What's your greatest purchase...

Lamm ML2 amps.

Many years ago my TEAC X-10 reel to reel. Loved it. As of late an integrated tube amp, my first tube component. Coupled with the VSA jr4's, magical.

A CJ CAV50 integrated and DV2B CD player both from Audiogon.

My biggest purchase was a Krell KAV 280CD player new at a good price. My biggest savings were on a Wadia 64 D/A, (used in flawless condition) at about 15% of retail Second to a CAL DVD player from reviewer (when he heard repair places were out of CAL parts) at about 13% of retail, 4 months old. The general ability to move up without the retail (and associated) strain.
But what French fries describes puts the icing on the cake as my experience has been of fellowship.

Bocchino Evening Star XLR interconnects.

My system has evolved over the years to Burmester 001 CD/pre, Nagra VPA monoblocks and Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers. I used and enjoyed Argento speaker cables but I was never happy with my interconnects. I successively moved higher up the ranges of Audioquest, Transparent and Nordost. $12 K later and I still wasn’t listening to music. What I heard was either lacking detail, depth and/or richness and was just not that "musical".

Poring through the asylums, Bocchino connectors frequently came up in use in the top end cables from Argento, Audioquest and so on. Given that both Burmester and Nagra suggest balanced interconnects I checked on bocchtech.com.au to see whether (Nino) Bocchino made cables as well as component connectors. And, yes his “best” balanced interconnects are Evening Star and are based on Bocchino XLR connectors – the same as used by Argento in their reference Serenity Master Special Edition cables (tmh Audio showed a 1 m pair at $7 500). Bocchino Evening Stars were less than half that number and being in Australian dollars, even more economical.

So how do they sound? Well after 3 months in my system they add great depth of sound staging, pianos now have power and subtlety and bass lines are tight but deeply extended so that they are felt as well as grounding the music. Best of all singers now have real voicing, emotion and clear delineation. Definitely a "great" purchase.