What was the most impactful addition to your system?


Even in a setting absent resource constraints, the bug to “upgrade” is limited by space, power plugs, connectors, WAF, etc. Therefore, most of us must prioritize our additions or upgrades in our systems. I’m frequently seeking opinions on what chnage had the greatest impact to your system. For me as a gray-haired audiophile, it was the addition of a pair of subwoofers - even with a high end system. I am not dismissing the audible improvements from high end cables, pc’s, cartridges, sound treatments, speakers, TT, room placements, etc. But my auditory peyote moment came with the subs. Wish I’d known decades ago 😊

wfowenmd
Nak 500 tape deck internally biased for Maxell UDXL ll tape. Cheap NAD flat tonearm table which eviscerated my expensive Denon direct drive table, next stop AR belt drive. Weiss 501 DAC which clearly bested my Mojo Mystique' 3 which I thought was perhaps endgame.

1983 nakamichi tape

1985 a subwoofer

1993 tube preamp

2005 B&W speakers

2007 krell class A amp

2010 Rega turntable

2021 moving coil cartridge

 

Dynaudio Sapphires ('11 demos) were a huge jump over older (ca '95) ML SL3s.

Raidho D2s in ('16 used) were just as huge a jump in sound quality difference.

But, bang for the buck, nothing has ever touched the improvement the (cheap) DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 made to an already enjoyable system. Night and day after the bass humps are removed (I can't/choose not to alter walls/windows). It's adjustments/corrections allowed the speakers to really shine. I'd never go back.