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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.

128x128m669326
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,326 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
4,911 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.
m669326's avatar
m669326 OP
330 posts
 
A few responses: I probably wasn’t clear about the complex room question. What I meant was, is it possible that a complex room is already a good audio setting without having to do any fixing? It seems like this is conceivable, but I have no experience to really know. Secondly, I like the way my system sounds, but I’ve never heard a system better than mine to compare it to and my ears are not nearly as sophisticated as many of yourra. So my question doesn’t come from a point of view of having any complaints, but from a curiosity about what makes a system sound better. Third, to the poster who isn’t enjoying reading our posts, The obvious solution to your discomfort is to not read this thread and not be burdened with posts that you don’t find interesting or valuable.
sokogear
1,097 posts
 
Depends what you mean by complex. If you happen to have a large room that is open without walls close  to the speakers and a listening position between the speakers, then yes. But that wouldn’t be complex.

if you’re room is carpeted, and you have wall coverings that absorb/disperse the sound and high ceilings, and he wall behind and in front off the speakers is a good distance then maybe treatments won’t matter. Still need to make sure electric is isolated and vibrations are eliminated/minimized.
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