2022 - a year in HiFi

[Latteman]

I’ll check my eBay purchases and get back to you

[savvypaul]

I won't believe that you own this until it has 4 power supplies and 3 additional tweeters, and is sitting on an inner tube inside a concrete chamber...

[CN211276]

Aside from NVA developments, there have been a couple of notable jumps forward in my system...

Isopucks under the Cubes (on top of wooden stands) - clarity, separation, bass that is deeper but also faster. Not life changing, but once you hear it...

HQ player - upsampling to DSD, sent to Micro Rendu, then to my RME DAC in DSD Direct mode. This is the most engagement I've ever got from digital, by a country mile. It's like all the best bits of my 401 / SPU without any of the downsides. I know that there are lots of different ways to skin the digital cat but finally I've got a digital set-up that I can listen to for many, many hours on end without any sense of loss.

[Fretless]

Must have a look at isopucks under my Cube2's - and wooden stands as well.

[Geoff.R.G]

No Hi-Fi changes this year but I did install some new kit in the church lounge, Larger, wall mounted, speakers replacing four JBL Control 1s, a new stereo amp and a six channel mic mixer with three stereo inputs and a new stereo amp. Sounds rather good. Unfortunately the fan seems to have become an input and the fan noise comes over the speakers. Swapped with a known good amp so now I need a new fan!

We also started a move to Allen and Heath ME1 personal monitoring mixers for the band.

[slinger]

In response to Stu's post



That rather stylish article now sits at my bedside, and it's NOT a giant electric razor, it's a Monitor Audio Airstream S150 Anniversary, which connects to my Amazon Echo Show 8 via Bluetooth, and so to the free Amazon Music Prime service which has now been expanded to 100 million songs ad-free. "Alexa, play Pink Floyd..."


I also bought an Audiolab 6000N streamer and discovered the joys of QED Reference digital cables, both optical and co-ax. I'll be keeping my Raspberry Pi/Volumio setup for streaming from my two NAS boxes, and the Audiolab for everything else; Amazon, Spotify, internet radio etc.

I actually spent a Hell of a lot more on guitar-related gear though, this year, with a new Marshall amp, a nice faded blue (I hadn't got a blue guitar ) Gibson Les Paul Special Tribute DC guitar, and more pedals than you can shake a stick at in my quest for my perfect pedalboard(s).

I think I'm about done with that now. Below is my current "go-to" rig at home, and I believe its fi to be pretty hi.

[CN211276]

Aside from NVA developments, there have been a couple of notable jumps forward in my system...

Isopucks under the Cubes (on top of wooden stands) - clarity, separation, bass that is deeper but also faster. Not life changing, but once you hear it...

HQ player - upsampling to DSD, sent to Micro Rendu, then to my RME DAC in DSD Direct mode. This is the most engagement I've ever got from digital, by a country mile. It's like all the best bits of my 401 / SPU without any of the downsides. I know that there are lots of different ways to skin the digital cat but finally I've got a digital set-up that I can listen to for many, many hours on end without any sense of loss.

I am pleased that I have been enjoying the benefits of upscaling for nearly four years. The loan of the Mscaler in my system was a game changer seemingly combining the plus points of both digital and analogue without the negatives. I could not be without it. The real stumbling block with digital as I see it is the 44kHz cap. I often wonder why upscaling has not taken off to a far greater extent and even speculated about having exceptional ears. From what I read on forums the Mscaler is not that expensive compared to what many spend on other items of kit and HQP is a lot cheaper. I think the reasons for the lack of upscaling take up are two fold. 1. There not being an effective way of measuring the benefits, hence the Mscaler pasting on ASR. 2. Systems, though being expensive, not having the transparancy. This was certainly the case when I heard the Mscaler at the dealers.

I was very much stuck in my ways with the heavy metal stands and blutac I had used for over twenty years, not appreciating it is horses for courses. I was lucky that I had Isopucks supporting the cupboard mounted Cubettes of the second system to experiment with, following info from HFS. Though not earth shattering the improvement with the oak stands as well is significant.

[Fretless]

Following the comment about Isopucks from Savvy, it started me thinking about what my Cube2's were standing on - 3 little glass jars on top of a heavy metal stand. The glass pots had been put in place to increase clarity and dynamics , something I have an excess of with the Sabaj monoblocks in place. Maybe time to soften things up a touch.

Those Isopucks are pretty costly and that put me off a bit, looking further I have had good experience with Hudson Hifi accessories and they make these:



Silicon hemispherical sticky feet at 30 euros for a pack of 8. They come in various sizes but I thought the 2" model suitable. Amazon had those to me next day and so I installed them yesterday evening.

This has transformed the Cubes in the Upstairs rig and it will take me a while to get to grips with the changes but : a sweeter, smoother top end is the main result. Ha! interesting.

More later, somewhere.

[Nearlymusical]

Luckily was able to retire last xmas, so this year plently of time for listening and messing about with system

Replaced Chord Hugo2 with PS audio directstream DAC - sound softened up - less analytical - but still detailed - just nice to listen to. (Still using MScaler but only 1/2 max upscaling @ 352 KHz - still worth it )

Added Audio GD - DI20 DDC to digital front end - tidied everything up a bit and improved the sense of rythm .

Moved from Tidal to Qobuz. I use Amarra Luxe on my Mac as computer based file/streaming app. Security changes on Tidal login meant that oftentimes Amarra Luxe could not access Tidal with a one button click so I had to sign in and pass the captur process to get Tidal playlists acesssible again in Luxe. Since I use the Mac in "headless" mode meant getting up bluetoothing a keyboard to enter user name/password and using a trackpad to tick crosssings , buses , chimneys or whatever to get in. No such problems with Qobuz - Happy with SQ so sticking with it.

Lately purchased TIS interconnects to replace SSP MkII. This has turned out to be quite frustrating. I prefer the slighly more laid back presentation of SSP Mk II , but enjoy the greater detail and improved bass from TIS. This has all resulted in a flurry of tweaks and change arounds to try and get a happy medium. Still not settled.

Enjoyed some new music - found Qobuz curated playlists useful to explore new stuff