Thiel Owners

I’m struggling to make a decision now that my pre/pro is dead. Lately, I’ve become interested in digital delivery, both storing media via a NAS and streaming. I still have a CD collection but the digital aspect I find extremely convenient, especially as it relates to new music.

I don’t mind investing in equipment that would last a while, such as my 2.7s, Bryston 28Bs, Alpha Core AG3 speaker cables, and Straighwire ICs (since I don’t see myself replacing any of these). However, I don’t want to spend much money on things that change quickly, like certain technology and digital standards.

What do people think I should invest in and which things should I stay way from. For example, do DACs change often? If so, should I invest in a good preamp but get external DACs that I can swap out as technology changes? Appreciate everyone’s thoughts.

@Tomthiel, what did Jim use as a preamp when developing the CS3.7s, do you know? Were there certain brands or types (tube vs. ss) that he gravitated towards?

silvanik

Very nice system you own. Many audiophiles enjoy the Sony ES HAP-Z1
for server/streamer activities.  It is a cool device that was ahead of its time upon release to consumers.

Happy Listening!

Batmanfan - I claim ignorance of what preamp Jim used for the CS3.7 development. He used the Krell FPB-600 and Goertz flatwire.

How he approached equipment, in general, was to work with the obvious allies in the business, those brands which would be demonstrated and sold with our speakers. They included Audio Research, Bryston, Krell and Levinson - I remember the Pass Aleph 0 that Nelson developed to drive our speakers well; there may have been others later or fallen through my memory lapses. There was never time to play with toys. Thiel generally borrowed and lent so that latest versions of those amp brands and our speakers were in each others' stables.

batmanfan - there are several discussions in the digital group of threads that could be helpful; my take is if you have more than one source (and I bet you do), DAC design continues to change and evolve, so if you want to maintain the ability to change/upgrade the DAC, you'd be better off with separates.  That being said, there are fans of some boxes that do both, but this does lead to some built-in constraints down the road.  The other question is the streaming part - again, one unit or a combined DAC/streamer.  With all things audio, cost becomes the biggest constraint.