Most Underrated Audio Component(s) of All-Time?

Can be past or present.

You know, the kind of component that you really want to say this to, reputationally:



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For me it would be the Quad 11L2 and 12L2 loudspeakers.

 

Schiit Loki. - I swore off equalizers many years ago, but tried this one out just for the hell of it. Very nice unit.

 

More a part vs a component. The Siemens 6BM8 tube. Rest of 6BM8 tube manufactures have some annoying distortion. No Siemens 6BM8 available? Consider another tube type amplifier such as EL84 based.

 

Not sure what underrated means here, I gotta go with the old Radio Shack Minimus 7. Otherwise I would say the Realistic line in general from the 70s.

 

Cardas A8 IEMs.

Audeze iSine10.

 

Audio Mirror T-61 tube pre amp
Exposure 2010 integrated amp series

 

I liked the floor-standing speakers from Metaphor; they looked similar to Thiel speakers and were priced to compete against that brand, but they sounded a LOT more musical to me than Thiels.

I thought Joule amps and linestages sounded quite good; they did have a few quality control issues, but nothing a good dealer cannot handle.

For current manufactures, I like the sound of the cheaper stuff from the Italian company Synthesis. Very good sound for the money. There are a number of good manufacturers who don't advertise or attend shows or otherwise actively promote their gear, so they are hardly get mention even though they make good products--Quicksilver and Klyne fall in that category.

 

The best thing that ever happened to audio:

 

Actives.

That some audiophiles think these are just computer speakers...eesh!

 

The "Get Better Sound" book by Jim Smith.
Guys can spend years setting up everything they own WRONG and buying the same parts over and over again looking for that "magic bullet."
OR they could learn how to set stuff up correctly in the first place.
The know-it-alls hate Jim Smith because he can deliver results they can't.
As a consequence his book gets way too little use although it could save untold amounts of money and wasted time just by reading it a few times.
Oh well...
And no I don't own stock in his company.
And I already knew everything he has to say---but he says it better than I can and his book is well organized whereas I am totally disorganized.
However after 50 years of mucking about with gear thank goodness somebody took the time to explain proper setup techniques to those folks that don't get it.
Saves me a lot of time explaining.
My two cents.

 

According to some, idler-drive turntables in general...
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Agreed. They had some pretty decent receivers and turntables for reasonable $$.

John K

 

The humble area rug.

 

Bose Mini Soundlink.

High build quality and the damn thing sounds very enjoyable streaming Spotify off an iPhone, plus small enough to take on the road and can play off the built-in battery.

 

DBX 119 Compressor / !!! Expander !!!

 

Chromecast Audio

 

^ If there were a $30,000 version of that, Stereophile and TAS would say that it’s awesome.

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The Dayton OmniMic2 system, or equivalently, REW with a calibrated mic. If you want to fix an audio system, it's helpful to measure what's going on, especially FR and reverberation time in the bass. Measuring doesn't obligate you to aim for a flat line response -- but knowledge is power!

 

Thanks for the tip, expensive book, but found one to reserve at a local library so can look forward to reading this over the holidays.

 

My Dynamite8 was a constant companion through the mid 70's. Until it started eating my tapes and it got tossed out the window of the truck! Not environmentally sensitive, just a frustration move as my "Not Fragile" 8-track, proved to be pretty fragile after all!!!

 

Quality horn speakers.

 

Boston Acoustic CR bookshelves. Fantastic little speakers that will have you wondering what it is that makes them so ‘right’.

 

Single Malt.