2. digital
  3. 176192-117192

I am so happy.....

That my upgradeitis is over before it even started.

I am so happy with the system I have, I want to share with everyone the fact that that even a very modest and cheap system can produce great sound for me and makes me happy to the point where I no longer have to search for improvements.

Call me ignorant if you want. Does not bother me even an iota. I will go the grave happier than everyone who is condescending.

I am using my own home made Neurochrome 686 stereo amp with 1000 VA medical grade toroidal, 160 amp rectifier (very little fwvd hence virtually no heat generated) and 200,000uF filter capacitors producing approx 220 watts rms/channel. It sounds just absolutely FANTASTIC.

My preamp is a Freya S. Speakers are B&W.

I have a Linn LP12 with SME 3009R and Nagaoka 500 and a Mani which I find that I listen to less and less in favor of the convenience and the dynamics and quietness of digital.

For my music server, wait for it......... I use an LG V60 phone, which has a great in built DAC, which I bought for $300 brand new on ebay ($1200 retail but no longer made) using the lossless Apple Music and Qobuz apps. I use an AuidoEngine B1 as my bluetooth receiver to which the LG phone can send aptX-HD which I can actually also connect directly to the Freya S on occasion.

The combination sounds simply fantastic to my ears and I listen to it for hours grateful that this technology available today provides this gift to me.

Just as I am writing this, I am listening to smooth jazz "Euge Groove Slow jam" and it is just sublime.

 

128x128cakyol
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,316 posts
 

I love it when a plan comes together.  

cakyol's avatar
cakyol OP
940 posts
 

Thanks for your comments.
Btw, as it was pointed out about bluetooth not being a resolving transmission method, both the Audioengine b1 and the v60 does support the aptx-hd codec and hence that is the reason i chose them. They sounded good enough to me and the convenience wireless provides is worth it. 

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,630 posts
 

Whatever trips your boat. I’m doing most of my listening lately on a lossless player built in a $70 tube preamp over a $315 140 wpc SS amp.

2022 prices.

Happy Happy.

mceljo
1,357 posts
 

I'm in a similar place.  I am extremely happy with my current setup, but have an itch to try some different cables, but honestly can't decide which cable or why I would want to spend a penny while I'm still enjoying my system so much.  For me, it was upgrading some power cords and interconnects that took my system to the next level and still has me intrigued almost daily.

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,975 posts
 

@tylermunns

I fell so far into the rabbit hole of audio, I had to dig myself to the other side. Thousands of dollars and countless tedium-addled hours later, I MIGHT finally be at where I used to be. I can’t say my quality of life improved choosing to indulge in such minutiae.

It’s reasonable to suspect that "upgrade-itis" is actually a word for audiophiles who are not confronting deeper psychological issues. In other words, it has much less to do with this hobby than they -- or we -- are courageous enough to admit. This theory, if true, lets a lot of hobbyists who like to keep working on their system off the hook. It de-pathologizes what is, in fact, just a freakin’ hobby.

 

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