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
Secondly, I like the way my system sounds,
This is all that matters. It doesn't matter if you have heard anyone else's system or if your ears are untrained or not sophisticated. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks is good sound either. If you like what you are hearing you have reached the pinnacle. Sit back, relax, pour yourself a beverage and enjoy.
Audiorusty: That sounds like great Advice. Is it OK if I drink diet root beer or does it need to be more of an audiophile beverage?
Cheese Grommet! That’s mad

I think all hi-fi dudes/ dudesses should learn the sax/ clarinet- you get to realise how different room acoustics are, have the dubious pleasure of setting up PAs, blame the reed then start playing flute and realise it’s not all about the reed, realise a badly set up vintage horn is worse than a solid ’student’ instrument

Just waiting for my Jones to phono adapter leads to bring the Quad IIs back to life without the 22 control unit from hell
As a child, I played the soprano sax for one month. It was like an inoculation against future reeds.