Best Hardware acquisition of 2020

Just ordered my first hardware acquisition of 2020, a Focal Arche headphone amp/DAC to go with my Stellia headphones which I bought last year.

I gave serious consideration to buying a Utopia / Arche package deal but it's a bit rich for my blood ($5k nominal price tag, discounted from $6.5k for buying them separately) and also perhaps not enough of a sonic difference between Utopia and Stellia to justify (for me) owning both. So I'm just getting the Arche for now. Really looking forward to hearing the Stellia through an amp that is essentially designed for the Focal lineup, including presets to configure the amp for specific Focal models.

 

Sony WF-1000xm3 noise-cancelling Bluetooth earbuds. I never thought I'd own a Bluetooth over-ears headphone, let alone IEMs, after years of dual, triple then quadruple drivers, but here I am. And they are extraordinary.

 

Harbeth C7ES-3 &
2 x NOS Brimar CV4003/12AU7

 

DCS Bartok & Hedd AMT headphones Combo made in Heaven

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Being a fan of Bartok's music, I am intrigued by these phones. Ribbons?

 

Harbeth C7ES-3 for me as well. They are fantastic with anything I throw at them.

 

I just added a Teddycap to my Supernait 2 and it opened up the bass.

 

TBD.

 

Antimode 8033-II subwoofer EQ

 

Just picked up a Lumin T2 streamer/DAC a couple of weeks ago. This is a beautifully made piece, incredibly easy to use, and big step up in sound quality.

 

couple cool scores-

pair of REL T9i subs, these are the real deal in musical subwoofers.
and a mint Yamaha T-1 over the air streamer to give me some vintage bling in my system. the tuning knob has excellent feel and the sound is surprisingly competitive with modern day sources.

 

So far, a pair of Tekton DI in my custom blue.

 

Rega Planar 6 + Exact Cartridge. What an upgrade from an AT LP-120!!! Next: Speakers!

 

Heinz Renner, one of the Mysphere team, modelling the Mysphere 3. Wonderful headphone, reminiscent of the AKG K1000 (which he was also implemental in designing when he worked at AKG). The drivers can be pivoted away from the head. I have mine at approx. 10 degrees to the plane3 of my pinnae. Great sound and reminds me of the wonderful Stax Sigma Pro I used to own. Now the Mysphere has taken its place at Casa Buchanan.

 

My best acquisition of 2020, vocabulary-wise, is adding the use of "implement", as an adjective ("implemental").

 

Harbeth P3ESR.

Done for the year, maybe a cartridge at some point.

 

Coda Technologies stereo amplifier. Same amplifier channels as the newly-released 16.0, with the power supply from the 15.0.

Specs summary:

• 56 high-bandwidth bipolar junction transistors
• 3 kVA power transformer
• 180,000 µF power supply filter capacitance
• 100W Class A; 150/300W RMS at 8/4 ohms
• Fully differential, DC-coupled XLR input
• Low-noise FET input stage; -130 dB SNR (unsure of weighting)
• 110 pounds; 17.5" W x 19" D x 7.75" H
• Designed, manufactured and assembled in the USA

Runs surprisingly cool for such a monster. I love it!

 

The $49 Aiyima 04 3251 amplifier , even with the wrong pot on it it still is excellent .
They use some lesser parts on the latest board revision

 

Parasound NewClassic 2250 v.2 power amp.

 

Esoteric K07X SACDP.

 

Linn Majik 140 speakers with aluminium slab bases. Glorious! Just about to go down the Linn DSM route.

 

Big year for me- all new set up for our DC home:

Audionote AN-E LX signature

Audionote OTO Phono SE

Clearaudio Concept, Satisfy Tonearm, Virtuoso MM

MARANTZ ND 8006 CD/Streamer

 

To quote from HEDD's website:
HEDD is proud to introduce the first full range Air Motion Transformer headphones to audiophiles and recording artists worldwide. The Air Motion Transformer (AMT) is an electrodynamic transducer that allows to move air significantly faster than common voice coil, magnetostatic (planar) or electrostatic systems. Their traditional piston-like movement is overcome by a folded diaphragm that squeezes out air four times faster: A breakthrough for capturing more details in a musical recording.
My comment on this: actually, Precide released the Ergo AMT headphone years ago, so HEDD's first sentence is not correct, unless they want to try and argue that the Ergo AMT headphone wasn't full range. Heil's Air Motion Transformer has been around forever in speakers

 

Lyngdorf tdai-2170.
I even listen my lps through it, which some might consider nonsense!
So far i really like the clean sound, black backgrounds and how it drives my speakers ...

 

Boulder 1060 amplifier...