Most eye-opening upgrade and what you learned

judith: welcome to the 'gon! having been at this hobby for roughly 35 years, i've had quite a number of eye (or ear)-opening experiences. i'll share a couple:

first, listening to my lp's on a decent turntable after they sat neglected for a couple of years during my first "digital epoch." the vpi hw-19 with a grado arm and grado reference cartridge simply blew away every cdp then available. so, for several years after acquiring this analog rig and upgrading to a tnt/ sme V/ lyra clavis, i had no cd player in my ever-evolving system. (FWIW, my current analog frontend is much more exotic.)

second, hearing a great one-box cdp in my setup. the first of this ilk was an accuphase dp-65, replaced after 2 months with a dp-75. thus began my second digital epoch.

for about a month and a half now, i've finally able to get world class digital AND analog performance with my purchase of a boulder 1012 pre/dac. this beautiful box, coupled with compatible lp and cd transports, provides the best from both my music collections.

i hope, tho, that i continue to be amazed by newer and better stuff. i especially look forward to the production of more great recordings of music, whatever their format might be.

-cfb

Yes tireguy, but were they active or passive q-tips?

Kelly-I don't know who your kidding everyone knows you are using an old Teac turntable with a rubberband for a belt ;) But hey if you think its exotic, before you laugh that is what I am using for an anlog front end-hence digital being my sole source.

Judit-I first used active(there was a large build up) when things could be controled I went to passive. But all of that aside I prefer using the ones with the blue "handle" and the extra bushy swab end, YMMV.

TIm

1st: Going from "high grade" monster cable speaker cables and interconnects to Nordost Blue Heaven.

2d: Adding an API Powerwedge 114 (who knew there were cymbals on that track?)

3d: Going from the Snell B Minor to the Snell A Reference Towers.

4th: Going from a low-end Denon 'table with a mid-fi Ortofon cartridge to a high-end Denon 'table with a Grado Reference Sonata cartridge.

5th: Going from an Adcom GFP 565 preamp to the Plinius CD-LAD preamp.

6th: Convincing my wife that busting my IRA and investing the money in Mo-Fi was a good idea :-)

Welcome to the high end, Judit; it's a journey and not a destination.

Paul

Hi Judit and welcome to A'gon. Good thread. I've made maybe five pretty important audio discoveries, but maybe THE most important has been AUDIOGON. That said:
1. I discovered tubed pre-amps, and the fact that a high quality front-end really is essential to producing good excellent music, ie it's more important than expensive speakers.
2. I installed a complete dedicated AC system that of necessity required high quality power cords on components. This lowered noise floor dramatically. With dedicated AC, I also found I had to get rid of power conditioners.
3. The Levinson 360S DAC makes well recorded digital music sonically excellent.
4. I discovered Synergistic Research's Active Shield interconnects. In my case their use produced a profound improvement in especially soundstaging in my system, but also greater clarity. Syn. Res. is just now releasing active shielded speaker cables and power cords-- haven't tried them yet.
5. And finally, I recently acquired Vandersteen 5 speakers (replaced Vand. 3Asigs), and with their built in 400 wpc amps and subwoofers (to 22 HZ), discovered what a revealing speaker could do, and that HQ subs really are important. These speakers have incredible mid-range clarity and "center of the earth" bass. But make no mistake, revealing speakers also reveal flaws in recordings. Cheers. Craig