Partial to a bit of this...
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables
Not so much this...
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables
Regards,
Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work.... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -
Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
"You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”
“There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”
***SMILE, BE HAPPY***
Location: Seaford UK
Posts: 1,861
I'm Dennis.
From post 133;
"It seems to be a means of access to music that has some way to go before it is settled. The options available appear an endless endless jumble and I constantly see bemused people struggling to find their way to a set-up they can use easily and understand.
No doubt some are perfectly happy, but there always seems to be an underlying and unspoken impression, to me at least, that some folk are thinking the sound is a bit of an 'also ran'. "
I agree with this - for now, but it will get better I'm sure.
Commoditisation of music; PWL and Simon Cowell deliberately chose their paths as big money making ventures, and they mark IMO a sea change from the days of individuals trying to creatively work as singer/songwriter poets.
Most do not have a serious Hi-Fi now, and I argue that that is because the music does not warrant it.
Whilst ready availability does not cause music to be bad, the individual does value more what is scarce to him, and the freely available abundance of food surely is related to the resulting obesity crisis.
The young are taught about electronic music and possibly many want to be celebrities or pop stars, rather than write anything profound. This maybe has led to an abundance of mediocrity, it being a hard long haul to be successful in say the early 70s..
Sorry Dennis but I barely recognise anything in your posting as true. For example, many people know little about cars and regularly make poor purchasing decisions, even though there are very good models on the market at each price level. Same is true about streaming technology. Just because many people are unfamiliar or uninformed about digital streaming does not mean that there are not good products out there, even at very low prices as in the case of the Chromecast Audio. Some folk may be uncertain about streaming technology but many who have heard good implementations have adopted the technology.
The suggestion that the commodification of recorded music is a recent development is nonsense. I have already referred to the practice of Payola, but just look at the British experience in the 1950's and predatory impresarios such as Larry Parnes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Parnes who churned out a string of butch named clones long before SA&W and Simon Cowell. Recorded music has always been a commodity and consumers and performers ruthless exploited by the record companies.
I agree that most people today have not heard or invested in good quality domestic hi fi systems, but that is because music now competes with other forms of leisure time entertainment not available in earlier decades. Furthermore, modern technology allows for more selective listening of music at a time and place the user chooses. I personally can't listen to low bit rate mp3 files, but the SQ of Spotify Premium on a phone or tablet heard through a good pair of headphones and possibly a portable DAC /headphone amp is exponentially better than the majority of hi-fi systems from the "golden age" of hi fi. I say majority, because whilst there have always been good setups and equipment, but we forget that these were expensive luxuries in their days not mass-market products available to the masses. Domestic hi fi now seems to be an older person’s hobby compared to the 70’s and 80’s when was very much a young man’s hobby based upon the matching of separates. Of course, it is difficult now to contemplate the purchase of a hi-fi when you are saving like crazy for a deposit on your own home.
I will refrain from ranting on about the suggestion that increased accessibility to music diminishes the value we place on it, but try suggesting to a typical young person that they don’t value music and they will laugh at you. Music is as important to the young as it has always been. The fact that they choose to consume it in a different way is their business.
Geoff
Telling young people exactly where they are going wrong is one of the few benefits of being old. I had to put up with it when I was young and I'm damned if these kids today are going to get away from it scot free.
Current Lash Up:
TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.