Last audio gear purchase you made that was a complete gamechanger

Hard to believe it's been about a dozen years, but this gadget:

http://www.cnet.com/products/cd3o-c300/

First 802.11b wireless music streaming device. Completely changed how I listened to music, after prompting me to rip my entire library.

Before that, probably my first portable CD player capable of playing mp3 CDs. Nothing like being able to cram an entire artist's catalog onto a single disc or so.

Most of my other purchases have been evolutionary, but those two devices - which I got within a couple of years of each other - were revolutionary.

(I was late to the iPod party - I only picked one up in 2006 or thereabouts, long after I'd already ripped my library for the cd3o and - when that device finally flaked out - moved on to a streaming device from Linksys and, later, an AirPort Express.)

 

Game changer? A change in attitude on my part. I looked at doing things differently in my setup that went against the grain of my and traditional audiophile thinking for years. Centralised everything around an excellent Onkyo AV amp and took it from there.

 

Biggest game changer for me was deciding to get a Surface Pro 3 with Media Monkey and a Peachtree DAC ITx. Computer Audio completely changed how I source and listen to my music. The convenience and sound quality are ridiculous.

The odd thing was it even got me listening to my LPs more and caused me to upgrade my table which has lead to a love/hate relationship with a Rega RP6

 

Naim NDS streamer. No cds in the listening room, and the sound is on a par with my vinyl.

 

Buying Vincent SP991 Monoblocs off my friend. Every single recording has sounded better be it CD/LP or Tuner .

 

my klipsch.

 

Audionote Empress Silver Monoblocks

 

Ortofon Quintet Black

Thiel cs 1.6

 

I bought a decent MC cartridge for my TT and then decided to invest in a couple of Lundahl step up transformers - the journey into MC/SUT is just completely on another planet.

 

Tannoy DMT 15 IIs - first big leap forward in my system

Audio Technica AT150MLX - phono cart - second major upgrade

everything else I've upgraded (including going from the AT cart to an EMT) has just been a refinement.

I'm still waiting for my Shindo CC80 amps to arrive - so we'll see what happens when I get to hear them...

 

Maybe not quite in line with the question but... getting a car with an hdd based music system. Pretty common place now but oh the joy of not having a heap of CD's (or worse - cassettes) rattling around in the car. I listen to a lot more music and a lot less radio.

 

It's been seven years, but switching from solid state to hollow state clinched the deal.

 

yeah red wine makes everything sound better

 

For me, it was a PS Audio PWD-II with Network Bridge. This was a game changer in that I started ripping my CDs and using networked audio. Eventually, I got sick of the lack of gapless playback on the Bridge, so I sold it. Still, it was the one that got me started with streaming audio.

 

My Cambridge Audio DAC...also my Cornwalls.

 

My game changer would be a mixture of a few commonality components.
First the Vincent 236 mkll then rollin to NOS tubes from the 50s.
Changed everthing I ever thought since I was 7 years old and loved my families tube console and Grandfathers Fisher 500b?
Then the Kef r400b subwoofer that is a marvel of great deep sound and original deseign.
All this made me a new audiophile , one I thought would never happen.
Take care John M.

 

Adding the Pure Music app to my Mac. Makes 320 AAC sound warm.

 

My Dynaudio BM6A MKIII monitors.

 

That is very true! I was the one that he gave the wine to, so all I can say is yum! And thanks Rafe!

 

By the way, my new tube integrated amp (Meishu) is a game changer for me. Most fun I have had in years with Hifi!

 

For me it's the Wharfedale Jade 5 speakers. Now it's: "here's the sound you're giving me" not "here's what I think it should like".

 

If we talk the game changer that takes your listening to a new level with no return, it must have been going from single end to fully balanced setup.
From source all the way trough amps, cables to the speaker voice coile.
The drop in noisflor and the extension of soundstage and dynamics is beyond comparison to just simply change to a better amp, cable or speaker and so on.
It is like the hole system act as one, rather than individual components.

//F1

 

My Fiio x3. Not just it's great sounding portable dap, the very real replacement for my much loved MiniDisc units in the download age but it allows me to enjoy HD audio on the main rig thanks to the excellent dac and line output stage. Now that's digital done right to my ears.

 

I can imagine that would do it.

 

My 1st tubed component. All tubular now, in 3 systems.