Jeff's Getting a New Stereo System

[Tango]

This last one has been distorted in the market in the last 10 years or so to where companies that were making relatively modest priced gear (MSB once made inexpensive DACs and the top was still just a few thosand $) now make $100K gear. Sure the new stuff is probably better designed and made but not 20x or 30x better. That is distortion of a market where pricing is no longer in relation to production.

Sir,

What excellent sounding dac would you recommend with the price not distorted by the market?

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[morricab]

Sir,

What excellent sounding dac would you recommend with the price not distorted by the market?

Kind regards,
Tang

With new DACs this is hard to say. The Italian brand AQUA seems to have good value for what they are offering as does Metrum from Netherlands. Their Hex is a quite good sounding DAC.

There are some chinese offerings (AudioGd for example). Aries Cerat Kassandra looks like a lot of money at 18K euro; however, it is 60Kg (mostly power supply and output transformers) so material value is not bad considering...more like a power amp. I hesitate to call anything that is 18K in audio a good value though...

The Schiit Yggy is probably the leader in currently made DACs with pretensions to the top end of sound. At $2300, it is a relative bargain for a new priced DAC. I haven't heard it though so I will not comment on it's sound.

The all-time champ, IMO, is the Monarchy Audio M24 DAC. However, I think Monarchy is now out of business. This DAC is amazing and when available was only $1K direct from Monarchy. I have and still love mine.

 

[christoph]

With new DACs this is hard to say. The Italian brand AQUA seems to have good value for what they are offering as does Metrum from Netherlands. Their Hex is a quite good sounding DAC.

There are some chinese offerings (AudioGd for example). Aries Cerat Kassandra looks like a lot of money at 18K euro; however, it is 60Kg (mostly power supply and output transformers) so material value is not bad considering...more like a power amp. I hesitate to call anything that is 18K in audio a good value though...

The Schiit Yggy is probably the leader in currently made DACs with pretensions to the top end of sound. At $2300, it is a relative bargain for a new priced DAC. I haven't heard it though so I will not comment on it's sound.

The all-time champ, IMO, is the Monarchy Audio M24 DAC. However, I think Monarchy is now out of business. This DAC is amazing and when available was only $1K direct from Monarchy. I have and still love mine.

No Lampizator DAC

 

[bonzo75]

No Lampizator DAC

+ 1.

 

[Al M.]

Price simplifies what is otherwise a difficult decision to a large extent.

Yes, and it has done so for me. Yet in the opposite direction lately: lower price has simplified what is otherwise a difficult decision to a large extent. Partially based on that, I purchased the gear, preferably with auditioning period prior or attached to purchase.

 

[morricab]

No Lampizator DAC

Sorry man. Of course Lampizator ...

 

[morricab]

Yes, and it has done so for me. Yet in the opposite direction lately: lower price has simplified what is otherwise a difficult decision to a large extent. Partially based on that, I purchased the gear, preferably with auditioning period prior or attached to purchase.

I have only made very few purchases without extended auditioning...none of those remain in my system except the JJ322 (downstairs system though). There are a few cheap, used DACs that I have which I bought for their Ultra Analog D20400 20 bit chips. I use one in the downstairs system...I had not heard it before purchase.

 

[Al M.]

I have only made very few purchases without extended auditioning...

Me too. With the BorderPatrol external power supplies for my amps I had no choice. But boy, did that work out brilliantly! Far beyond expectations.

 

[bonzo75]

The ones I make without auditioning are to scratch an itch, to be bought and sold in the used market

 

[morricab]

Me too. With the BorderPatrol external power supplies for my amps I had no choice. But boy, did that work out brilliantly! Far beyond expectations.

Would like to hear that Border Patrol SET and DAC...the DAC is pretty cheap I think and could be a great value.

 

[Al M.]

Would like to hear that Border Patrol SET and DAC...the DAC is pretty cheap I think and could be a great value.

Heard the DAC. Stunning. Great tone and dynamics.

 

[Lee]

So if you don't spend a crap load of money on your reference system you don't have a system resolving enough for your opinion to be relevent to certain audiophiles?

Yes, I think there is a certain level of gear needed to get to an ideal level of resolution.

 

[Lee]

Yes, that's what it comes down to, apparently.

Jeff runs a site focused on "ultra" components so I think high resolution may be needed more than if he were reviewing more affordable gear.

 

[Folsom]

True story:

When I bought my first all-Naim system, the dealer began inviting me to events at the store and eventually, his house. We’d have wine, and cheese, get to rub shoulders with Naim’s then owners and congratulate one another on how our superior intellect and distinguished palettes had bestowed upon us the honour of being so… chosen. As much as I chuckle about it now, the reality remains that those wine and cheese evenings had a much greater influence on me climbing the Naim ladder than I could ever possibly admit at the time, and despite the fact every upgrade conferred an uptick in sound quality and subjective musical enjoyment, I’d be fooling myself to think it was sound quality alone that kept me buying black boxes with sharp edges.

Best,

853guy

But you're not complaining are you? If you're having fun with friends who all share a common interest I don't see an issue. In fact I think many audiophiles have preferred the community they had access to, even if they could have got something that was perhaps better online or out of town. But most of us move on at some point and do something new.

 

[marty]

Why are you selling the system with the sound quality you feel SOTA?

I think this is the question I'd most like Jeff to answer. Tango basically raised the same question in his post #51. I admit that the proposed wholesale change leaves me scratching my head as my MO is generally try and replace the piece of gear that I perceive to be the weakest link. I would go as far as to say that's what most of us do. Inherent in that method is to acquire something that enhances the system or overcomes a liability and the cost (whether it is more or less) of doing it is always secondary. But this is not Jeff's approach. So again, I'm curious as to why the wholesale change? Put another way, was Jeff displeased in some way that drove his decision to dump and rebuild from scratch? What will he be looking for that he did not have in his last iteration? Now I admit some days I'm ready to do the same and throw out everything and buy a Bose (particularly when I return home from a concert at Carnegie Hall), but then I regain my senses just in time before my next lithium dose. But if Jeff can articulate his reasoning, I'd enjoy reading about it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

+1

I interpreted Jeff's essay to mean that he is going to be cashing out some of the value of his current SOTA system and replacing it with a less expensive but more value-oriented and still great-sounding system. I interpreted the essay to mean Jeff effectively is going to be moving down the diminishing returns curve.

 

[PeterA]

Jeff could replace his Magico Q7 II with the new Magico M3, replace the Solution with Spectral and get a great turntable and be done. Or does anyone think he will switch to SETs and horns or some completely different direction? I'd like to know more about why and to what. And of course, will "value components" equal the same quality sound or better.

 

[Steve Williams]

Jeff could replace his Magico Q7 II with the new Magico M3, replace the Solution with Spectral and get a great turntable and be done. Or does anyone think he will switch to SETs and horns or some completely different direction? I'd like to know more about why and to what. And of course, will "value components" equal the same quality sound or better.

Jeff doesn't do analog

 

[leyenda]

".. The emphasis of my writing from now on will be on the best sound quality, not the most expensive gear...."

Always thought previous articles have been about the best sound quality but they ended up being about pricey gears? In either case, this is very exciting. I so want to find out what a guy who has written about the world's best audio system will end up with. Coincidentally I know the person who bought Jeff's stuffs. I can understand how a dedicated audiophile who spends big amount on gears can feel when they hear a decent sound from a less expensive system. Hear it one or two times, you can compliment and enjoy how the lesser system sounds. Hear it repeatedly, you start to question yourself and your logic. Yes I was one and I went through that phase

 

[morricab]

Jeff runs a site focused on "ultra" components so I think high resolution may be needed more than if he were reviewing more affordable gear.

High resolution = high price?? up to a point perhaps...then the curve gets very flat for the most part.