What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Fëanor]

Speaking of reviews, this one for the crystal thingies is also priceless. And quite meta towards the end, when the 'reviewer' speaks about gullible audiophiles buying worthless gadgets.

A famous quote:  "There's a sucker born every minute" ~ P.T. Barnum

[Pat B]

Not so much anything I plan on getting, but one of the things I like about audiophile gear is how stoopid some of it is.  The $1200 Shun Mook record clamp was probably my favorite stupid expensive product to this point, with some other Shun Mook products being nearly as silly.  Maple Shade also offers some dubious products.  I also got a kick out of the supertweeter craze.  (No one really offered a credible explanation of how they would work with media that couldn't go above 22.05 kHz.)  But I think Audiophile.Rocks (http://audiophile.rocks/index.html) is now maybe my favorite audiophile snake oil purveyor.  They offer painted wood and "crystal" tweaks, all of which use their proprietary H2U2 piezoelectric quartz crystals to perform magic.  Years ago, my young daughter painted a river rock for me, which I put on top of my preamp.  I swear it did magic things, too.  Maybe I can go into business peddling such rocks.

Oh, yes, the company also sells $4,400.00 USB cables, $2,200.00 SATA cables, and one power cable that costs a very reasonable $25,000.00 for two meters.

How much for a River Rock Painted By Your Daughter? If you stack two of them on top of each other, is it twice as magical?

[Todd]

I definitely do not need another headphone amp, but the new Schiit Magni 3 was released today.  It's a current feedback design with 2 watts into 32 Ohms, and 230 mW into 600 Ohms.  It's more powerful than my Jotunheim.  It's still only $99, to boot.  It probably couldn't hurt to get one.

[71 dB]

It's a current feedback design with 2 watts into 32 Ohms, and 230 mW into 600 Ohms. 

How much power do you need? My cans output 100 dB for about 1 mW.  That's pretty much all power I need for spikes in the music, because I don't want to become deaf.

[Todd]

How much power do you need? My cans output 100 dB for about 1 mW.  That's pretty much all power I need for spikes in the music, because I don't want to become deaf.

With most of my current array of headphones, not much, though my 600 Ohm T1s do require turning up the wick a bit.  I see no harm in having gobs of excess power.  Plus, I'm more interested in hearing if Jason Stoddard managed to get sound approaching that of the Jotunheim for under a hundred bucks.

[Todd]

I received my Magni 3 three weeks ago, and I've put it through its paces.  Most comparative listening was done with the more expensive Schiit Jotunheim.  The Jotunheim is the better amp, sounding slightly cleaner and more refined up top, and a bit cleaner in the bass.  The Magni sounds a bit warmer/darker in comparison.  That written, this amp reveals fine details well, and when I listened to some test discs selected for non-musical info - Osborne's LvB 106 and Chauzu's Samazeuilh - the piano damper noise, and pedal stomps in the latter, came through loud and clear.  Dynamics, timbre, headstage, etc, are all just fine.  Since the Magni 3 uses the same single ended topology as the Jotunheim, I wonder how much of the performance differential is down to power supply differences - the Magni uses a wall wart while the Jotunheim has a more robust internal supply.

I also compared to the Magni to my old Creek OBH-11 SE, with it's big old floor wart power supply, and which was about $300-350 when new.  The Magni is obviously superior in every way.   Much more open sounding, with much cleaner highs and tighter bass, I've rarely heard such significant differences between same type units (ie, solid state vs solid state) before.  At a hundred bucks, bang for the buck is off the charts.

[Daverz]

Finally got around to getting a Raspberry Pi to experiment with as a Squeezebox Touch replacement.  I had been using the Touch as a transport for my Auralic Vega USB DAC.  (All my music files are on an Ubuntu server in my loft).

I burned the PiCorePlayer OS image to a microSD card and inserted it into the Pi, plugged in the ethernet to the LAN, plugged in the DAC's USB cable, applied power, and a few seconds later my Logitech Media server recognized the new player and reported its IP address.  You then navigate your web browser to that IP address to access the piCorePlayer configuration page.  There was not much configuration to do, I just had to turn off the onboard sound to get it to connect to the USB DAC.  I control music playback with the iPeng app on my iPhone.

Apart from having to run out to Best Buy to get an overpriced microSD card reader at the last minute, all very painless.  Altogether, the Pi board, a plastic case, power supply, and microSD card were about $65.  The original Touch was $400.

Right away the Pi eliminated a problem I had with playback stutter when switching from standard rez to hi-rez files and back.  It can also handle obscene sample rates over the Touch's 192 kHz limit and can play DSF (DSD) files natively (I could never get these to play with the Touch).

The Pi (this is a 3B) has built-in Wi-Fi and an analog mini-jack, both of which I turned off.  There's an option I haven't tried to run the LMS server on the Pi itself to create an all-in-one media server/transport (this might be a tight fit in the 1G RAM of the Pi).  There are snap-on Pi daughter boards if you need SPDIF or I2S output or want to use more sophisticated DAC chips than the built-in one.  You can also add a touch display, but I never used the one on the Touch.

http://www.easysqueezebox.com/index.php/projects/raspberry-squeezie-pi-squeezelite/

[drogulus]

    I prefer to play all file types from one device, both audio and video and rather than fuss with home brew I'm thinking of getting an Oppo UDP 203 UHD player which will play all the audio and video formats in my collection. The move doesn't come from a recurrence of audiophilia but from technological necessity. I'm a USB media player guy. If you've gone to the trouble of creating 10+ TBs of files so you never have to play a disc you need a bullet proof machine. It doesn't even have streaming apps.

[marvinbrown]

  Dear GMG members, I hope all of you are doing well  .  Please I need some help.  I have a Panasonic Bluray player DMP-BD60 that I use to watch my operas.  My amp is a Rega Elex-R.  The way I am presently set up is that I have run an HDMI cable from the bluray player to my Panasonic TV.  The picture quality is outstanding.  The issue I have now is that the Rega Elex-R amp does not have a built in DAC and therefore does not have an optical in for the sound.  So I have connected the bluray player through its phono out to the phono in of the amp.  If I am understanding this correctly the audio conversion is being carried out by the dac in the Panasonic Bluray player?

  If that is the case  would I benefit by investing in an external dac? Or is it a waste of money?

  I would appreciate any feedback you might have.  I know very little about external dacs unfortunately.

  marvin

[Todd]

If I am understanding this correctly the audio conversion is being carried out by the dac in the Panasonic Bluray player?

  If that is the case  would I benefit by investing in an external dac? Or is it a waste of money?

The BD player is performing the conversion and outputting an analog signal.  An external DAC could provide better sound, but if you like the sound now, it may not be worth it.  If you think the sound is subpar, then a new DAC might make sense. 

[Parsifal]

  Dear GMG members, I hope all of you are doing well  .  Please I need some help.  I have a Panasonic Bluray player DMP-BD60 that I use to watch my operas.  My amp is a Rega Elex-R.  The way I am presently set up is that I have run an HDMI cable from the bluray player to my Panasonic TV.  The picture quality is outstanding.  The issue I have now is that the Rega Elex-R amp does not have a built in DAC and therefore does not have an optical in for the sound.  So I have connected the bluray player through its phono out to the phono in of the amp.  If I am understanding this correctly the audio conversion is being carried out by the dac in the Panasonic Bluray player?

  If that is the case  would I benefit by investing in an external dac? Or is it a waste of money?

  I would appreciate any feedback you might have.  I know very little about external dacs unfortunately.

  marvin

Depends on how picky you are, but the answer is probably yes, since the blu ray player is an inexpensive consumer grade player with a converter chip that probably costs $5 at best and your amp is a pricey audiophile unit.  However, you would have to give more information before a recommendation could be made. Do you listen on headphones or speakers, are you interested in surround sound, or do you intend to list to the 2 channel audio program only, etc.

[marvinbrown]

Depends on how picky you are, but the answer is probably yes, since the blu ray player is an inexpensive consumer grade player with a converter chip that probably costs $5 at best and your amp is a pricey audiophile unit.  However, you would have to give more information before a recommendation could be made. Do you listen on headphones or speakers, are you interested in surround sound, or do you intend to list to the 2 channel audio program only, etc.

  Hello Scxarpia,

  2 Channel audio only, and I listen to floorstanding speakers, Monitor Audio Silver 8.  My CD player is a Marantz 6004 CD player by the way.  I am very impressed with the Marantz, never had the need to change it.  Its the audio off of the Bluray player that I am questioning. 

  marvin

 

[Todd]

2 Channel audio only, and I listen to floorstanding speakers, Monitor Audio Silver 8.

A DAC should improve sound.  Cambridge Audio, Musical Fidelity, NAD, Audioengine, Schiit, and others all make low price DACs.  Rega makes a very good one, but it costs more.  It might make sense to see if a local dealer would let you audition one, or to buy one with a return period, so you can test before committing.

[Parsifal]

  Hello Scxarpia,

  2 Channel audio only, and I listen to floorstanding speakers, Monitor Audio Silver 8.  My CD player is a Marantz 6004 CD player by the way.  I am very impressed with the Marantz, never had the need to change it.  Its the audio off of the Bluray player that I am questioning. 

  marvin

Here is my suggestion. Pick a CD with good sound quality and compare how it sounds when you listen using your CD player and your Blu Ray player. If you notice that it sounds worse on the Blu ray player you should think about a DAC. If you don't notice a significant difference, there is probably no need.

[marvinbrown]

Here is my suggestion. Pick a CD with good sound quality and compare how it sounds when you listen using your CD player and your Blu Ray player. If you notice that it sounds worse on the Blu ray player you should think about a DAC. If you don't notice a significant difference, there is probably no need.

  thank you sir! 

[marvinbrown]

  I played the Dana Ciocarlie Schumann CDs.  CD 2 in the Marantz and CD3 in the Bluray player.  I kept toggling between the two on the amp.  I am shocked! I could barely tell the difference!

How could this be?

  marvin

[marvinbrown]

A DAC should improve sound.  Cambridge Audio, Musical Fidelity, NAD, Audioengine, Schiit, and others all make low price DACs.  Rega makes a very good one, but it costs more.  It might make sense to see if a local dealer would let you audition one, or to buy one with a return period, so you can test before committing.

  Thank you Todd for your feedback.  I followed Scarpia's suggestion as I posted and I could barely tell the difference between the two! I am still shocked!

[Parsifal]

  I played the Dana Ciocarlie Schumann CDs.  CD 2 in the Marantz and CD3 in the Bluray player.  I kept toggling between the two on the amp.  I am shocked! I could barely tell the difference!

How could this be?

  marvin

The answer is that an inexpensive DAC can be pretty good. My experience is that a truly fine piece of audio equipment may distinguish itself by not creating fatigue after extended listening, rather than having an obviously more pleasing sound. You may get more insight by listening to an extended piece on one, then on the other, rather than very brief A/B comparison.  Also, you may want to compare orchestral/vocal music since that is what you will presumably be using the blu ray player for.

Finally, if you don't like tinkering with audio equipment, you might find it more convenient to simply upgrade to a better Blu Ray player rather than investing in a DAC. The Oppo brand is known for making players with good quality audio circuitry.

[Todd]

  Thank you Todd for your feedback.  I followed Scarpia's suggestion as I posted and I could barely tell the difference between the two! I am still shocked!

Matsushita appears to have designed a high quality chip for mass market products.  (I believe your player uses the UniPhier chipset.)  Giant consumer electronics firms can still crank out good hardware. 

I recently had to replace a TV.  I ended up with a Samsung that cost less than a third of what I paid for a smaller TV a decade ago.  When I set it up, I did some A/Bs between running my BD player through the TV to the DAC (via HDMI, then Toslink) and straight to the DAC (via Toslink).  On my old TV, the sound degraded when I did that; on my new TV, I could not hear a difference.  My new TV now serves as a de facto digital hub to feed my DAC.  Now one remote controls everything, whereas before I had to futz with different devices.  (My DAC has no remote, so if I wanted to switch digital sources, I was faced with the primitive option of having to get up and walk over to the device and press a button!)  Consumer electronics are constantly getting better at the lower end of the price spectrum.

[drogulus]

    I just got a new 4k HDR TV and a budget receiver (both Sony). My sources are a Roku and hard drives with music and video on them. Since everything is working as planned I'll put off getting the Oppo. No doubt the commodity DAC chips in the Sony AVR are no better than they need to be for a $200 unit. My older Marantz AVR almost certainly had better ones and the Oppo better still. My choice is convenient and since I don't play loud in my small living room the amp isn't stressed.

     AVRs for music reproducers work quite well as long as you have enough power available for all the speakers. My recommendation for the budget conscious would be to avoid the cheapest ones and go 1 or 2 levels up from that. If you need volume AVRs and power amps generally get better as they get heavier. My Sony weighs 17 lbs, an uh oh for a large room but all I need. If you want volume and are connecting a bunch of speakers the 20 lb model will be good. Note that rated power is very close between the models I'm comparing, that won't tell you anything.