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How cheap can you go and still be happy with the sound?

I would think many guys on this forum are spoilt by the gear they have and never listen anymore on cheap rigs.

I was listening recently on my younger daughter’s PC audio rig and got reminded again of how good it sounds. There is a fairly high level of clarity, detail, tonal balance and great bass in this rig.

 

- Yamaha HS8 powered monitors: $700 to $800

- Yamaha WXC-50 MusicCast streamer+dac+preamp: $450, often found on A4L for around $300

- Audioquest Powerquest PQ3 (was around $200 or so)

 

IMO, this would qualify as a high quality (sonically) charity price hifi rig for any younger or older person w.r.t small room nearfield or midfield listening.

 

What is the cheapest rig that has brought you happiness these days?

 

deep_333
grislybutter
2,872 posts
 

just keep saving and you’ll get to this range

that's great! I thought I would never! 

simao's avatar
simao
1,817 posts
 

@grislybutter - a dollar here a dollar there. Some Krill here, some Plankton there, and eventually we can be the whales

grislybutter
2,872 posts
 

@simao - sounds easy. It must depend on the balance where more money comes in than goes out. I am not a economist so these things are pretty mysterious to me.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,808 posts
 

I was going to disagree with the $10K to $15k as a starting point to getting great sound until I added up what makes up my system and it's north of $10K. Being as picky as I've become to what I'll settle for, that's a very reasonable starting point.

All the best,
Nonoise

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