Funk
17-05-2019, 11:59
Hi, new member here making my first post!
Have been into hifi since I was young; my first 'system' was a cheap Philips mini system with speakers which detached from the side - they were mounted on upturned pins blu-tacked to bricks on my windowsill in an early (and probably somewhat pointless!) attempt at isolation... To be fair I was 12 at the time!
Numerous bits of kit came and went, the usual array of things like Tannoy, Mordaunt-Short and Kef speakers, Marantz CD players, Marantz and NAD amps etc until I bought my first 'proper' hifi in my early 20s - a Naim CDi, NAC92/NAP90 - which did its best with a pair of Celestion A2s I was lucky to get for a ridiculously good price 20 years ago. The electronics slowly morphed over the years into a CDX/102/250/NAPSC/HICAP2 combo:
https://i.imgur.com/6ryfjdIl.jpg
Circumstances a decade ago meant I sold the Naim on (although I held onto the Celestions), CDs got ripped to FLAC and managed from my PC running into a Creative X-Fi HD external soundcard and I bought a new but end-of-sale Cyrus 8vs2 for £600 to run it into. The amp was only meant as a stop-gap but proved surprisingly capable for the money and for a while hifi stuff stayed pretty static. I knew it wasn't ideal but life has a way of making you prioritise things.
The X-Fi HD got swapped for a Behringer DAC which was fine for a while but I've recently decided to chuck some money back into my system and purchased a used Audiolab M-DAC which has blown me away in terms of the difference it's made. One of the things I really like about it is that it has a setting to allow its output volume to be controlled by the PC over USB - I use my PC as a media hub running into my TV - it's a small feature but one I really appreciate. It's effectively just a 'fancy external soundcard' in that regard I guess. Another nice feature is that it also handles the optical audio output from the TV for the smart features like Netflix/Prime and the Xbox One X - previously I used a Cyp AUD3-192 on a separate input to convert the optical.
Before I bought the M-DAC I looked at a number of 'all in one' streaming solutions (Hegel H90/Rost, Leema Acoustics and a Naim Uniti Nova) but I wasn't able to find out whether they offer the ability to control their volumes via their USB inputs and buying one could have been an expensive punt. I don't have any space issues so a multi-box solution isn't a problem but an all-in-one would've been neat. If there's an AIO solution which does what I need it wouldn't be out of the question to swap to that though and shift the M-DAC on (for example I see there's a Simaudio Moon Neo Ace for sale in the classifieds currently..).
Assuming I stick with the M-DAC, the next thing on the list is amplification as the 8vs2 really isn't capable of getting anywhere near the best out of the Celestions. I'd thought about just adding a power amp and running the M-DAC as a digital pre- over the balanced outputs but I think I'd find the lack of any analogue inputs a pain at some stage. Other options are to run the 8vs2 as a pre- and put a power amp on that or ditch it completely and buy a new pre/power or another integrated solution.
I'm a long way out of touch with the hifi scene though and I'm not really sure what will partner well with the Celestions? They're a pretty easy load (90dB sensitivity, 4 ohm impedance) but anecdotal feedback seems to suggest that they're capable beyond their price-bracket and really thrive on much better amplification.
Musically my tastes are ridiculously broad and varied - from funk (perhaps the username is a giveaway there), blues, jazz, country, prog-rock/metal, some modern classical, shoegaze, trance, acoustic guitar/piano through to gregorian chant. My current go-to genre is synth/retrowave such as The Midnight, FM-84 and VHS Collection.
As many will probably gather from my mostly Naim-based history I liked their focus on 'pace, rhythm and timing' - in my younger years I was a drummer so I tend to focus in on drums and bass predominantly so I'd probably be looking for an amp with a bit of dynamism and the ability to rumble out a taught, musical bassline and tight kick drums rather than a warmer, rounded sound.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts folks might have on amp recommendations with a budget in mind of around £1-2k? Am looking at used (or possibly ex-demo).
Cheers and thanks for making it this far in my intro thread!
Have been into hifi since I was young; my first 'system' was a cheap Philips mini system with speakers which detached from the side - they were mounted on upturned pins blu-tacked to bricks on my windowsill in an early (and probably somewhat pointless!) attempt at isolation... To be fair I was 12 at the time!
Numerous bits of kit came and went, the usual array of things like Tannoy, Mordaunt-Short and Kef speakers, Marantz CD players, Marantz and NAD amps etc until I bought my first 'proper' hifi in my early 20s - a Naim CDi, NAC92/NAP90 - which did its best with a pair of Celestion A2s I was lucky to get for a ridiculously good price 20 years ago. The electronics slowly morphed over the years into a CDX/102/250/NAPSC/HICAP2 combo:
https://i.imgur.com/6ryfjdIl.jpg
Circumstances a decade ago meant I sold the Naim on (although I held onto the Celestions), CDs got ripped to FLAC and managed from my PC running into a Creative X-Fi HD external soundcard and I bought a new but end-of-sale Cyrus 8vs2 for £600 to run it into. The amp was only meant as a stop-gap but proved surprisingly capable for the money and for a while hifi stuff stayed pretty static. I knew it wasn't ideal but life has a way of making you prioritise things.
The X-Fi HD got swapped for a Behringer DAC which was fine for a while but I've recently decided to chuck some money back into my system and purchased a used Audiolab M-DAC which has blown me away in terms of the difference it's made. One of the things I really like about it is that it has a setting to allow its output volume to be controlled by the PC over USB - I use my PC as a media hub running into my TV - it's a small feature but one I really appreciate. It's effectively just a 'fancy external soundcard' in that regard I guess. Another nice feature is that it also handles the optical audio output from the TV for the smart features like Netflix/Prime and the Xbox One X - previously I used a Cyp AUD3-192 on a separate input to convert the optical.
Before I bought the M-DAC I looked at a number of 'all in one' streaming solutions (Hegel H90/Rost, Leema Acoustics and a Naim Uniti Nova) but I wasn't able to find out whether they offer the ability to control their volumes via their USB inputs and buying one could have been an expensive punt. I don't have any space issues so a multi-box solution isn't a problem but an all-in-one would've been neat. If there's an AIO solution which does what I need it wouldn't be out of the question to swap to that though and shift the M-DAC on (for example I see there's a Simaudio Moon Neo Ace for sale in the classifieds currently..).
Assuming I stick with the M-DAC, the next thing on the list is amplification as the 8vs2 really isn't capable of getting anywhere near the best out of the Celestions. I'd thought about just adding a power amp and running the M-DAC as a digital pre- over the balanced outputs but I think I'd find the lack of any analogue inputs a pain at some stage. Other options are to run the 8vs2 as a pre- and put a power amp on that or ditch it completely and buy a new pre/power or another integrated solution.
I'm a long way out of touch with the hifi scene though and I'm not really sure what will partner well with the Celestions? They're a pretty easy load (90dB sensitivity, 4 ohm impedance) but anecdotal feedback seems to suggest that they're capable beyond their price-bracket and really thrive on much better amplification.
Musically my tastes are ridiculously broad and varied - from funk (perhaps the username is a giveaway there), blues, jazz, country, prog-rock/metal, some modern classical, shoegaze, trance, acoustic guitar/piano through to gregorian chant. My current go-to genre is synth/retrowave such as The Midnight, FM-84 and VHS Collection.
As many will probably gather from my mostly Naim-based history I liked their focus on 'pace, rhythm and timing' - in my younger years I was a drummer so I tend to focus in on drums and bass predominantly so I'd probably be looking for an amp with a bit of dynamism and the ability to rumble out a taught, musical bassline and tight kick drums rather than a warmer, rounded sound.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts folks might have on amp recommendations with a budget in mind of around £1-2k? Am looking at used (or possibly ex-demo).
Cheers and thanks for making it this far in my intro thread!