Best hardware acquisition of 2017

I'm neglecting to mention my Christmas present from my wife........The Analysis Plus Power Oval 10 Power Cord. Since I just got this and only has about 50 hours on it. Mark @ A+ says it needs around 300 hours......but last night I was starting hear some really nice musical additions, I know there will be benefit to this upgraded power cord....Just not at a point to give my full impressions yet.

 

I purchased two of these carts NOS on eBay for $36. They outperform my AT440MLa. I am listening to a record right now that I have never heard cleanly before today.

 

I wound up replacing everything this year. First my B&K amp went out so I bought a Crown XLS 1502. Don't laugh, it works great, but may have too high a noise floor for very efficient speakers. Harvey's flooding took care of my B&W 683 S2's (and the dedicated listening room). The housse was so trashed we sold it to some outfit which will tear it down. For my new apartment bound life I picked up some LS50's. The new speakers revealed my Audioengine D2 was a bit weak, so I found a Grace M9xx on blink, new condition for a used price. All my analogue assets went to the curb, soggy and molding. I have a pair of 25 year old steel stands which survived the storm now loaded with lead shot recently purchased from some redneck gun shop, 25 pounds total. The new speaker wires are 14 ga solid copper and come from Home Depot.

 

And you live a lot closer to COOPERSTOWN than me....I'm Jealous to the core!!

 

I finally went all tube this year with a pair of Quicksilver Mono 120's with KT150 tubes.

 

Modwright Oppo 205 and Sony 75xbr900e.

 

LOL! I guess if I was not a Georgia and Virginia fan, I could do more given the red reel in the avatar.

By the way, this is the Sony ADR-5000 from the Sonoma room.

 

Definitely the Sony HAP-Z1ES player.
Sweet sounding Hi-Rez DAC and a punchy, dynamic analog section.
I came for the sound quality but stayed because of the play list Ap convenience and found myself using the internet radio tuner more and more- best sounding tuner I have ever heard.

 

Great machine! You should tune into Chris Frantz (Talking Heads drummer) show on WPKN as well. Most Fridays in the afternoon.

 

I bought two pieces this year- an iFi iPhono 2 and a MoFi Ultradeck with the Ultratracker cartridge.

That's actually wrong. I bought a 2016 Rega P3. Upgraded it. Didn't love it. Sold it.

My favorite by far is the Ultradeck. The iPhono2 is awesome as well, but I'm thinking of moving higher up the food chain. That'll take a while, as I think it's going to be a big jump to appreciably better the iPhono 2.

 

Adcom GTP-400 preamp, used, $60.

 

Pro-ject Pre Box S2 DAC. Great DAC with MQA, especially the price.

 

Love it! The best-sounding room in our small place is an even-smaller sitting room that gets lots of traffic (for a sitting room). I picked up LS50s (wired version) that I can place properly on stands when the kids are asleep and move out of harm's way for casual use (as below) when they are not. Magnepan .7s were my other candidate, but it would have been much more difficult to get them on the piano. My other main purchase this year was the Outlaw RR2160, which I really like.

 

I bought a couple of tonearm cables this year which were exceptional additions to the system as were the two hardware purchases I made.

The most expensive, at $120, was an AT3MONO/LP cartridge which was a serious bang for the buck.



The only other piece of hardware I purchased, which definitely qualifies as the biggest bang for the buck this year, possibly ever, was a grade 3 silicon nitride ball from Boca Bearings to replace the steel ball in the bearing of my Gyrodec. That hardware cost all of $7 delivered! So I think I got off pretty easy this year.

 

Wow you should isolate those speakers from the Piano! I highly recommend the ATS Acoustic Foam Monitor Isolation Pads that I use on my desk. Look them up - not expensive but extremely effective.

 

For me, it was a combination of hardware that makes it a nice system, thus hard to select the best.

I added the following to my main music system this year:
Two Parasound a23
Two minidsp 2x4
Seaton Submersive F2 (twin 15" woofers).
47" inch TV

 

Woo Audio Firefly.

My first headphone amp.

Really made my Nighthawk headphones sing.

 

The Delos is so far ahead of anything that I've previously owned. It's hard to compare. It's definitely the cartrige I'll stick with.

 

As noted, that's just to get them out of the way. Plus, the piano is filled with sand. Not really.

 

Replaced my Eastern Electric M520 amp with a Nord Acoustics Hypex Ncore based amp. It's pretty amazing how good Class-D has gotten. Love the sound, the fact I can leave it on and it's always ready without warming up the tubes and how much cooler my listening room is here in Tucson.

 

This has to be one of the most impressive things I heard in 2017. About 40% of audiophiles have trouble grasping the concept of power cords, yet you get one as a present, from a lady no less. Amazing. Congratulations!

 

Marantz CD6006. Has really brought my cd collection to life. Also, in general the redbook on my SACDs sounds at least as good on the Marantz as the SACD layer on my universal (Sony bd-a x800). Sturdy piece of gear, looks great, and I like that if I want to listen on phones dont even have to turn on the receiver as it has its own amp, plus usb port.

 

A Ray Samuels F117 Nighthawk Phono Preamp, a new Samsung 4k TV, and an Amazon Echo. Also a mid century modern stereo console to hold all my gear and a big chunk of my albums.

That Nighthawk is just amazing. Really surprised you don't hear more about them.

 

Been an unusual year for me as I actually bought several items...in reverse order of my "best".

#4 Van Alstine Ultravalve amp - Had been considering this item for some time. I was actually worried that it might go out of production, and I really wanted a tube amp for use now and then. AVA emailed a nice coupon which made me jump on it. Rated #4 only because it requires speakers that are decently efficient to work best.

#3 Vandersteen 1Ci speakers - Bought to use with the AVA amp above. A really nice entry speaker that sounds great once it is set-up right. About the perfect size for my room and mates well with my tube amp - it is happy with all kinds of music.

#2 Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp - A very simple line stage that is an incredible value for $1,000. The fact that it uses 12AT7 tubes rather than the much more expensive 12AX7 variety allows for affordable tube rolling. I love the simplicity, style and most importantly, the sound of this thing!

#1 VPI Super Prime Scout turntable - This is a unique product put together by Upscale Audio that I just purchased this month. It's basically a Scout motor and plinth (finished in white no less) with everything else upgraded with either Classic or Prime parts.



A standard Scout is $2,200. For $600 more ($2,800 total) I got:

VTA Base = $1,200
10.5" Arm = $1,000
Prime/Classic Platter = $1,000
Classic Feet = $400
Clamp = $150
Anti-Skate Device = $100
Cool white color...Priceless!

That's $3,850 in upgrade savings for $600. Then add $265 saved in sales tax and free FedEx shipping that would have cost about $100 otherwise...and you've got $4,200 worth of benefits from this purchase! Best deal of the year by far and the table sounds like a million $.

 

I bought some good gear this year...

B&W 805 D3's for main system
KEF LS50 for upstairs
Rega Elicit R for upstairs
2x Rega RP6 turntables w/Exact for both systems