Travelingprimate
04-01-2019, 20:39
One drunken night on the town I struck up a conversation with an amateur movie director. in the course of events he showed me his $600 hifi music player which I promptly mocked as ridiculous, after all, why hadn't I heard of this before? surely its not better than an industry leading Ipod?
So the next day I googled the Ak100. Then I bought an Ibasso 100(?) and when that broke I splurged and bought an Ak100ii.
The rest is history.
Some of my adventure was just dumb luck, like when I dropped $1100 on a recapped Sansui Au-717. I knew I wanted an accurate, mostly neutral, all purpose amp to start my hifi Journey so I would have a decent understanding of what Audio should roughly sound like. This was important after going through a few pairs of headphones that I thought sounded great, but later realized were highly colored. What I didn't understand was how special an amp I really ended up with. (It may only be 85 watts, but I now have it powered 4ohm Vandersteen 3a Sigs with no problem.) I also had no idea it had an integrated pre-amp. I wasted lots of time wondering if I needed a pre-amp for my setup, not knowing I had one all along. In the end I followed my ear, which told me I didn't really need a pre-amp until I learned I already had one built in lol.
My first speakers I wanted the best bang for my buck, so I ended up with a pair of Vandersteen 2c speakers with custom square (instead of triangle) stands for $500.
Next I had the ak100ii stolen out of my car, so I bought a Chord Mojo.
Currently I use Roon from my laptop to a Chord Qutest to Sansui Au-717 to Vandersteen 3a Signature speakers and couldn't be happier. Sure, almost my entire living room is wasted having them 58 inches from the back wall and 26 inches from the side walls in a 15.66 x 11 foot room, but damn it sounds good.
As for Music, I like lots of 60's and 70's singer songwriter style albums.
I also have an Elekit tu-8200 that powers Grado PS1000 headphones. It's hard not to love the sound of tubes.
So the next day I googled the Ak100. Then I bought an Ibasso 100(?) and when that broke I splurged and bought an Ak100ii.
The rest is history.
Some of my adventure was just dumb luck, like when I dropped $1100 on a recapped Sansui Au-717. I knew I wanted an accurate, mostly neutral, all purpose amp to start my hifi Journey so I would have a decent understanding of what Audio should roughly sound like. This was important after going through a few pairs of headphones that I thought sounded great, but later realized were highly colored. What I didn't understand was how special an amp I really ended up with. (It may only be 85 watts, but I now have it powered 4ohm Vandersteen 3a Sigs with no problem.) I also had no idea it had an integrated pre-amp. I wasted lots of time wondering if I needed a pre-amp for my setup, not knowing I had one all along. In the end I followed my ear, which told me I didn't really need a pre-amp until I learned I already had one built in lol.
My first speakers I wanted the best bang for my buck, so I ended up with a pair of Vandersteen 2c speakers with custom square (instead of triangle) stands for $500.
Next I had the ak100ii stolen out of my car, so I bought a Chord Mojo.
Currently I use Roon from my laptop to a Chord Qutest to Sansui Au-717 to Vandersteen 3a Signature speakers and couldn't be happier. Sure, almost my entire living room is wasted having them 58 inches from the back wall and 26 inches from the side walls in a 15.66 x 11 foot room, but damn it sounds good.
As for Music, I like lots of 60's and 70's singer songwriter style albums.
I also have an Elekit tu-8200 that powers Grado PS1000 headphones. It's hard not to love the sound of tubes.