Best hardware acquisition of 2017

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Davey, Dec 26, 2017.

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  1. mds

    mds Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    KEF Reference 3 speakers. This has completed my speaker search! 2018 will either be a DAC or Preamplifier, not sure.
     
  2. nola27

    nola27 Active Member

    Location:
    texas
    nice amp! your avatar is one of my all time favorite recordings!
     
  3. cyclistsb

    cyclistsb Forum Resident

  4. Davey

    Davey NP: Portishead ~ Portishead (1997) Thread Starter

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    Bubbamike and bluemooze like this.
  5. wgb113

    wgb113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chester County, PA
    2017 saw my system nearly completely change. The only constants were the Rega Planet 2000 CD player and the 2012 Mac Mini running Roon.

    OUT:
    • McIntosh MA6300 Integrated Amp
    • B&W N805 Speakers
    • Dayton Audio SUB800 Subwoofers
    • Oppo HA-1 DAC/Headphone Amp
    • AKG K812 Pro Headphones
    • Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable
    • Pro-Ject PhonoBox V USB Phono preamp
    • Pro-Ject SpeedBox
    • Ortofon 2M Blue

    IN:
    • KEF LS50W
    • Technics SL-1200GR
    • Ortofon 2M Bronze
    • Ortofon 2M Mono
    • PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter
    • Schiit Jotunheim w/USB DAC/Headphone Amp
    • AKG K7xx Headphones
    • Sennheiser HD-6xx Headphones
    Of the list of new gear it's a tough choice between those first two but I'm going with the KEFs. They've simplified my setup, shortened the signal path, and have been a pleasure to listen to. They took everything I loved about the passive LS50 and improved on them in every way.
     
  6. Davey

    Davey NP: Portishead ~ Portishead (1997) Thread Starter

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    Yea, that's fun to make a wholesale swap like that, I've done it a few times myself over the years, it's almost like moving to a new city and starting over. So do you have any new equipment plans for the this year, any piece in there you'd still like to step up to another level? What do you do for the low bass now?
     
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  7. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    I'm happy with all my stereo equipment and have been for years. I love headphones and recently bought a set of Grado GH2 headphones. A great addition to the collection.
     
    erowid, wgb113 and Slippers-on like this.
  8. Ski Bum

    Ski Bum Happy Audiophile

    Location:
    Vail, CO
    My best equipment purchase of 2017: Wilson Alexia Series 2 speakers.

    I went for decades disliking Wilson speakers. I always liked their clarity, bass and ability to play LOUD, but the over-detailed tweeters made them unlistenable to me (I have a similar issue with Focal speakers). Then I heard the Alexia Series 2 speakers and was immediately persuaded. I swapped out my Hansen King V2s for the Wilsons, which are smaller and less expensive. I got a startling improvement: amazing clarity without the "hi fi" sound, huge dynamics, holographic imaging, wonderful bass articulation and slam (perhaps not quite as deep as the Hansens, but far less troublesome room interaction with the smaller Wilsons), and an excellent disappearing act.

    Two other changes during the course of 2017 that produced excellent sound improvements:

    1. Swapped out my good ol' Koetsu Urushi Black cartridge for a Dynavector XV-1s. Even though it is easy to love the lush sound of the Koetsu, I was finding that the lack of extension was affecting my listening pleasure. The Dynavector is neutral (but certainly not bright), and in comparison to the Koetsu is more extended, faster, more dynamic, has tighter bass (without the mid-bass thump of the Koetsu) and a better tracker.

    2. A tweak with jaw-dropping results: After telling my long-time dealer that it was not going to work, I acceded to his repeated requests that I try isolating my dCS Vivaldi DAC with HSR Vortex isolation feet (he sent them for a free trial). The increases in clarity, imaging and bass articulation, and the reduction in noise, were unbelievable. (Much to my wife's amusement, I tested the difference on her because I thought I had gone crazy. She heard the difference in under 5 seconds, said it was obvious and described the change as the elimination of a ringing sound.) BTW, I tried the same thing using Aurios (with the extra ball on top) instead of the HSRs, and got the same result. I can't understand how isolating a solid state component without moving parts can make such a dramatic improvement. I'm told that the DACs "ring," but honestly this makes no sense to me (though it makes my wife seem like a "golden ears" reviewer). In any event, the improvement is unquestionable, so the Vortexes stay under the DAC. In case you were wondering about the other components in the Vivaldi stack, the Transport was already isolated (with Aurios), isolating the Clock produced a slight improvement (so it now sits on Vortexes), and I heard no change by isolating the Upsampler.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2018
  9. mreeter

    mreeter Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City
    The LS-100 replaced a Rogue Audio Perseus Magnum, while the Perseus is a very capable Pre, the LS-100 is just in a different league. I rolled in a NOS Mullard 5AR4 rectifier tube, and a pair of Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z. Their are a world of 6SN7's to choose from though.

    Mine doesn't have the On-Board Phono Stage, but I'm pretty sure it accepts 12AU7's. I think you'll be pleased with the LS-100, Dynamics and Staging are very good.
     
  10. Claus LH

    Claus LH Forum Resident

    Two things:
    My Oppo PM-2 headphones. When I saw they were being eliminated from the US market, I jumped on a pair of good-as-new used ones, with extra pads.
    Then I figured it was time to feed them better, so I got the Schiit Asgaard II headphone amp.
    Pure enjoyment, between the punch of the Class-A Asgaard and the space and detail of the Oppos. Those two really like each other :righton:
     
    wgb113 and ssmith3046 like this.
  11. nola27

    nola27 Active Member

    Location:
    texas
    my Son already got it for me. don't have a great TT yet but thanks for the offer! I got to see John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner live in Cleveland, Ohio back in the late 70's and they were great!
     
  12. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    very nice slippers. you are tempting me to hop on the tonearm cable marry go round but on my table it is a specific length and is used for "anti skating".
     
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  13. Slippers-on

    Slippers-on Forum Resident

    Location:
    St.Louis Mo.
  14. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I'm budget fidelity....
    Best... Outlaw 2160

    Klipsch RF25 towers
    Onkyo 7030

    Not new purchases, but I had my Denon cassette deck repaired.
    Also put a new stylus in my TT and started playing my old records again + getting more records.
    The Outlaw phono input sounded so good to me that it revitalized my interest in vinyl.
     
    soundboy and TheSeldomSeenKid like this.
  15. Dougr33

    Dougr33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Twin Cities, MN
    Went a little nuts (and going nuts Wasn't my N.Y.'s resolution!). I added a second REL T5i to my KEF LS50s, and was enjoying that. Then..my <1yr old Peachtree Nova 150, which had been a little glitchy, crapped out and had to be sent in for repairs last week. Adding the KEF's to my system 3 months ago was a revelation, and had me wondering what other detail was out there. So, I've decided to make one last (that Is my N.Y. resolution!!) splurge, and I ordered a new Benchmark AHB2 amp (arrives tomorrow), and to save some money, got the still Stereophile A+ rated DAC2 HGC used for a full $1k less than a new DAC3. I had almost every iteration of the DAC1, and am looking forward to this being my final system for at least a few years! Amp arrives tomorrow, DAC a few days later. VERY nice that Peachtree is one of the few (should be the law in my rarely humble opinion) companies that transfers warranties to new owners, so shouldn't be too hard to sell once back from the shop.
     
  16. wgb113

    wgb113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chester County, PA
    To be honest @Davey the lowest bass is the only thing I could see addressing this year - perfectly happy with everything else. That said the LS50W is much better in my room when it comes to bass response compared to the passive version combined with that McIntosh integrated.

    I'm interested in KEF's new Kube subwoofer lineup and will be looking to see how LS50W users potentially integrate them. I think "smart" subwoofers are essential since it's the hardest thing to address/get right in a room - bass response. I'm thinking with the flexibility built into both the LS50W and Kube combined with the added flexibility we saw from Roon last year could make for a pretty potent setup in my room.
     
    Robert C likes this.
  17. Doug_B

    Doug_B Time Traveler

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The only new hardware purchase I made in 2017 just sits in its shipping box - a Pioneer BDP-80FD disc player purchased solely as a backup SACD ripper.

    Doug
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  18. robertk

    robertk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ecuador
    Upgraded my midrange amp in a tri-amp setup; got rid of a Conrad Johnson after about 20 years of duty and went with an amp I'd been wanting for decades----Mark Levinson.
     
  19. octaneTom

    octaneTom Man of Leisure

    Proac Response 2 speakers (circa 1990s?) as the basis for a new system at my place up north:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2018
    timind, Bananas&blow, Cliff and 9 others like this.
  20. frimleygreener

    frimleygreener "It 'a'int why...it just is"

    Location:
    united kingdom
    2018 to date: Chord C Line interconnects....not going to get embroiled in the whole cable debate..but these realistically priced offerings really do seem to bring something to the table.
     
  21. jerico

    jerico Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I was in the market for a new set of headphones. I found a set of Focal Elear on sale online because of damaged packaging, so I took a shot. They arrived and the only blemish I could identify was a tiny puncture in the outer shipping box - like a pen had punctured the box. The rest, including the internal box, was perfectly fine. Saved 28% on list.

    I also had a Meridian Explorer2 die after a few months. Amazon issued me a refund, no questions asked. I then replaced it with a Chord Mojo on Amazon Prime Now and it arrived about 2 hours after I placed the order.

    I am currently using the Elears and the Mojo as I write this!
     
  22. bluesky

    bluesky Senior Member

    Location:
    south florida, usa
    My 2nd pair of Sansui 1980 NOS PS-107C "high-efficiency" 23' thick black jacketed speaker cables.

    Puts a smile on my face, even right now, just thinking about them! :) Very cool! Really nice cables, my back-up pair.

    Picked up 2 pair of NOS Sansui "high efficiency" interconnects too.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2018
    Fitero likes this.
  23. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    congrats on the benchmark amp- been reading about it- very impressive review in stereophile. please let us know your thoughts when it settles in.
     
  24. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Hey Slippers...that's a Well Tempered table. It might have been Art (or someone else) that you are thinking about. Never owned one of those myself.

    I can really only compare the VPI with Rega (P3-2016 and P5). I think Rega's sound really good. Very lively and engaging. But ultimately I think the VPI is superior. I know a lot of thought and engineering goes into Rega tables but the VPI just seems like a more complete table, with better build and, more importantly, better sound. Liveliness and engagement have not suffered. I was mildly worried as I've heard VPI's are clinical but I'm not experiencing that at all. Also was a bit concerned about the lack of anti-skate, but I can't say that IGD has been a problem. I think the tonearm wire provides a bit of natural anti-skate and I'm guessing that's enough.
     
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  25. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    I also got a Pioneer BDP-80FD disc spinner last year. First SACD capable disc spinner I've ever owned. Being able to rip SACDs is liberating. I can finally buy SACDs without reservation. I used to pass on most of the SACDs I saw because I couldn't play anything other than the CD layer. If the disc or music was available in a CD only version I'd usually end up buying that instead of the SACD version. Why but the SACD version if you can't play it? So I ended up passing on a number of SACDs (mostly classical) that I would have otherwise gotten. But no longer. I can finally buy those SACDs when I find them. That Pioneer is an awesome bit of gear, and not expensive. It's my runner up for best hardware acquisition of 2017. My best new gear purchase of 2017 will be announced in a future post in this thread. It's something I've wanted for a while, but never expected I'd get to own.
     
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