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Just wondering - out of pure off-topic interest. Any other audiophiles around in these forums?

raymondu999 wrote:Just wondering - out of pure off-topic interest. Any other audiophiles around in these forums?

As in, heavy interest in music, or heavy interest in sound?

The quality of the sound reproduction - not necessarily good music. A music lover is a musicophile; as opposed to an audiophile.

Most if not all audiophiles are musicophiles anyways - but the reverse isn't necessarily true.

Ahhh now I get you.

I reckon I am.

Nothing peeves me more than people with £200+ headphones listening to mp3's...

Were they born stupid?

Nothing makes me happier than a beautiful piece of music, and this is where it sounds good, as well as is good.

I have failed too many times to make decent recordings in my bedroom...

CDs still would give a better sound. Just.

I'd settle for WAV, FLAC or ALAC (those are audio formats) if that's not possible though.

Kinda sorta. I love the sound of really good equipment, but so much of it is beyond my price range that it's really hard to stay interested. Plus, the old support communities that used to exist are all but gone - it's nearly impossible to actually go listen to higher end equipment. And then you've got so much equipment out there that's supposed to do this or that, but mostly it's just a waste of money. Combine all that with the miserable quality of the recordings out there and you sort of wonder why bother.

Anyway, my solution to the problem is to go vintage. My main setup is an early-70's Pioneer 8100 series integrated amp and tuner. Just like this, though I paid twice that for mine...

http://vintagetuners.net/matching-pione ... 8100-tuner

$51 - talk about value for your money!

That, and an old pair of B&O redlines make for a pretty nice sounding system. I also picked up on a whim a rare Setton receiver that I'm trying out. Not too crazy about it, though it looks sweet. Like this...



If I ever do toss some bucks on new equipment, it would probably go to a nice pair of B&W 803's. I know some people don't like them, but I really like the sound.

I've never heard Bowers & Wilkins - but I'm not a big fan of Bang & Olufsen tbh. I sort of inherited a speaker system a while back from my parents, who used to use it as a home theatre setup. Pretty neat kit mind you. Packs a hell of a punch though.

Here's the list of what came in it:

Marantz SR-96 receiver
Marantz DP-870 processor
A few power amps, branded as "Bryston" (I'm not sure what model)
4 Vandersteen Model 1's
4 Vandersteen Model 3's

It's pretty old stuff (I think most of it is about 15/16 years old by now) but given that I got them for free I'm not complaining!

If I'm on the plane or some form of public commute (as is rare for me - I drive) I'll be using a bit of an alien setup; with a modified iPod, paired with an amplifier and capacitors, then into my Sennheiser IE8 in-ears.

My Bryston power amps:


Vandersteen 3


Vandersteen 1

That's quite a system. Nice.

Yeah, I bought the B&O's years ago just because they looked so damn cool.

I've heard good things about the Vandersteen's but I've never seen one in the flesh.

I had never heard of them before I got them!

Yes B&O's are absolutely fantastic looking. But their sound really doesn't work for me.

Tozza Mazza wrote:Nothing peeves me more than people with £200+ headphones listening to mp3's...

Were they born stupid?

raymondu999 wrote:CDs still would give a better sound. Just.

I'd settle for WAV, FLAC or ALAC (those are audio formats) if that's not possible though.

95% of people can't tell the difference between a lossy 256kbps file and a lossless one, even when heard through ridiculously high fidelity equipment. Such is the nature of compressed audio these days. (I'm one of the 95%. Yet, inexplicably, I still encode everything at 320 or better. I've even paid more more for 24bit records.)


Sennheiser HD650

I've been rockin' these for about the last six months, and they are truly special. They sound wonderful even plugged into this old laptop, so I can't imagine how good they'll be once I get a decent DAC/amp.

bhallg2k wrote:95% of people can't tell the difference between a lossy 256kbps file and a lossless one
[...]
They sound wonderful even plugged into this old laptop, so I can't imagine how good they'll be once I get a decent DAC/amp.

I hear DAC/AMP and lossy/lossless. I'm impressed

For those times that I'm using my mobile setup I'm on my Sennheiser too - but I'm not a fan of cans. (that's basically headphones that are bigger than your ears). As such I'm using my IE8 - which I've been using for the past 4 years.

Oh, I'm quite familiar with circumaural headphones. After the economic downturn robbed me and mine of, well, pretty much everything, I decided to go the headphone route once "things" stabilized rather than rebuild my magnificent former stereo. I did more research on the subject than is probably prudent before I settled on the HD650.

I'd probably still be thoroughly enjoying my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 were it not for an annoying buzz that developed in the right earbud. But, considering just how good the Sennheiser sounds, that buzz has proven to be a fortuitous occurrence. I had no idea what I was missing.

bhallg2k wrote:I did more research on the subject than is probably prudent before I settled on the HD650.

Don't mind me - the HD650 is a great bit of kit. But audio is a very personal thing. The HD650 definitely is not for me. Too analytical for my taste.
I'd recommend iBasso's D10/D12 portable DAC/AMPs.Great synergy with the HD650s.

Which Super.Fi 5 did you have? There are 3/4 variants

I have the old Pro version, which, sadly, has been discontinued. I'd buy them again if they were available, because the HD650 doesn't exactly lend itself to portability.

It's interesting that you find the HD650 to be too analytical. From what I've read, the usual knock from those who don't like them is that they're too warm. They call the high-frequency roll-off "the Sennheiser veil." I notice that trait, too; I just don't care. There's nothing going on at those frequencies that I need to hear.

I'm going to try to stay away from a portable DAC/amp. This guy is working on a DAC/amp combo that shows some promise. If that doesn't pan out, I'll likely end up with an HRT Music Streamer II - it took me a while to even consider that brand due to its name; I thought, how can anything by an HRT be good? - and a Violectric HPA V100. I will not allow myself to be tempted by tubes.