Recent content by matthewpianist

Why choose? I'm format agnostic and enjoy vinyl, CD and streaming. The company I work for is also format agnostic - we sell CD, vinyl, downloads and our own streaming service. It's all about the music in the end.

You won't beat the Rega System One mentioned earlier in this thread, for the money. The P1 is a solid starter turntable, the io amp is in a different league to any price-competitive product, and the Kytes are beautifully balanced and engaging. The amp and speakers are more than good enough to...

I'd like to find a nice Apollo-R or Apollo, still the best CD player I've had, or for Rega to surprise us all and come out with a new Apollo to sit with the Brio Mk. 7. My amp, speakers and streamers are going nowhere, and if I can't find a good Apollo I will be fine with the Sony, which was a...

Ultimately, all a DAC chip does is convert the series of on and off pulses into an analogue signal. The analogue stage after that is going to make the biggest difference. Personally? I'm more than happy with the DAC in my CD player, the DAC in my WiiM Ultra and the DAC in my Presto P10. The only...

I suggest you take a look at the Kanto YU4 - compact powered speakers with both analogue and digital inputs. They are very good, and you could add a WiiM Mini if you wanted a cheap way to have PC-free high-quality streaming. It's what I would do for a desktop system.

Agreed. 'Wind and Wuthering' is a masterpiece, as is 'Selling England...'. (IMO)

Try the Rega Kytes. They definitely have punch for those quick blasts but also have the flexibility to be satisfying over a longer period. I love them, and I've had a great number of different speakers.

I generally enjoy compact standmounts most, though I loved the Rega Aya when I heard them at Bristol, probably because the cabinets are more rigid than most affordable floorstanders.

The Lintons need space to perform, and they need a bit of volume before they come on song. I had some for a while and they weren’t right for me or my room.

I'm coming at this having been around the house many, many times. The best (but not the most expensive) system I've ever had was Rega RP3/Elys2, Apollo-R, Brio-R and RS2s (or Dynaudio DM2/6 - I had both and they offered different signatures, but were equally excellent). Frankly, I've never...

If you're buying a Rega Planar 3RS, you must be dealing with a Rega dealer, because Rega don't allow models from the P3 upwards to be sold by mail order. Why don't you visit that dealer, and see what they suggest? It would certainly be worth trying the Rega Elex IV, amongst other options.

Could it possibly be nearing the end of its shelf life? I know it's expensive for manufacturers, and I would imagine a large of proportion of visitors (including me), will never find the budget for most of the kit they hear. I would imagine it's fairly questionable from a commercial...

I wish I still had the Rega system I had a decade ago - a step up from what I have now, but without going mad. It was RP3/Elys 2, TT-PSU, Apollo-R, Brio-R and some Dynaudio DM2/6 (the speakers I kept longer than any other, but regretfully sold last year). I think if I could have come away with...

Here's my take, after visiting on Saturday... I too found the QUAD demonstration to be too clinical, something I've heard across a lot of IAG stuff, both with the Super Lintons and the new electrostatics. The assertion in the morning by the demonstrator that a £7k system is modest shows how out...

I wouldn't do anything at this point, apart from perhaps sort out a headphone amp and some nice headphones. If you're not bothered about that (and the restrictions to your listening time in a shared house/student digs), then the only thing I would consider changing is the streamer, but no need...