Nailed it .,,, point set and match in tennis jargon!
churning over that much gear in a very short period of time as highlighted in the OP begs a better 3rd party intercedence … ergo reputable dealer guidance
What I wish I knew before starting my audiophile journey
I’ve considered myself an audiophile for over 3 years now. In those 3 years I’ve owned over 12 pairs of speakers, 10 amplifiers, 4 pre amplifiers, 7 DACs all in search for the perfect sound. What I’ve come to learn is I knew nothing when I started and now have some, not all of an understanding of how this works. Im passing this on to anyone that’s getting into this hobby to help fast track them to a better sound and learn from my experience. If I were to do this all over again, here is where I would start and invest my money.
1. Clean power- I wasted a lot of time and probably sold very good gear thinking it wasn’t good enough because I didn’t have clean power. I installed a dedicated 8 gauge power line with 20 amp breaker and hospital grade plugs for approximately $800. This was hands down the single biggest upgrade. You really have no idea what your gear is capable of delivering until you have fed it with clean power.
2. Speakers-this is where I would spend the a big chunk of my budget. I could make tweaks all day to my system but until I had speaker resolved enough to hear them, it all seems a waste of time. I discounted many things like cables because I couldn’t hear the difference until I had speakers that could actually produce the differences. Keep in mind the room size. I believed that bigger was better. I actually now run a pair of very good bookshelves that have no problem energizing the room.
3. Amplifier power. Having enough power to drive the speakers is crucial in being able to hear what those speakers are capable of delivering. Yes different amp make different presentations but if there’s enough power then I believe it’s less of an issue and the source determines the sound quality more.
4. Now that I have the power and resolution to hear the difference between sources, cables, pre amplifier, streamer, DACs ect. This is where the real journey begins.
On a side note, my room played a huge roll in how my system sounded but not a deal breaker. I learned that it’s possible to tweak the system to the room by experimenting with different gear. I learned that speaker size based on room size is pretty important. Have good rug!!
For reference my set up
Dedicated power
Lumin U1 mini
Denafrips Venus 2
Simaudio 340i
Sonus Faber Minima Amator 2
cables, AQ full bloom. NRG Z3, Earth XLR, Diamond USB, Meteor Speaker cables.
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AKG_CA
Since there's no hard and fast rules to this hobby its only your opinion which you are entitled to. I've also gone down many rabbit holes based on peoples "opinions". Going through tons of gear has its advantages and disadvantages. One being you learn a lot, the other is it's expensive unless you buy and sell used and understand the maket price and demand. Finding a trustworthy dealer is no easy task. Almost every dealer is in this to make money. Unless they're prepared to come to my house and see my room/set up i'm not taking anyone seriously. My buddy had the dealer come to his house. He also bought everything new and spent over 35 k. Not many dealers will come to your house unless you're droping some serious coin, my experience anyway. I actually did my breakdown of my gear cost. It's not as extreme as you might have thought. My next upgrade would be the amp. I'm probably a bit overweight on cables lol.
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Nice post! I agree with your priorities when you start with power. I like starting from the wall outlet and work backward to the source in terms of doing a build or an upgrade. In my setup I bundled speakers and amps together by going with active speakers. When you have clean power feeding an amp coupled to the driver with an active crossover it is like turbocharging the music. It would be great if you could post your system and some pics. I would make one change, to setup your room, measure it and acoustically treat it before auditioning speakers and getting any spendy electronics. | ||||||||||
Patience is #1. Doing more in-depth research is #2 if you place a value on your time, money, and energy. Then speakers, power, source components, preamp, amplification, cables, room/treatment sooner if possible. Or, simply moving speakers around in the room a little if you can, even as a temporary test. @dman1974 That’s a lot of gear to rotate in 3 years, barely enough time to find a good synergy between 33 different components mentioned. Matching proper amplification to your speakers can help save valuable time. I like to buy 2nd hand gear at a savings from people when it gets rotated out too quickly. ;) Developing a listening ear became my #1 over many decades. This can be achieved by listening to other people’s systems whenever you can. Savor the moments with your gear, listening to "components" gets old in time, most importantly remember to listen to the music along the way. Best of luck on the rest of your audiophile journey. | ||||||||||
I think OP did an excellent job in articulating his journey. Like many have said, multiple paths up the mountain to nirvana. I’m still learning about this hobby, and to some extent, still consider myself a newbie. At an even more basic level, I think there’s a lot of value in experience, being open-minded, and questioning absolutes when multiple variables are at play. What really helped me navigate was recognizing the type of sound I was trying to capture. |
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