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A stupid question for which there's no sensible answer.

I know, I know. At least I've labeled it properly.

Here goes: of the following elements of a system, how would you rank their influence on the sound? In other words, generally, which would someone want to upgrade or prioritize, and in what order,  if all of the following pieces were inferior to an amp/preamp and speakers they were happy with? Power cables, connector cables. speaker cables. streaming source, music source, dac (I vote for this one as #1), room treatment, speaker placement, type of chair, earwax quotient, what you ate for lunch, etc.

I hereby give my permission for everyone to tell me this is an idiotic question since the real answer is: it depends. (But I did put a "generally" in there somewhere). Anyway, I prefer that we debate this based on what we've experienced when we've tinkered. So I guess I'm really interested in anecdotes.

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mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 
ill listen to a $500 audio system and be polite and say Sounds pretty Good
Then run like hell to my house and get my ears fixed . Let’s get that right
If i read a post of someone saying that the price is an indication of sound quality, more than electrical grid controls, more than vibrations controls and even more than acoustics basic laws i will not go to cleaning my brain to be polite but i will clean the post out of my eyes....

Oups i apologize to you....I am too rude and injust, i just realize that you dont speak about ALL 500 hundred systems but about one in bad settings.... Am i Correct ? If yes i deeply apologize for my free sarcasm.... If not i am sorry anyway....my system value is 500 bucks.... I listened system of very higher cost and i dont want them in their actual room and house settings....Mine is better... Audio simple law....
audiorusty
270 posts
 
I’m still wondering if a very complex room could be a good room, audio wise.
It absolutely can as long as you are willing to put in the work to make it so.

The goal doesn't have to be perfection.

What are you hearing now that you don't like?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,094 posts
 
When the room is bad going more near field is always an effective solution.

So are headphones. 🚬🥸

But truth is there is almost always a way to tackle most any room without having to go nuts on expensive treatments if you learn to assess the room properly and choose the right speakers to work well in it. Speakers with wide dispersion patterns typically help.
jderson
24 posts
 
Almost every post on this forum are pointless!   90% of this is mind numbing drivel.    
yyzsantabarbara
4,720 posts
 
The room. A smaller room is likely harder to get right than a big room. I have big speakers in a small room and it sounds perfect, but there is a bit of acoustic treatment and DSP magic behind that.

A million dollar system or a $1000 system likely both will sound bad in my room unless the room was taken care of with treatments, both hardware and software based.

Another effect solution is the RAAL SR1a headphone (or ear speakers). Incredible sound and listening experience. Nothing like traditional headphones.
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