I have plugged in, and it runs cool.

Also ignore the 30w nominal power, the dynamic load is like 65w at 8ohms and 150w at 2ohms.

Some pretty horrendous measurements on that SMSL

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-smsl-ad18-dac-amp.7325/

Yes. I saw that.

This guy sums it up well:

'That's because subjectively it probably sounds just fine to most people who use it. And as an inexpensive amp for someone who just wants to enjoy their music casually, it fulfills that role. I really don't think anyone is expecting top notch performance at its price point.'

I felt that the NAD didn't exactly outperform the SMSL, despite being 3x as expensive. That's my gripe with it. I wasn't praising the SMSL specifically.

It's also a gripe I've never heard from anyone else who's listened to one, and given it seems to be entirely down to using a speaker with too low a sensitivity isn't really fair considering how much impressive design work has gone into that amp, and how well it performs in its intended niche. There's the 3045 if your speakers need that much power.

Thanks for the comments both, it's appreciated . I really do need to go any actually listen to some things..... One more question for the forum: for the kitchen I was swaying toward active speakers with wireless connectivity. Kef lsx are too spendy for a background music setup. Any recommendations?

How’s your kitchen? All solid surfaces and echoey? If you have a decent setup elsewhere in your house it might be worth the effort to temporarily set it up in there first just to see if it’s worth the investment given the acoustics.

As I was twatting on about upthread I’ve just been grappling to get decent sound in the kitchen because it was the only room where I would have the opportunity to listen properly but I couldn’t find the right compromise between room friendly kit and enough oomph to mitigate the reflections. I’ve given up and just have a basic setup so I can hear music and radio as opposed to appreciating the sound. I’ve managed to negotiate a rearrangement of the furniture in the living room and set the PlayStation up in another room so the kids will fuck off for a bit and everything sounds much rosier.

It's a good point. It's a large space, with lots of reflective surfaces. But it won't be for proper listening. Just background music really . But I want to stream stuff to the kitchen. I'll also want the same music on in kitchen and lounge now and again...

how about these? (no personal experience of them)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B07MYV2527/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Oddly I had a pair of these in the study at one time. They were pretty good. But probably too small for the kitchen

ruark mr1mk2?

Dali Zensor 1AX? Probably not much bigger than the suggestion above. Being cleared at about £250 rn.

https://www.whathifi.com/dali/zensor-1-ax/review

Edit - These Klipsch would do the job I reckon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klipsch-R-51PM-powered-Bluetooth-speakers/dp/B07J6P5Z83/ref=asc_df_B07J6P5Z83/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309959679748&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2999986998939353359&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046194&hvtargid=aud-860880339348:pla-699339882428&psc=1

Thanks both, the ruark look nice

Anyone in Leeds and can collect these for me?!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F264607797251

Cool.

⚰️

1 Attachment

Clean

They look great. Lovely job. I’ve never heard a full range driver, do you still get sparkly top end like a good tweeter?