How cheap can you go and still be happy with the sound?


I would think many guys on this forum are spoilt by the gear they have and never listen anymore on cheap rigs.

I was listening recently on my younger daughter’s PC audio rig and got reminded again of how good it sounds. There is a fairly high level of clarity, detail, tonal balance and great bass in this rig.

 

- Yamaha HS8 powered monitors: $700 to $800

- Yamaha WXC-50 MusicCast streamer+dac+preamp: $450, often found on A4L for around $300

- Audioquest Powerquest PQ3 (was around $200 or so)

 

IMO, this would qualify as a high quality (sonically) charity price hifi rig for any younger or older person w.r.t small room nearfield or midfield listening.

 

What is the cheapest rig that has brought you happiness these days?

 

deep_333

Here's my home office system under $50:

B&W C201i -- $10 

Onkyo R1 amp -- $ 10

Sony 300-CD changer -- $5

Realistic Lab 430 turntable -- $20

It's mostly used for background music

@waytoomuchstuff... +’something significant’...;)

When banging the rocks together to improve and/or creating (some may say ’cretin-nating’, but they just don’t....."....well, never mind...").

’Something pleasant to move the task along’ covers a lot of my need and desire for ’decent audio’, when involved in a non-audio ’fo-cussed foray’....

DLH ( ’Difficult Listening Hour(s)’ ) is when you’re ready to ’git down ’n In To’ that which taps your toes is a whole different activity....

...esp. when you’re rubbing your forehead from that launched wrench that bounced off a surface and returned with a vengeance....

True story, that....wrenching on a Triumph Spitfire with a cantankerous bolt....

I pick my unintended targets more carefully since...like the object itself v. random uninvolved.... ;)

I have a very high end system at home but i did sonos at my cabin. I am very happy with the play 5’s and the sub!!

@asvjerry

You rarely disappoint.

Your "tool bounce off" moment was an effective Newtonian physics demonstration. Very impressive!

One question: Was the wrench standard or Metric?

@waytoomuchstuff ... Triumph=British=metric;

Although I've no reason to believe that the car had it in for me...

No more than anything else does..