Most significant change to your system in 2014 was . . .

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Nate, Dec 21, 2014.

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  1. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Cambridge Audio 752BD. One of those few pieces that just delights from the off.
     
  2. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    New integrated, a Modwright KWI200.
    Beautiful amp physically and it sounds nice but isn't moving me the way I think it should.
    So I'm trying to figure out if the problems lies elsewhere (i.e. Source and/ or speakers) or if this MW isn't "the one" in which case I can trade it back for something else the dealer carries (Hegel, Musical Fidelity, Krell, Parasound and others)
     
  3. ellaguru

    ellaguru Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milan
    SD USBPRE2 as my sound card for the new desktop.

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    Andy Boyd likes this.
  4. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    2014 brought me a used Cavalli Liquid Fire headphone amp. It has a smooth sound and a set-back headstage that sounds very open and unrestricted. Pairs wonderfully with Audeze headphones. It is a wonderful headphone sound for classical music, acoustic music, and music/recordings with an ambient soundscape thing going on. It has rekindled my interest in classical music. The way the amp presents classical music on headphones is just so good and different than the typical headphone listening presentation.

    The plan for 2015 is to get a good DAC. I backed a Geek Pulse X a year ago. Hope to get it in 2015. :D Hope it will pair well with my headphone amps and headphones. If not then I'll be shopping for a different DAC. Also will be looking for a second headphone amp to pair with the Cavalli. Something more forward and aggressive, yet still smooth. Most likely a Schiit Ragnarok. I heard a Ragnarok at a head-fi meet. And it does sound very good and very much to my liking.

    The plan for 2016 is a turntable setup. Yikes!
     
  5. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    This is interesting. Did you post a review thread about the new Mac hardware? Your comments spark interest in a tube amp. Did the warm sound of the tubes compensate for the "accurate" sound of the PSB speakers in your system?
     
  6. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    What do you think of it? any differences? Sometimes one change may not make a quickly discernable difference but give it a while (then remove it, go back to what you had before) and see if you can spot changes.
     
  7. cd fiend

    cd fiend Member

    Marantz CD5005 and put the universal player in the HT.
     
  8. masterbucket

    masterbucket Senior Member

    Location:
    Georgia US
    Klipsch Synergy F-30 Premium Dual 8-Inch Floor-Standing Speakers

    What a difference horns can make......
     
  9. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    Went from a McIntosh C220 to a Parasound P 7 preamp. Sold for financial reasons, was able to purchase later in the year (a couple months ago); SS pre seems more resolving and possibly with an even better soundstage and most amazingly maybe a little better sense of PRaT. I'm amazed and pleased. It seems a better fit for me personally, but the C220 is a great preamp too. I haven't tried the phono section yet, the C220 has a great tube phono stage that may be hard to beat. As I'm not into vinyl primarily, I'll trade a little less 'goodness' in that area if that's the case, we'll see.
     
  10. oregonalex

    oregonalex Forum Resident

    No I didn't post a review. I don't know if the PSBs are "accurate", at the time I compared them to some comparably priced B&W, Paradigms and others and they just felt the most musical with a nice bottom end extension and punch. I played them with Rotel amps for a few years and they mellowed the fairly forward Rotel sound to manageable levels. It was not optimal, though. The Macs seem to be pairing well with the PSBs. The MC275 does not sound particularly warm to me, but it imparts a sense of reality to the music that I have not heard from any other unit. It complements the C2200 well, because the preamp is a bit on the cozy side and provides enough warmth to create together the most listenable system I have ever experienced.
     
  11. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    Nice. Are you going to use it for recording? For needledrops?
     
  12. dividebytube

    dividebytube Forum Resident

    Location:
    Grand Rapids, MI
    most significant change? Selling most of my gear and using that money to buy vinyl. Of course I miss the tube amps/preamp, and Aries turntable but I'm enjoying the influx of new music.

    Maybe I'll build another 'super system' when I move to larger digs, but for now I'm cool with it.
     
  13. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Actually, there was another significant upgrade that I neglected to mention. Some of you who hang out on AudioKarma might know 'audiodon,' who is one of the resident Fisher tube experts. Don lives in the next town over from me, so I asked him to go through my Fisher 400 and work his magic. He upgraded the caps to Auracaps, replaced the tubes as needed, and performed mods to the power section (to have it run cooler) and phono stage (to make it more accurate per RIAA spec). It now sounds spectacularly good!
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  14. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    The stereo/mono switch I bought from Xmas 111 (John) on this forum. No more fiddling around with y-cables to play my mono vinyl!
     
    Topcheeseman likes this.
  15. subframe

    subframe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area
    Going from a PS Audio GCPH phono pre to an NVO SPA one. What a difference :D
     
  16. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Moving some of it from China to the US.
     
  17. dirtymac

    dirtymac Forum Resident

    Location:
    Exile, MN
    Found me a pair of Magnepan 1.6's. Holy ****, what a glorious sound I am experiencing. They made speakers I had previously thought highly of seem like toys. I'm a convert now & because I have other systems in the house that can accomplish what the Magnepans can't, I know I will never be without a pair. Took months for me to pick my jaw up off the floor!
     
    Brian Gupton likes this.
  18. DR.J

    DR.J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago Suburb
    Cool thread. Trading in my PS Audio PWD MkII for the Direct Stream (DS) DAC. Buy and listen to a crazy amount of digital since. Let's face it, if your a mass consumer of music, standard CDs and a few HDTracks are the way to go. They are giving away CDs these days. So much music available.......and it sounds good!!
     
    Lonson likes this.
  19. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    Tubes! Tubes! And more tubes! All NOS. Turned an already pretty impressive stereo system into one of the best I've ever heard. Small things can sometimes bring really big changes... :)
     
  20. DaveC113

    DaveC113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Front Range CO
    Yup, NOS is the only way to go... even with (much) higher prices the reliability and sound quality make them a better value than any new tube.

    I've heard "minor" changes in tubes, cables and AC power conditioning make the difference between decent and world class. In a good system it's not subtle at all!
     
  21. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    [​IMG]

    Stainless steel 45 adapter. Totally opened up the soundstage and improved dimensionality.

    It's like hearing my collection for the first time.
     
  22. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    Gotta get me one (I own one 45!)!
     
  23. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Forum Resident

    Location:
    North West England
    I managed to get another title card magazine, which with another second-hand i-Pod, increased my mp3 selection options on my vintage jukebox wall boxes, from 2 x 160, to 3 x 160. So even my wife gets a few choices, (no need to have any duff "b sides" on a wall box/adapter/iPod, hifi system).

     
  24. 56GoldTop

    56GoldTop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nowhere, Ok
    Hmmmm... It's probably the JICO Urushi Shibata for my Stanton 681EEE. It still didn't make it an 8xx series; but, it did give the cartridge more clarity all around, which is a good thing in my book. The "Urushi"? That's purely cosmetic; but, a nice touch. Come to think of it, I hardly spent anything on gear this year which is a drastic change from the previous three. I must be in another "research" phase.
     
  25. Darksolstice

    Darksolstice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro Tn
    [​IMG] [​IMG] I upgraded to 2 Emotiva XPA-1L mono block amps, Emotiva XSP-1 preamp, Schiit Modi dac and Sennheiser HD598 headphones, HUGE DIFFIRENCE !​
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2014
    SandAndGlass likes this.
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