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Sound Quality or Convenience?

OK, asking this question to audiophiles might seem inane, but I have read enough threads (not to mention For Sale ads!) that make me think that we sometimes feel ok sacrificing sound at the altar of convenience.

Would like to hear your experiences, along with perhaps some theoretical quantification... such as how much SQ can be let go for how much convenience, etc. For those who chose this path, was it a keeper or did you want that SQ so much you went back to it?

My own is a probably a familiar one: Maggie 3.6, which were not just visually er, challenging, but also required a lot of work to yield that magic. I gave up on the magic in favor of much easier speakers, and then did it again a couple of years later. I now own Zu Druids, which are as diametrically opposite to Maggies os one can get. They look and sound great (to my ears, this is NOT repeat NOT a Zu thread) and are easy to work with in terms of space, weight and amplification.
kck
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kthomas
911 posts
 
Convenience at the source - a HD-based system with a fantastic interface and, to my ear, as-good-as-or-better sound than from a CD player.

For the rest of the system, SQ, as the system requires dominating a whole room.
hdm
1,062 posts
 
An interesting thread. I've had a few drinks tonight, but for me the convenience versus sound quality issue has been crystalized in the past year with my return to vinyl. Yes, to put it simply, vinyl is much more work. You have to put together a decent front end which may or may not include a separate phono stage and the extra ic's to go with it, high quality cleaning equipment (which need not cost a fortune but will definitely require a time committment) and a willingness to either shop the thrifts for good music on the cheap or seek out new, high quality vinyl. In the end, it has been the most satisfying thing I've done in my 25+ years as an audiophile. Could I get better sound and musical enjoyment out of digital? Possibly, but at what cost? 5's or 10's of thousands of dollars. I had a reasonable analog front end that was virtually idle for more than 10 years. I've resurrected it with an investment of about $800 Cnd. (for an appropriate phono stage and ic, high quality cleaning equipment and fluids) and can now buy music in the analog format for between 33 cents and $25 a record (and most of it is between 33 cents and $2.00 a record with the new records costing the $25 or so) that is much more enjoyable to listen to than CD's. I'll take quality over convenience any time at this stage in my life.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,611 posts
 
SQ over convenience any day. That's what brought us all to this hobby....the higher sound quality. I'm not ready to go back to convenience yet. I'm in too deep.

I miss the heck out of my 5-disc changer....the sound quality just doesn't measure up, so it had to go to mothballs. I bring it out a couple of times of year when I'm entertaining guests and don't want to fool around changing cd's.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
How many folks would consider buying a preamplifier (or linestage) without a remote control? Not necessarily full function but volume and/or mute capabilities. Like air conditioning, it's hard to give up once you've had it.
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